Thousands of UK businesses are entitled to claim damages from Mastercard and Visa for unlawful credit and debit card Multilateral Interchange Fees.
UK competition damages claim against Mastercard and Visa for unlawful Multilateral Interchange Fees (MIFs)
KP Law is leading a UK group action on behalf of qualifying businesses seeking damages from Mastercard and Visa for unlawful Multilateral Interchange Fees (MIFs) applied to credit, debit and prepaid card transactions.
Recent judgments of the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) have confirmed that Visa and Mastercard set interchange fees in breach of UK and EU competition law.
These practices resulted in UK merchants paying materially inflated fees over a prolonged period.
KP Law’s claim follows the Umbrella Proceedings in the CAT and focuses on the recovery of historic overcharges, including claims relating to corporate card transactions that have not been fully addressed by earlier settlements or judgments.
Each time a business accepted a Visa or Mastercard payment, a portion of the merchant service charge was allocated to the issuing bank in the form of a Multilateral Interchange Fee. These fees were set centrally by Visa and Mastercard and passed through the acquiring banks to merchants.
On 27 June 2025, the CAT delivered a landmark liability judgment confirming that Visa and Mastercard’s MIFs:
Breached section 2(1) of the Competition Act 1998; and
Infringed Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
The Tribunal held that the MIF arrangements were unlawful “by object”, meaning they were inherently anti-competitive. As a result, merchants are not required to prove market impact and can instead focus on the quantification of loss.
A business may have been affected if:
James is experienced in conducting high-value and complex litigation and specialises in collective redress competition claims. James is an experienced litigator who puts client service first at the heart of his work, ensuring claims are pursued and, ultimately, resolved in a smooth and timely manner.
Emma Birch is a Partner at KP Law overseeing the day-to-day conduct of the litigation. Emma focuses on claim management, procedural matters and client coordination, ensuring that participating businesses receive clear, timely advice and that the claim progresses in line with the CAT’s timetable and procedural requirements.
Civil litigation between commercial counterparties is common. KP Law can review relevant agreements where appropriate, but any decision to proceed remains a commercial judgment for your business.
Your time commitment is intentionally limited, we will make this process as simple and time effective as possible for you. Once you have provided us with all the necessary data, we will handle everything else.
Not necessarily. This claim relates to a new category of loss. Prior settlements may not cover these claims and may apply differently across corporate groups.
Claims of this scale and complexity require specialist external counsel. KP Law manages the entire process on a risk-free basis, allowing internal teams to remain focused on core business priorities.
There has been a long history of regulatory intervention, findings and litigation against Visa and Mastercard in relation to their MIFs, now going back some 20 years or more, in the UK, EU and US. This has resulted in many significant fines, settlements and awards against Visa and Mastercard.
Many of the previous settlements have however related to consumer cards. Our claim is in respect of both Commercial and Consumer Cards.
The only other Commercial Cards claims currently being pursued for merchants with an annual turnover of greater than £100m was issued in 2021 (“CICC Claim”). However, the time period for joining that claim closed in February 2025.
You may also have heard of a related ‘opt-out’ Commercial Cards claim being brought. Only smaller businesses (with an annual turnover less than £100m) are eligible for that claim.
Early participation maximises leverage, reduces procedural risk and avoids potential limitation issues or restrictions on future standalone claims.
This development comes despite Harrods previously stating that it accepted vicarious liability for the ‘despicable sexual abuse’ suffered by hundreds of survivors.This latest disclosure, on the day of the second anniversary of the documentary that highlighted the scale of the abuse by Fayed and his team of enablers, follows the
Disclosure of the true value comes as Harrods reports that its much criticised Redress Scheme only paid a total of £4.1m in compensation to just over 50 survivors in the year up to January 2026 and has only set aside £51.8m for all future claims. KP Law, which is representing
KP Law, the law firm representing more than 275 survivors in their abuse and exploitation claims against Harrods and the Estate of Mohamed Al Fayed, has today announced that it has formally written to the Metropolitan Police on behalf of clients affected by the disclosure of more than 140 survivors’