Mastercard refund: Could YOU claim £300 in Mastercard landmark ruling?

Adults in Britain could receive £300 windfall from Mastercard after a landmark ruling. The legal action, on behalf of British consumers, claimed UK residents paid fees way to high to the financial services company. The claim was made by former financial ombudsman Walter Merricks who brought the £14 billion lawsuit against Mastercard, saying it owes money to some 46 million consumers.

Could you claim £300 from MasterCard?

Currently, no one can claim the £300 payout from MasterCard.

However, Mr Merricks said 46 million British residents – nearly every adult in Britain – paid more than they should have done in transaction fees charged by the payment giant during a 16-year period.

If the former ombudsman’s claim goes to trial and he wins, anyone who can prove they were in the UK between 1992 and 2008 will get the money.

READ MORE: Card chaos as Visa system crashes

This goes for people who didn’t even have a Mastercard.

The claim is that anyone who made payments in the UK during the 16-year period were hit with unfairly high transaction fees.

This is because while shoppers don’t explicitly pay these fees they will be passed on by retailers in the form of higher prices.

This means if Mr Merricks wins everyone entitled to the compensation will be paid unless they explicitly opt out of it – even without any direct involvement in the trial.

What happened and what happens next?

In 2017, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) refused Mr Merricks’ application to lodge the £14 billion class action against the card firm over claims it broke competition law.

But now the Court of Appeal has granted permission to appeal, meaning the CAT ruling will now be set aside.

Mr Merricks said he was very pleased with the decision, saying in a statement earlier this week: “I am very pleased with today’s decision.

“It is nearly 12 years since Mastercard was clearly told that it had broken the law by imposing excessive card transaction charges, damaging consumers over a prolonged period.

“As a result we all had to pay higher prices in the shops than we should have done — while Mastercard have pocketed the profits.

“It’s now time for Mastercard to admit the damage it did, to apologise to the British public, and to agree to pay the compensation it owes.”

But Mastercard said it would appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

A Mastercard spokesperson said: “This decision is not a final ruling and the proposed claim is not approved to move forward, rather the court has simply said a re-hearing on certain issues should happen.

“Mastercard continues to disagree fundamentally with the basis of the claim and we believe UK consumers receive real value from the security, convenience and consumer protection of our payment services.”