London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 11, 2025

Mastercard and Visa to be hit with £7.5bn compensation claim

Mastercard and Visa to be hit with £7.5bn compensation claim

Harcus Parker, the law firm behind the latest compensation claim against the two payments behemoths, believes it could amount to well over £10bn.
The global payment giants Mastercard and Visa are facing the latest in a string of multibillion-pound competition lawsuits with the launch of a potentially vast class action claim on behalf of British companies.

Sky News has learnt that Harcus Parker, a London-based commercial litigation law firm, is close to filing what it believes will be among the biggest competition compensation claims in UK history.

The filing, at the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), will allege that Mastercard and Visa overcharged businesses for so-called multilateral interchange fees (MIFs), which are paid by businesses to their banks to accept payment by credit or debit card.

MIFs are estimated to comprise as much as 90% of the cost of a typical company's monthly bank charge.

The claim will argue that these fees are set by Mastercard and Visa themselves, rather than by market forces, and are imposed on banks as a condition of their participation in the two companies' card schemes.

Harcus Parker declined to comment on the prospective size of the action against the two card giants, but one source said they expected that £7.5bn was the minimum figure they expected, and that it could ultimately be worth close to double that sum.

"We are standing up for UK businesses - big and small - and demanding that they be properly compensated," Thomas Ross, a partner at Harcus Parker, told Sky News.

"These fees are unlawful and should be abolished."

The Harcus Parker case is fully insured and is being funded by the major litigation funder BenchWalk Advisers.

Businesses with an average annual pre-pandemic turnover of at least £100m will be invited to opt in to the claim, while those with revenue below that level and which have registered online will be automatically included unless they choose to opt out.

Harcus Parker has selected a claim period from 2017 to the date of judgement award - or settlement.

The latest case follows one submitted by the same law firm last year which was focused on businesses in the travel and hospitality sectors, and alleged that Mastercard and Visa overcharged for corporate and foreign card fees.

ABTA and UK Hospitality, the trade bodies, backed the earlier claim and are among those expected to endorse the latest action.

A string of other major lawsuits have been filed against the two payments behemoths in recent years involving major retailers and other consumer-facing businesses.

The duo have already settled a number of claims for overcharged interchange fees.

Mastercard and Visa have also faced criticism for hiking fees for UK consumers since the Brexit referendum.

They are now at the centre of a cross-border fees probe by the Payment Systems Regulator.

Mastercard and Visa declined to comment.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
The British legal mafia hit back: Banksy mural of judge beating protester is scrubbed from London court
Surpassing Musk: Larry Ellison becomes the richest man in the world
Embarrassment for Starmer: He fired the ambassador photographed on Epstein’s 'pedophile island'
Manhunt after 'skilled sniper' shot Charlie Kirk. Footage: Suspect running on rooftop during panic
Effective Protest Results: Nepal’s Prime Minister Resigns as Youth-Led Unrest Shakes the Nation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
King Charles and Prince Harry Share First In-Person Moment in 19 Months
Starmer Establishes Economic ‘Budget Board’ to Centralise Policy and Rebuild Business Trust
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Brazilian police say ex-President Bolsonaro had planned to flee to Argentina seeking asylum
Trinidad Leader Applauds U.S. Naval Strike and Advocates Forceful Action Against Traffickers
Kim Jong Un Oversees Final Test of New High-Thrust Solid-Fuel Rocket Engine
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Supreme Court temporarily allows Trump to pause billions in foreign aid
Charlie Sheen says his father, Martin Sheen, turned him in to the police: 'The greatest betrayal possible'
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
Pig Heads Left Outside Multiple Paris Mosques in Outrage-Inducing Acts
Nvidia’s ‘Wow’ Factor Is Fading. The AI chip giant used to beat Wall Street expectations for earnings by a substantial margin. That trajectory is coming down to earth.
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
On the Anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s Death: Prince Harry Returns to Britain
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Murdoch Family Finalises $3.3 Billion Succession Pact, Ensuring Eldest Son’s Leadership
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Court Staff Cover Up Banksy Image of Judge Beating a Protester
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
Elon Musk Poised to Become First Trillionaire Under Ambitious Tesla Pay Plan
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
Burning the Minister’s House Helped Protesters to Win Justice: Prabowo Fires Finance Minister in Wake of Indonesia Protests
Brazil Braces for Fallout from Bolsonaro Trial by corrupted judge
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
Nearly 40 Years Later: Nike Changes the Legendary Slogan Just Do It
Generations Born After 1939 Unlikely to Reach Age One Hundred, New Study Finds
End to a four-year manhunt in New Zealand: the father who abducted his children to the forests was killed, the three siblings were found
Germany Suspends Debt Rules, Funnels €500 Billion Toward Military and Proxy War Strategy
EU Prepares for War
BMW Eyes Growth in China with New All‑Electric Neue Klasse Lineup
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
US Justice Department Launches Criminal Mortgage-Fraud Probe into Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
Escalating Drug Trafficking and Violence in Latin America: A Growing Crisis
US and Taiwanese Defence Officials Held Secret Talks in Alaska
Report: Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission in North Korea Ordered by Trump in 2019 Ended in Failure
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Florida Murder Case: The Adelson Family, the Killing of Dan Markel, and the Trial of Donna Adelson
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
×