Credit Card Class Actions
Anti-competitive? Plaintiffs claim that credit card network rules constitute an unlawful conspiracy.
About the credit card class actions
The plaintiffs in these class actions claim that rules established by the Visa and MasterCard networks constitute a conspiracy to fix the fees that merchants pay (namely, merchant discount rates and interchange fees), contrary to section 45 of the Competition Act.
The defendants include Visa, MasterCard, the “Big Five” Canadian banks, and a number of other smaller Canadian and foreign credit card issuers.
Settlements
To date, a few foreign bank defendants have agreed to pay over $13 million. The following table itemizes the settlements to date:
| Parties | Date Settled | Class Action Settlements |
| Bank of America | 16-Aug-13 | $7,750,000 |
| Capital One | 1-Apr-15 | $4,250,000 |
| Citigroup | 22-Apr-15 | $1,630,000 |
| Total: | $13,630,000 |
Our commentary
See our commentary on this class action:
