---
title: "UK Businesses to Sue Visa and Mastercard Over Card Fees"
url: https://noti.group/uk-businesses-to-sue-visa-and-mastercard-over-card-fees/
language: en
publisher: "Noti Group"
section: "Business"
published: 2026-10-26T15:30:57.000Z
updated: 2026-10-26T17:24:09.389Z
id: 2b6ae7b7-b248-4458-bf90-b49e094ca03e
source: "The Guardian Business https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/oct/26/visa-mastercard-potential-uk-lawsuit-interchange-fees-compensation"
attribution: "Link to https://noti.group/uk-businesses-to-sue-visa-and-mastercard-over-card-fees/ and name Noti Group when you quote or summarize this story."
---

# UK Businesses to Sue Visa and Mastercard Over Card Fees

A potential lawsuit has been filed against Visa and Mastercard in the UK, alleging that the two payment giants have stifled competition and overcharged businesses for customer card transactions since 2020.

A potential lawsuit threatening Visa and Mastercard with a massive financial penalty has been filed in the UK. The claim alleges that the two payment giants have stifled competition, leaving businesses at their mercy when it comes to customer card payments.

Harcus Parker and Hausfeld law firms have made an application to pursue a group claim on behalf of companies they believe were overcharged on customer card transactions since 2020. This would allow multiple businesses to join forces in seeking compensation for alleged excessive fees imposed by Visa and Mastercard.

The crux of the argument centres on multilateral interchange fees set by Visa and Mastercard, which are then paid by businesses through their banks each time a customer makes a card payment. Proponents claim that this lack of competition has resulted in higher fees being charged to businesses for debit, credit, and prepaid cards.

The lawsuit aims to recover fees charged over the past six years, as well as interest on those losses, with estimates suggesting it could be worth around £5bn based on the number of affected businesses.

The potential group claim against Visa and Mastercard has been dismissed as "speculative" by a spokesperson for one of the credit card giants. This reaction comes as a London-based firm, Bench Walk Advisors, is funding the lawsuit on behalf of affected businesses. The company makes its profits from backing lawsuits, raising questions about the motivations behind this particular case.

Bench Walk Advisors has been involved in several group legal actions against Visa and Mastercard since 2021, with Stephen Allen at the helm. As a British businessman and former executive in the travel sector, Allen appears to have a track record of pursuing high-profile cases on behalf of businesses. The firm's decision to fund this lawsuit has sparked debate about the role of litigation funders in shaping the justice system.

If approved, the group claim would automatically include approximately 1 million UK-based businesses and organisations with revenues under £100m, unless they opt out. Each business could potentially receive several thousand pounds in compensation. Larger companies, however, would need to actively choose to participate in the claim and may be due tens of millions over the disputed period.

The outcome of this lawsuit is likely to take years to determine, as similar cases have shown. In a related development, Visa and Mastercard agreed last year to pay $167.5m to settle a US class action lawsuit alleging that they conspired to keep ATM access fees artificially high. That case was originally filed in 2011, highlighting the lengthy process involved in such legal proceedings.

The two major credit card companies, Visa and Mastercard, are facing the threat of a massive lawsuit in the UK over their interchange fees.

Mastercard has expressed strong disagreement with the claim, stating that interchange is essential for supporting the UK's payments ecosystem and ensuring quick and secure transactions between individuals and businesses. The company argues that this speculative claim does nothing to support consumers or businesses and instead reflects a growing trend of opportunistic litigation backed by funders.

Visa also maintains that its interchange fees are crucial for maintaining a secure digital payments system, benefiting all parties involved including consumers, merchants, and banks.

---
Source: [The Guardian Business](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/oct/26/visa-mastercard-potential-uk-lawsuit-interchange-fees-compensation)  
Published by Noti Group: https://noti.group/uk-businesses-to-sue-visa-and-mastercard-over-card-fees/