Visa and Mastercard have agreed to pay a combined $167.5m to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing them of conspiring to keep ATM access fees artificially high. The proposed settlement was filed on Thursday in the federal district court in Washington and requires a judge’s approval.
The accord would pay potentially millions of ATM users who were charged an unreimbursed access fee to withdraw cash from independent, non-bank ATMs. Visa would contribute about $88.8m and Mastercard about $78.7m to a settlement fund. The money would be distributed to eligible customers with qualifying ATM transactions made since October 2007.
The lawsuit, filed in 2011, challenged industry rules that allegedly blocked independent ATM operators from offering lower prices. Both companies denied any wrongdoing. This settlement follows a $197.5m payout last year to resolve related claims from ATM users at bank-operated machines.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs called the settlement “an excellent result in light of the risks of continued prosecution” and plan to seek up to 30% of the fund in legal fees. A third lawsuit by independent ATM owners and operators remains pending in the same court.
