MasterCard Consumer Claim
Merricks v Mastercard

The Competition Appeal Tribunal has directed that this website be established and this notice be issued following an application by Walter Merricks CBE (the class representative) for a Collective Proceedings Order. The Collective Proceedings Order Application (granted on 18 May 2022) asked the Tribunal to (i) approve the claim as eligible to proceed as a collective claim on behalf of eligible UK consumers; and (ii) approve Walter Merricks CBE to act as the class representative. To read the Application or a summary of the Application, click here.

This website contains information about the claim.

The Competition Appeal Tribunal is a specialist court based in London that covers the whole of the UK and hears disputes such as these. The Tribunal publishes its Rules and Guidance, together with information about what it does, on its website.

The proposed claim is against Mastercard Incorporated, Mastercard International Incorporated, and Mastercard Europe S.P.R.L. Together, these entities are called "Mastercard".

On 19 December 2007, the European Commission decided that Mastercard imposed unlawful fees on transactions processed through its network. These unlawful fees were paid by businesses that accepted Mastercard cards as payment for goods and/or services. The Commission also stated that consumers are likely to have paid higher prices for goods and services because businesses raised retail prices as a result of Mastercard’s unlawful fees. Mastercard lost its appeals against this decision in 2014.

According to the Claim Form, it does not matter what form of payment you used to buy goods or services from businesses selling in the UK (i.e., you do not need to have paid with a Mastercard, or any other form of credit or debit card). The claim says you paid higher prices and lost out as a result of Mastercard’s unlawful conduct. The claim seeks to include purchases (for non-business purchases) made by individuals from businesses selling within the UK between 22 May 1992 and 21 June 2008 and certain remote purchases. If you were resident in the UK at any time between 22 May 1992 and 21 June 2008 you are eligible to claim (the claim also says there was a “run-off period”, where prices remained elevated until 21 June 2010). Purchases made by individuals whilst they were outside the UK are not included in the claim.

The Collective Proceedings Order authorised Walter Merricks CBE to act as the class representative.

As the class representative, Mr Merricks conducts the claim against Mastercard on behalf of all class members, except for those who opt out of the class. Mr Merricks instructs the lawyers and experts, makes decisions on the conduct of the claim, and, in particular, decides whether to present any offer of settlement that Mastercard may make to the Tribunal for its approval.

During the case, Mr Merricks is responsible for communicating with the class and for issuing formal notices. Mr Merricks updates the class about the claim on this website, through the media and on social media.

Mr Merricks has had a long and distinguished career defending consumer interests and holding large financial firms to account for their conduct. Mr Merricks is a qualified lawyer and the former Chief Ombudsman of the Financial Ombudsman Service, a position he held for 10 years.

As the Chief Ombudsman, Mr Merricks ensured that consumers received billions of pounds in compensation from banks, building societies, mortgage lenders, consumer credit card providers, investment firms, insurance companies, and other financial institutions.

No, Innsworth Capital, which is funding the dispute, has provided the Tribunal with an undertaking that, if Mr Merricks is legally liable to do so pursuant to an order or judgment, it will pay Mastercard its costs of defending the claim up to £15 million in aggregate. No class member will be liable to pay Mastercard’s costs if the claim is not successful.

The United Kingdom includes England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland for the purposes of this claim, and does not include any Crown Dependencies (Bailiwick of Guernsey, the Bailiwick of Jersey, and the Isle of Man). So being resident in or buying goods or services in one of these dependencies does not count.

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 (the “2015 Act”) allows for a collective claim to be brought on behalf of a group of individuals who are alleged to have suffered a common loss. The group is the “class” and all individuals within the group are “class members”. As a result of the 2015 Act, groups of consumers who have suffered losses do not need to each bring an individual claim to obtain compensation for their loss. Instead, these consumers may all receive compensation through a single collective claim brought on their behalf by a representative.

The Collective Proceedings Order allowed the claim to proceed on an “opt-out” basis on behalf of all individuals who between 22 May 1992 and 21 June 2008 purchased goods and/or services from businesses selling in the UK that accepted Mastercard cards, at a time at which those individuals were both (1) resident in the UK for a continuous period of at least three months, and (2) aged 16 years or over, with the exception of the following categories of persons (as constituted from time to time):

1. officers, directors and employees of Mastercard or any company controlled by Mastercard;
2. all members of Mastercard’s legal team and experts instructed by Mastercard for the collective proceedings;
3. all members of the Class Representative’s legal team, professional advisors, and experts instructed by the Class Representative for the collective proceedings; and
4. all members of the Competition Appeal Tribunal panel assigned to the collective proceedings.

The personal/authorised representatives of the estates of individuals who meet the above criteria, and were alive on 6 September 2016, but subsequently died, are also included in the class.

Businesses are not included in the proposed class. It is called an opt-out class because anyone who meets the class definition will be included in the claim automatically and bound by the result, unless they ask to opt out.

The claim seeks compensation of approximately £10 billion. The claim seeks this amount to compensate class members for paying more than they should have paid for goods and services because of Mastercard’s unlawful conduct between 22 May 1992 and 21 June 2008, as well as the run-off period to 21 June 2010.

You don’t have to do anything, and you aren’t exposed to any risks by being a member of the class. Walter Merricks and his legal team are continuing to pursue this claim against Mastercard and it will take some time before there is a final outcome. If you would like to stay up to date, you can register for updates by clicking here.

For more information, if you are the personal representative of an estate, you may view an eligibility flowchart here.

This website will periodically be updated, so it is a good idea to check back for new information.

If you would like to register to keep up to date with the progress of the claim, click here.

Whilst Mr Merricks is the class representative and runs this claim for consumers, he is not able to fund a claim of this size and public importance on his own. Therefore, Mr Merricks is working with third-party litigation funders Innsworth Capital Limited to bring the claim. The amount of funding available is up to £60.1 million to pursue this claim through to the end, including a sum of up to £15 million in aggregate that will be available to cover Mastercard’s costs in the event that the claim is ultimately unsuccessful. The funding arrangements in place mean that the class members will not need to pay anything to be part of the claim and have no financial risk in relation to the claim.