According to The Guardian, the law firms have lodged an application at the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) seeking permission to pursue collective proceedings on behalf of businesses that, they allege, have been overcharged on customer card payments since October 2020. The action is funded by Bench Walk Advisors, a litigation funder headquartered in the UK that launched in 2017. Both Visa and Mastercard have rejected the basis of the claim.
What the claim covers
The case centres on multilateral interchange fees (MIFs). Visa and Mastercard set these fees, and businesses pay them through their banks each time a customer pays by card. The claimants argue that a lack of competition has left merchants with little choice but to pay higher fees on debit, credit, and prepaid card transactions.
The claim also seeks to recover fees charged over the past six years, covering 2020 to 2026, together with interest on those losses. The estimated value is based on the number of businesses allegedly overcharged during that period. The proposed claim is led by a UK businessman and former travel sector executive, who has pursued Visa and Mastercard through several group legal actions since 2021.
Opt-out structure for smaller merchants
If the tribunal grants the application, an estimated one million UK-based businesses, organisations and charities with revenues below GBP 100 million would be included automatically unless they opt out. Individual claims in this group could be worth several thousand euros each.
Larger businesses would need to opt in actively to join the claim. Over the claim period, these companies could be due tens of millions of euros each. The structure would bring a large population of smaller merchants into the claim by default, while larger merchants would decide individually whether to take part.
Any outcome is likely to take years. In December 2025, Visa and Mastercard agreed to pay a combined USP 167.5 million to settle a US class action that accused the two companies of conspiring to keep ATM access fees artificially high. That lawsuit was originally filed in 2011, 14 years before the settlement.
Card networks’ response and policy backdrop
Mastercard said it strongly disagrees with the basis of the claim. The company argued that interchange plays a central role in the UK payments ecosystem by allowing people and businesses to pay and get paid quickly and securely. A company official described the application as ‘speculative’ and said it reflects a growing trend of funder-backed litigation that does not support UK businesses or consumers.
Mastercard also linked the case to the UK government’s proposed reforms to opt-out class actions, which were put out for consultation in the summer of 2026. According to the company, the claim is the type of action those proposals are intended to prevent.
Visa said it continues to regard interchange as a critical component of a secure digital payments ecosystem that benefits consumers, merchants, and banks.
The application comes while the government is consulting on changes to the opt-out regime. This places funder-backed claims such as this one at the centre of an ongoing policy discussion about how competition redress is pursued in the UK. The tribunal’s decision on whether to allow the claim to proceed will determine whether merchants enter another long legal process over card acceptance costs.
