Visa and Mastercard to pay $167.5m to settle lawsuit over ATM fees

Class-action lawsuit accused the two companies of conspiring to keep ATM access fees artificially highVisa and Mastercard have agreed to pay a combined $167.5m to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing them of conspiring to keep ATM access fees artificially high. The proposed settlement was filed on Thursday in the federal district court in Washington and requires a judge’s approval.The accord would pay potentially millions of ATM users who were charged an unreimbursed access fee to withdraw cash from independent, non-bank ATMs. Visa would contribute about $88.8m and Mastercard about $78.7m to a settlement fund. The money would be distributed to eligible customers with qualifying ATM transactions made since October 2007. Continue reading...