The legal decision means that anyone who shopped somewhere that took Mastercard payments between 1997 and 2008 in England, Wales or Northern Ireland (or between 1992 and 2008 in Scotland) can claim their share of a £100m pot.
You do not have to have had a Mastercard to apply.
Decade-long wrangling
The compensation is due after lawyer Walter Merricks brought a case against Mastercard over 10 years ago. He said Mastercard’s “multilateral interchange fees”, which were charged to shops rather than consumers for taking the cards, infringed competition law.
The European Commission said in 2007 that the transaction fees were unlawful.
Merricks argued that the wrongly charged fees led to higher prices for customers, so that they also lost out. A settlement for consumers has just been agreed by the Competition Tribunal, although Mastercard has not admitted any liability.
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How much and how to claim
Under the terms of the settlement, the most each claimant can receive is £70. If the expected number of claimants comes forward, though, each will receive £45.
The website set up by Merricks at https://mastercardconsumerclaim.co.uk will give you the details you need as to whether you are eligible to claim, but most people who lived in the UK and were over 16 during the time mentioned above will be able to do so unless they have specifically opted out. Representatives of the deceased will also be able to claim.
The site will be updated with details of how to make a claim once this has been decided.
