Canadian Credit Card Class Actions

The claims period ended on December 30, 2022. No late claims will be accepted.

If you accepted VISA and Mastercard credit cards between March 23, 2001, and September 2, 2021, you may be eligible to receive money from the class actions settlements.

What is this Class Action about?

Class actions were started in Canada claiming certain banks and Visa and Mastercard (the “Defendants”) conspired to set higher interchange fees and to impose rules restricting merchants’ ability to surcharge or refuse higher cost Visa and Mastercard credit cards.

“Interchange Fees” are fees paid by merchants and collected by banks for transactions involving Visa and/or Mastercard credit cards in Canada.

Settlements totaling $188 CAD million were reached with Capital One, Citigroup, Bank of America, Desjardins, National Bank, Visa, Mastercard, CIBC, Royal Bank, Bank of Montreal, TD Bank, and Bank of Nova Scotia. Additionally, Visa and Mastercard have agreed to modify their no-surcharge rules to allow merchants to surcharge up to a cap, and to ensure this ability to surcharge remains in effect for a minimum of five years.

The settlements have received court approval, and there is a total of $131 CAD million in compensation available for distribution to class members after court-approved deductions (the “Net Settlement Amount”). The Defendants do not admit any wrongdoing or liability. The settlements resolve the class actions.

Who can receive payment under this Class Action?

Settlement Class Members who accepted payments by Visa or Mastercard credit cards as payments for goods or services in Canada between March 23, 2001, and September 2, 2021.

In order to participate in the Settlement, a Class Member had to submit a claim.

The deadline to submit a claim was December 30, 2022.

How will the Settlement Funds be distributed?

The Net Settlement Amount will be divided into three (3) funds. Settlement Class Members will be paid from the fund that corresponds to their average yearly revenue:

Merchant Fund	Amount of Net Settlement Amount Allocated
Small Merchant Fund Settlement Class Members who collect less than $5 million in average yearly revenue over the Class Period	40%
Medium Merchant Fund Settlement Class Members who collect $5 million to $20 million in average yearly revenue over the Class Period	10%
Large Merchant Fund Settlement Class Members who collect more than $20 million in average yearly revenue over the Class Period	50%

Merchant Fund

Amount of Net Settlement Amount Allocated

Small Merchant Fund

Settlement Class Members who collect less than $5 million in average yearly revenue over the Class Period

40%

Medium Merchant Fund

Settlement Class Members who collect $5 million to $20 million in average yearly revenue over the Class Period

10%

Large Merchant Fund

Settlement Class Members who collect more than $20 million in average yearly revenue over the Class Period

50%

The Class Period is March 23, 2001 – September 2, 2021.

The courts approved a distribution plan for distributing the Net Settlement Amount. A copy of the distribution plan is available here.

How much money will Settlement Class Members get?

TYPE OF MERCHANT	ANNUAL AVERAGE REVENUE OVER THE CLASS PERIOD (CAD)	CLAIM OPTIONS	PER YEAR CLAIM AMOUNT (CAD)
Small Merchant	Less than $5 million	Undocumented	$30
Medium Merchant	Between $5 million and $20 million	Simplified	$250
Large Merchant	More than $20 million	Simplified	$250
		Documented	Proportional share of Large Merchant fund (to be determined once all claims are submitted)

For more information, please click here.

Summary of your legal rights and options

Submit a Claim	The only way to receive a payment under the Settlement was to submit a claim. The deadline to submit a claim was on December 30, 2022.
Do Nothing	If you do nothing, you automatically remain a Class member (if you qualify) and are bound by this Settlement Agreement, and the releases in it and are entitled to share in any of the proceeds that is available to Merchants as part of those settlements. However, you will get no compensation if you do not submit a claim before the claims deadline.
OBJECT to the Settlement	The deadline to object to the Settlement was December 5, 2021.
OPT OUT of the Settlement	The deadline to opt out of the settlement was December 5, 2021.

Important

If you are calling to request a replacement payment for an already approved claim that has been paid by the Claims Administrator or calling to inquire about your approved payment, please direct your inquiry to Payment@CreditCardSettlements.ca.

Important Dates

December 17, 2023
The final deadline to cure all claim submission deficiencies for Documented claims was extended from December 3, 2023 to 11:59 PM EST on December 17, 2023. If your claim is deficient please refer to the detailed deficiency notification that was issued via email on October 4, 2023. Failure to cure all deficiencies in a timely manner may result in the conversion, rejection or partial approval of your claim.

December 30, 2022
The claims period ended on December 30, 2022. No late claims will be accepted.

October 6, 2022
The date on which the rules affecting surcharging were changed. Please see FAQ 21 for the details on these changes and refer directly to the Visa and Mastercard rules on surcharging.

Important Updates

Update as of October 28, 2024:
The review of all claims is now complete and all final decision letters have been issued. We appreciate your patience throughout the processing of all submitted claims. Please refer to the final decision letter for the Claims Administrator’s final decision of your claim.

Undocumented Claims:
Payments for a first batch of approved Undocumented claims were issued on or around June 16, 2023.

Payments for a second batch of approved Undocumented claims were issued on or around September 22, 2023.

Payments for a third batch of approved Undocumented claims were issued on or around November 24, 2023.

Payments for a fourth batch of approved Undocumented claims were issued on or around June 14, 2024.

Payments for a fifth batch of approved Undocumented claims were issued on or around September 25, 2024.

Payments for the sixth batch of approved Undocumented claims were issued on or around October 18, 2024. If you were approved in this sixth batch, you should have received an email notification from Decision@CreditCardSettlements.ca

We are currently processing replacement payment requests for approved Undocumented claims. We appreciate your patience as we duly and safely process a high volume of requests - issuing a stop payment and a replacement payment may time some time.

Additionally, as the Superior Court of Quebec has approved the resumption of payments to Quebec merchants, payments were issued on September 25, 2024.

We invite you to visit this website periodically for further updates regarding timing of Undocumented claim payments.

Simplified Claims:
We have not yet issued any payments for Simplified claims. We anticipate that payments will be issued by the end of 2024, subject to Court approval. Once Court approval has been received, we will update this message. We invite you to visit this website periodically for further updates regarding timing of Simplified claim payments.

Documented Claims:
Claimants had until 11:59 PM EST on December 17, 2023, to resolve any claim submission deficiencies. Failure to cure all deficiencies in a timely manner may have resulted in the conversion, rejection or partial approval of your claim.

We have not yet issued any payments for Documented claims. We anticipate payments will be issued by the end of 2024, subject to Court approval. Once Court approval has been received, we will update this message. We invite you to visit this website periodically for further updates regarding timing of Documented claim payments.

For further updates regarding timing of payments, for any type of claims, we recommend that you visit this website periodically.

Address & Contact Info Changes:
Please promptly notify the Claims Administrator of any changes to your contact information as we use what’s on file to communicate with you. When providing changes, please provide your full name, your claim ID (if applicable), as well as confirm the old contact information and the change requested.