British billions may still be claimed against MasterCard for fees

A major lawsuit may be brought against the payment company Mastercard in the UK. The former head of the British Financial Ombudsman was allowed to sue the US company by a court over the exorbitant costs imposed by the company. On behalf of 46 million Britons, Walter Merricks requested 14 billion pounds from Mastercard, transferred more than 16 billion euros.

The case stems from a 2018 investigation by the European Commission, which ultimately ruled that MasterCard had charged an excessive fee on its credit card payments. MasterCard was fined 570 million euros in early 2019. The visa was also sanctioned at the time.

The case has been going on for some time and Mastercard is fiercely opposed to it. In December, the company lost a case in Britain’s highest court in which it sought to block the compensation claim. Mastercard claims that the case was not started by consumers, but by “lawyers who came out for profit”.

Merricks, in turn, wanted to represent the now-deceased Britons. With that, it will trade on behalf of nearly 60 million Britons and the claim could also be much higher. However, the court prevented it.