October 30, 2025 Update: Court Approves Initial Partial Distribution
On October 30, 2025, the Court approved the motion filed by Class Counsel requesting approval of an initial, partial distribution for certain claimants.
The Court found that the initial, partial distribution of settlement funds set forth in class counsel's motion is in the best interest of the class because (1) eligible claimants with clear, uncontroversial claims will receive a partial payment of their share of the settlement fund; and (2) the Lanning and Old Jericho plaintiffs, whose appeals are currently pending, will be adequately protected through established trust accounts and through the significant amount of settlement funds that will remain following the partial distribution. The Court created trust accounts in lieu of staying distribution of the settlement fund and, in so doing, recognized various uncertainties surrounding partial distribution.
It is anticipated that initial, partial payments will be issued in February 2026 for class members whose claims were approved for initial payment by the Court.
Background: August 2025 Motion
On August 20, 2025, a motion was filed with the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals requesting approval of an initial partial distribution of settlement funds in the Payment Card Interchange Fee class action suit.
The $5.5 billion settlement applies to merchants that accepted Visa and Mastercard branded cards in the United States at any time from January 1, 2004, to January 25, 2019. The claim filing deadline was February 4, 2025. Merchants that previously settled with the defendants are not eligible to receive funds from the settlement.
Class Counsel has requested an initial partial distribution because outstanding legal disputes regarding payment facilitators (PayFacs) and Branded Operators, and challenges to fee amounts or ownership of claims have made full payment of claims impossible at this time.
The proposed distribution will go to claimants that are not likely to be impacted by the outstanding legal issues and whose claims are not otherwise in process or potentially subject to future audits. If approved, the distribution will pay approximately $426 million to more than 605,000 claimants. To ensure that no merchant is overpaid now, the proposed distributees will initially receive a percentage of their pro rata share of the net settlement fund and then they will receive the remaining portions of their pro rata shares in a subsequent distribution.
The first legal dispute affecting the ability to make complete payments to the class at this time is a case which poses the question of whether PayFacs, such as Square or Intuit, or the merchant that takes payment through them "accepted" cards and thus is a member of the class. The second legal dispute poses a similar class-membership question regarding upstream oil companies – such as Shell and Texaco – and the fuel retailers (Branded Operators) that sell fuel to the end consumer. Because of these appeals, and the associated uncertainty regarding certain merchants' class membership, the Court ordered the establishment of trust accounts with settlement funds for PayFac merchants and Branded Operators, respectively.
It is unknown at this time if or when the Court will approve the motion.
The Motion for Initial, Partial Distribution of Settlement Funds is available on the official court authorized settlement website for the Payment Card Interchange Fee Settlement. The website also contains a portal merchants can use to check the status of their claims.
