About Our PCIF Claims Service
The Heritage Approach, LLC has partnered with FRS to provide best-in-class cost recovery services for your PCIF Claim filing. The value-add of leveraging The Heritage Approach is to gain access to FRS proprietary and unique tools that allow for the substantiation of your claim back to the start of the Class Period and to challenge the amounts on the Class Administrator Claim Form sent to all affected merchants, not to mention saving you valuable time in the process.
- Did you lose your claim form? No problem, FRS can get it back for you.
- Don’t have time to manage the process? No need, FRS handles all aspects without a time requirement on your part.
- Did your claim form come with a grossly underestimated volume? Let FRS’ proprietary tools substantiate the correct amount!
- Don’t want to pay any money out of pocket? Our fee is taken only if and when you are paid your claim amount.
Please do not wait, the deadline to file is May 31, 2024, and there will be a rush…sign up now!
Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Class Action Settlement
Did your business accept any Visa or Mastercard branded cards in the United States? You may be eligible to recover money as part of a historic $5.54B class action settlement reached in a 2005 class action lawsuit.
Who are the eligible class members?
All persons, businesses, and other entities that accepted any Visa-or Mastercard-branded Cards in the United States at any time from January 1, 2004, to January 25, 2019. Excluded from this Class are (a) the Dismissed Plaintiffs, (b) the United States government, (c) the named Defendants or their directors, officers, or members of their families, and (d) financial institutions that have issued Visa-or Mastercard-branded Cards or acquired Visa-or Mastercard-branded Card transactions at any time from January 1, 2004 to January 25, 2019.
When did the claims process commence?
The process commenced in December 2023. As discussed in more detail in the Case History section, the settlement that the Rule 23(b)(3) Class reached in or about September 2018 (the “Superseding Settlement”) is now final. In September 2023, the district court approved the form of the proof of claim and claims-filing period. Claim forms are being delivered and are available online beginning December 1, 2023. As described below, FRS believes that we provide services that could increase your potential recovery from the settlement fund.
Relevant Case History
In 2005, merchants filed several class action lawsuits alleging that, because Visa, Mastercard, and certain U.S. financial institutions fixed fees for processing credit and debit card payments and prohibited merchants from steering their customers toward the use of lower-cost payment instruments, merchants paid higher interchange fees. A settlement reached in 2012 was vacated. At the time that it was reached, the Superseding Settlement provided a settlement fund of as much as $6.24 billion but not less than approximately $5.54 billion depending on several factors. By Order entered December 13, 2019, as further explained in its December 16, 2019 Memorandum & Order, the district court granted final approval to the Superseding Settlement, the settlement fund for which is estimated to be approximately $5.54 billion after reductions for the full $700 million permitted due to exclusions, subject to further reduction for Court-approved attorneys’ fees in the amount of $523.3 million and expenses in the amount of $39.2 million, Court-approved incentive awards to class representatives in amounts to be determined, and the costs of noticing class members and administering the Superseding Settlement. All appeals of the district court’s final approval of the Superseding Settlement have been resolved; that approval is now final. In September 2023, the district court approved the form of the proof of claim and the proposed claims-filing period, which commenced on December 1, 2023, and will run through May 2024. After the claims process is completed, the Net Settlement Fund will be distributed to approved claimants.
For additional information, visit the Court-approved website, www.PaymentCardSettlement.com, or contact Class Counsel or the Class Administrator. Claim forms are being delivered and are available online beginning December 1, 2023. Class members need not sign up for a third-party service to participate in any monetary relief. No-cost assistance is available from the Class Administrator and Class Counsel during the claims-filing period. As described below, FRS believes that we provide services that could increase your potential recovery and that are unlikely to be provided by the Class Administrator or Class Counsel. Please understand that you have the right to file on your own.
To learn more about FRS services, visit www.FRSco.com. To sign up, visit: https://www.frsco.com/FRSAP/?tfa_135=11267.
Click the image above to download the full PCIF Summary pdf.
Important Disclosures
- For additional information, please visit the Court-approved website, www.PaymentCardSettlement.com, or contact Class Counsel or the Class Administrator.
- Claim forms are being delivered and are available online beginning December 1, 2023.
- Class members need not sign up for a third-party service to participate in any monetary relief.
- No-cost assistance is available from the Class Administrator and Class Counsel during the claims-filing period.
- FRS believes that they provide services that could increase your potential recovery and that are unlikely to be provided by the Class Administrator or Class Counsel. Please understand that you have the right to file on your own.