Mastercard to face one of Britain's first US style class action cases
Card company could be looking at loss of billions after unlawful charges bring lawsuit
- European Commission has engaged in long-running battle to reverse intercharge fees
Updated : 11:09
Mastercard is facing Britain's first ever class action lawsuit after imposing unfair card charges on UK consumers in the first case of its kind in Britain.
The case will be one of the first pertaining to the 2015 Consumer Rights Act, which allows for collective action from consumers in such cases.
A long-running legal battle between Mastercard and the European Commission regarding the charging of intercharge fees for cross-border transactionds led the EU body to judge that the card company had infringed EU law.
The law firm conducting the case, Quinn Emanuel, has said that the fees incurred significant costs for retailers and as a result goods and services were placed at a higher price for consumers. They price the total loss at as high as £19bn.
The prices of everything we all bought from 1992 to 2008 were higher than they should have been as a result of the unlawful conduct of Mastercard,” said Walter Merricks, a representative from Quinn Emanuel.
A statement provided by Mastercard fervently denied any wrongdoing on their part.
“Electronic payments deliver real value to people online, instore and everywhere. MasterCard is committed to providing ever more convenient, safe and secure payments to all our customers, including consumers, retailers, governments and banks,” it said.
A specialist court known as the Competition Appeal Tribunal is likely to hear the case this year, with a possible trial coming to pass in 2018.