THE DISCOVER CARD MERCHANT CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT

What’s This About?

Businesses pay a small fee for the benefit of accepting credit cards. Specifically, for every Discover credit card transaction, Discover assesses an “interchange fee” to businesses and other parties. The interchange fee applicable to Commercial/Business account transactions is generally higher than for Consumer card accounts. But, beginning in 2007, Discover allegedly misclassified some consumer credit cards as commercial credit cards, thereby causing merchants and others to pay excessive interchange fees. (This misclassification did not impact business and consumer cardholders--only the businesses that accepted the cards.)  The proposed settlement, if approved, will provide benefits to the businesses that accepted or processed Discover Cards and allegedly paid this misclassified higher interchange fees.

Who can recover under the Proposed Settlement?

The Settlement Class includes all businesses that processed or accepted a Discover Card with an excessive Interchange fee between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2023.

How much can I receive under the Proposed Settlement?

This will largely depend on the qualifying Interchange Fees your business paid and the total amounts claimed by all Settlement Class Members that file a claim. Under the proposed settlement, Discover has agreed to pay a minimum of $500 million to eligible Settlement Class Members.