Visa and Mastercard class settlement has now paid US merchants about $631.7m

Merchants have now received roughly $631.7 million from the $5.5 billion damages settlement in the long-running US class action over Visa and Mastercard interchange fees. The figure comes from a quarterly report that the claims administrator, Epiq, filed with the federal court in Brooklyn on Friday 9 October, as reported by Payments Dive on 12 October. According to that filing, 689,340 merchants have been paid so far. About $212.8 million of the total came from a second partial distribution, which Judge Brian Cogan approved in June and which started going out in September; it covers around 84,000 claimants. After these payments the fund still held about $5.02 billion at 30 September. Roughly 1.47 million merchants filed claims before the February 2025 deadline, and the next quarterly report is due in January. The class covers US businesses that accepted Visa- or Mastercard-branded cards between 1 January 2004 and 25 January 2019. The damages deal dates from 2018 and won final approval in 2019, but appeals and claims processing have stretched payouts over several years. The court also approved $21.4 million in administration fees for Epiq's work from April to August. A separate track matters more for future costs. Judge Cogan has set a hearing next month on the proposed injunctive-relief settlement, which would change network rules rather than pay cash. Visa, Mastercard and class counsel support it, while Walmart, Circle K and DoorDash have asked the court to reject it. Its outcome will shape interchange rates and surcharging rules for US card acceptance in the years ahead, so the hearing is the next date for online merchants to watch.