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.

When will approved claimants receive payment?

The review of all claims is now complete and all final decision letters have been issued. Please refer to the final decision letter for the Claims Administrator’s final decision of your claim.

We appreciate your patience throughout the processing of all submitted claims.

Important Notice Regarding the Canada Post Workers' Strike: Due to the ongoing strike, there could be significant delays in the mailing of cheques and other correspondence. This situation is beyond our control, and we appreciate your understanding and patience during this time.

Undocumented Claims

Approved Undocumented claims were issued payments in phases between June 2023 and October 2024.

Phase	Date
1	June 16, 2023
2	September 22, 2023
3	November 24, 2023
4	June 14, 2024
5	September 25, 2024
6	October 18, 2024

Replacement Requests: Please note that we are currently processing a high volume of Undocumented Claim payment replacement requests. We appreciate your patience as this process may take some time.

Simplified Claims

We have not yet issued any payments for approved Simplified claims. We anticipate that payments will be issued in early 2025, 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

We have not yet issued any payments for approved Documented claims. We anticipate that payments will be issued in early 2025, 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.

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

Payment Replacements: If you need to request a replacement for an approved payment that has already been issued, please contact the Claims Administrator at Payment@CreditCardSettlements.ca

Important Updates

Update as of December 2, 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 sent by the Claims Administrator’s from Decision@CreditCardSettlements.ca.

Undocumented Claims:
Approved Undocumented claims were issued payments in phases between June 2023 and October 2024.

Simplified Claims:
We anticipate that payments will be issued in early 2025, subject to Court approval.

Documented Claims:

We anticipate that payments will be issued in early 2025, subject to Court approval.

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 notify the Claims Administrator of any changes to your contact information via email at Payment@CreditCardSettlements.ca. Please include your full name, Claim ID, the old contact information, and the new details to be updated.

Important Dates

December 17, 2023
The final deadline to cure all claim submission deficiencies for Documented claims was 11:59 PM EST on December 17, 2023.

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

October 6, 2022
The surcharging rules were updated on October 6, 2022. For detailed information on these changes, please refer to FAQ 21 and the Visa and Mastercard rules on surcharging.