Class action lawsuits were commenced in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec and Ontario (collectively, the “Credit Card Actions”) against Visa Canada Corporation (“Visa”), Mastercard International Incorporated (“Mastercard”) and certain banks which issue credit cards (“Issuing Banks”).

The Credit Card Actions alleged that Visa and Mastercard conspired with Issuing Banks and acquirers to set the amount of interchange fees and impose rules that restrict merchants’ ability to surcharge or refuse higher cost Visa and Mastercard credit cards.

Although Royal Bank of Canada, The Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Bank of Montreal and The Bank of Nova Scotia do not admit liability, they have agreed to settle the Credit Card Actions (the “New Settlement”).

Between the New Settlement and the Prior Settlements (as defined below, collectively the “Settlements”), the defendants will pay a total of $188 CAD million for the benefit of the Settlement Class Members in exchange for the dismissal of the Credit Card Actions and other related litigation and a full release of all claims advanced against each of them, including future claims relating to continuing acts or practices that occurred prior to or following the commencement of the Credit Card Actions.

The Courts have already approved some deductions from the total settlement amount, including the fees of the Class Lawyers and expenses associated with processing the settlements.  A total of approximately $131 CAD million in compensation is available for distribution to class members. Information about the settlements is available on this website on the “Documents” page.

The Settling Defendants deny the allegations in the Credit Card Actions and there has not been any finding of liability against them.

A number of settlements have already been approved in the Credit Card Actions. The Courts have previously approved settlement agreements with BofA Canada Bank, Bank of America Corporation, Citigroup, Capital One Financial Corporation, Capital One Bank Canada (Canada Branch), Fédération des Caisses Desjardins du Québec, National Bank of Canada, Visa, and Mastercard (the “Prior Settlements”).   

The net proceeds from the Prior Settlements have been held by the Class Lawyers and will be distributed to Settlement Class Members along with the net proceeds from the New Settlement with the Settling Defendants.

You are a Settlement Class Member if you accept or accepted Visa credit cards and/or Mastercard credit cards as payment for goods or services and incurred merchant discount fees, including interchange fees, in Canada between March 23, 2001, and September 2, 2021.

Settlement Class Members who wanted to participate in the Settlement and in the Credit Card Actions had to submit a claim. The claims deadline was December 30, 2022.

The deadlines for all Settlement Class Members to opt out have expired. If you did not previously opt out, you are now part of the Settlement Class and are bound by the Settlements.

After the December 6, 2021 settlement approval hearing, the Courts approved the New Settlement, the Class Lawyers’ fee of 30% of the recovered amounts, disbursements and other expenses payable from the settlement amount, and the plan for distributing the money from the Settlements.

Notices were sent to merchants who asked to be kept updated about the Credit Card Actions. The notice tells you about your rights and options in the Credit Card Actions and also explains the lawsuit, the proposed settlements, the benefits available, who qualifies for those benefits, and how to participate.

There is approximately $131,000,000 available for distribution to Settlement Class Members. Details about the plan for distributing that money can be found in the Distribution Plan posted on the “Documents” page of this website.

The Net Settlement Amount will be divided into three (3) funds, depending on how the average annual revenue of the Settlement Class Member during the Class Period (March 23, 2001 – September 2, 2021):

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%

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)

To be eligible to receive part of the Settlement Fund, Settlement Class Members had to submit a duly completed claim form online, by email, or fax, along with all required supporting documentation (if required) no later than December 30, 2022. Claims that were not submitted before the deadline, will not be eligible for compensation.

The type of claim you can submit depends on whether you are a Small, Medium or Large Merchant.

Settlement Class Members, who are Small Merchants, may file “undocumented claims” (claims that do not require any supporting documents).

Settlement Class Members, who are Medium Merchants, may file “simplified claims” (claims that require proof of at least one agreement entered with an acquirer or payment processor).

Settlement Class Members, who are Large Merchants, have two options for filing a claim:

• Large Merchants may file simplified claims (claims that require proof of at least one agreement entered with an acquirer or payment processor). Large Merchants who make simplified claims are eligible to receive $250 for each year they accepted Visa or Mastercard credit cards during the Class Period.
• To be eligible to receive more than $250 per year, Large Merchants may file documented claims (claims that require documents showing credit card sales volume or payment of interchange fees).

Type of Claim	Supporting Documentation required with claim form
Undocumented Claim	No documentation is required
Simplified Claim	Evidence of at least one (1) agreement entered with an acquirer (also known as a payment processor).    This may include the Class Member’s original agreement with the acquirer, a merchant statement from an acquirer evidencing fees paid pursuant to an agreement, or other documentary evidence showing that the Class Member paid interchange fees to an acquirer during the class period.
Documented Claim	​​​​​​​For most Large merchants: Records identifying the total Credit Card Sales Volume during Class Period (merchant statements, financial statements or historical accounting records that identify Credit Card Sales Volume but does not include methods of payment other than by Credit Cards such as cash or debit), OR A declaration attesting to the Credit Card Sales Volume, the actual amount of Interchange Fees paid during the Class Period, and/or the applicable interchange rates, together with substantiating documentation. Special rules apply to the small number of Large Merchants who issued credit cards or co-branded credit cards or received a discounted interchange rate. Large merchants who issued their own credit cards must provide documentary proof of the actual amount of interchange fees that they paid and received. Large merchants who issued co-branded credit cards and/or received a discounted interchange rate must submit proof of the actual rate of interchange that they paid. They must also submit enough information that allows for the actual amount of interchange fees they paid to be calculated.

The Annual Average Revenue refers to all revenue sources, including cash, debit, and credit cards, over the class period.

When trying to determine your Annual Average Revenue, only consider the average revenue for the years claimed – for example, if you had an annual revenue of $10,000 in 2001 and $20,000 in 2002 and $30,000 in 2003 only, and no annual revenue for any other years that qualify under this Settlement, your Annual Average Revenue would be $20,000.

A class member who wishes to submit a Simplified claim, needs to provide at least one agreement with an acquirer (also known as a payment processor). However, it’s not necessary to provide the actual agreement and to provide evidence of more than one agreement, as long as the proof relates to one of the years during the class period.

The types of acceptable proof include a copy of the Class Member’s original agreement with the acquirer, a merchant statement from an acquirer evidencing fee paid pursuant to an agreement, or other documentary evidence showing that the Class Member paid interchange fees to an acquirer during the class period.

Large merchants must declare whether they received a discounted interchange rate. This is intended to capture situations where the merchant negotiated an interchange rate that was lower than the default rate that would have otherwise applied to the merchant’s industry.

No. Each corporate entity may make one claim. In this situation, the corporation will add up the annual revenue of all store locations to determine if the corporate entity qualifies as a small, medium or large merchant

The claims deadline was December 30, 2022.

The claims administrator will be reviewing claims over the next several months.

However, accurate claims processing takes time and will depend on the total number of claims submitted. We are currently unable to provide you with a timeline right now.

Payments are not expected to be made until after March 2023.

In addition to money, the class actions also secured the ability for merchants to apply a surcharge when accepting credit cards. A surcharge is an additional fee that a merchant adds on a transaction when the consumer pays for a product or service with a credit card. The Visa and Mastercard rules affecting surcharging are set to change October 6, 2022. You cannot apply a surcharge before then. If you intend to surcharge, you should comply with all Visa and Mastercard rules on surcharging.

Visa and Mastercard require you to provide written notice of your intention to surcharge. For merchants accepting Visa credit cards, merchants must notify their acquirers in writing at least 30 days before either publicly announcing their intention to impose surcharges, or 30 days before first assessing a surcharge. If you intend to apply a surcharge on Mastercard credit cards, you must notify both Mastercard and your acquirer at least 30 days before first doing so. Beginning September 6, 2022, you can go to http://www.mastercard.ca/surchargedisclosure for instructions on how to notify Mastercard, and you will separately need to notify your acquirer.

Visa and Mastercard rules require merchants who intend to surcharge to clearly disclose the surcharge to their customers and disclose that the surcharge is being applied by the merchant, rather than Visa or Mastercard.

The Visa and Mastercard rules also place a cap on the surcharge fee you may charge. A merchant cannot surcharge customers more than it costs the merchant to accept credit cards (or above the maximum surcharge cap, whichever is lower) and the surcharge cannot be more than any surcharge applied to other competing credit cards or Paypal.

For further information, please refer directly to the Visa and Mastercard rules on surcharging.

The courts have appointed Epiq Class Action Services Canada Inc. (an independent third party) to receive and review claims, determine eligibility for payments and issue payment for eligible Settlement Class Members.

Questions regarding the claims process should be directed to Epiq Class Action Services Canada Inc at 1 (877) 283-6548 or info@CreditCardSettlements.ca

The Class Lawyers can be reached by email at lawyers@creditcardsettlements.ca or by phone at the following numbers:

For Non-Quebec Residents:		For Quebec Residents:
Luciana Brasil Branch MacMaster LLP (604) 654-2999	Sharon Wong Camp Fiorante Mathews Mogerman (604) 689-7555	Jeff Orenstein Consumer Law Group +1 (888) 909-7863 x2

You do not need to pay out-of-pocket for the lawyers working on the class actions. The lawyers were paid from the settlement funds in the amount approved by the courts.

For more information, contact the court appointed administrator, Epiq: call: 1 (877) 283-6548 / TTY: 1 (877) 627-7027, email: info@CreditCardSettlements.ca, fax: 1-866-262-0816 or write to P.O. Box 507 STN B Ottawa ON K1P 5P6.

A class member who issued co-branded credit cards must provide information on the actual interchange rate for credit card transactions involving the class member’s co-branded credit cards. For the rest of the credit card transactions over the class period, the class member can rely on the default interchange rate and credit card sales volume, provided that the volume of transactions with the co-branded credit cards can be isolated from the total volume of credit card sales.

Please note that there has been a delay in processing payments for all claims filed by Quebec residents, including newly approved claims and replacement payments. This delay is a result of a procedural question involving payments to the Fonds d’aide aux actions collectives. We are currently awaiting a decision from the Superior Court of Quebec that will resolve this issue. Unfortunately, at present, we are unable to provide a specific timeline as to when the Court’s decision will be made. We recognize the inconvenience that this delay may pose and appreciate your ongoing patience. As soon as a decision is reached and we secure approval from the Superior Court of Quebec to resume payments to Quebec merchants, we will expedite the reissuance and dispatch of your payment.