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Everyone In Britain Could Get £300 From Mastercard After Landmark Ruling

Ciara Sheppard

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Everyone In Britain Could Get £300 From Mastercard After Landmark Ruling

Featured Image Credit: PA

Almost every person in the UK could be entitled to £300 compensation from Mastercard after a landmark court ruling.

It could be quids in for the majority of the country if a lawsuit brought by former financial ombudsman Walter Merricks is successful.

Merricks has brought a £14billion case against Mastercard, claiming it owes 46 million consumers money.The businessman claims that the payment giant overcharged this huge amount of people in transaction fees over a 16-year period.

Credit: PA
Credit: PA
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When the maths is done, this equates to compensation of around £300 for anyone who can prove they are in the UK between 1992 and 2008.

And it's not just for those who use Mastercard; it's alleged that anyone who made payments in Britain during that time was hit with disproportionate transaction fees.

This is because high fees were passed on to retailers in the form of high prices, affecting everyone who spent money at the time.

Credit: PA
Credit: PA
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The drama began in 2007 when the European Commission found Mastercard to have set certain fees charged between banks in Mastercard transactions. The company were then fined £501 million for charging these fees to consumers.

Later, in 2016 Merricks decided to investigate further and ended up launching a lawsuit against the card firm.

Initially, his case was thrown out due to not being able to work out how to calculate the compensation owed, however this was overturned by the Court of Appeals, and the case has be granted the go ahead.

In a statement after the new ruling, Mr Merricks said: "I am very pleased with today's decision.

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"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."

However, don't get excited too soon because Mastercard appear to be planning to fight the case tooth and nail, meaning the case will likely be taken to the Supreme Court which could take months if not years to be settled.

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Topics: Events News, Real

Ciara Sheppard
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