Hospitality businesses across the EEA and UK that accept Visa or Mastercard payments may be entitled to a substantial payout for years of unlawful overcharging. The claim seeks compensation for excessive “multilateral interchange fees” (MIFs) applied to all Visa and Mastercard transactions, charges that directly increased card processing costs for hotels, restaurants, pubs, bars, leisure venues, and wider hospitality operators.
In June 2025, the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal issued a major judgment confirming that these interchange fees breached EU competition law. This creates a strong legal foundation for hospitality operators to recover historic losses on card transactions.
The action is being led by Hausfeld, a top-ranked competition litigation firm with extensive experience against Visa and Mastercard. The claim is fully funded by Bench Walk Advisors. meaning hospitality businesses face:
- No up-front costs
- No financial risk thanks to After the Event (ATE) insurance
- Minimum time commitment, as the legal team handles the process and only requires transactional data once onboarded, handled by payment-specialists, BB Merchant Services
To be eligible, hospitality operators must have processed Visa and/or Mastercard transactions in the UK and EEA within the last six years and have annual card turnover above €50 million. Businesses that have previously settled with Visa or Mastercard may be restricted depending on settlement terms.
The claim will be brought in the English courts, which already recognise these interchange fees as presumptively anti-competitive, giving claimants a significant advantage.
Registration is non-binding, takes under two minutes, and is confidential.
Registration deadline: 19th December 2025.
