visa and master Card It will pay $197 million to end a class action lawsuit centered on ATM fees.
According to court documents filed on Wednesday (May 29), the two payments giants Solve the caseThe lawsuit was brought by consumers who accused the banks of anticompetitive conduct by agreeing to withdraw cash from bank-operated ATMs, control ATM prices, and stifle competition among ATM networks.
In court filings, lawyers for the plaintiffs called the settlement a “great outcome” for their clients, noting that three banks also sued over alleged ATM manipulation – Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America – had already agreed to settle. $66 million settlement.
Of the total $264.24 million recovered, individual damage awards make up between 23.1% and 38.2%, an “unusual recovery rate” for a class action lawsuit, the complaint states. Visa will pay $104.6 million to settle the case, while MasterCard will pay the remaining $92.8 million.
The settlement comes after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month that credit card companies Reconsider the caseallowing it to continue.
PYMNTS has reached out to Visa for comment but has not yet heard back, and a Mastercard spokesperson declined to comment.
As PYMNTS wrote last month, the incident ATMs are evolving ATMs are becoming more interactive and capable of a range of tasks beyond just dispensing banknotes. Most estimates put the number of ATMs still in operation at around 450,000, down from a pre-pandemic peak of 470,000.
According to a manufacturer of automated cash processing machines: WittenbachATMs continue to be popular in non-traditional locations such as restaurants, medical offices and boutique retail stores. The company is also seeing demand for mobile ATMs that can be easily moved to high-traffic areas.
And they serve a variety of functions in the connected economy, such as: NCR AtherosThe company, which operates the largest ATM network in the country and what it calls its Interactive Teller Machine Network (ITM), positions its ATMs as full-service hubs that can take deposits, process cash recycling and provide access to account information.
By making cash more convenient, the company argues, branch employees can be more productive and customer-centric.
According to Atheros, about half of the 66% of people who earn less than $100,000 Still using cash Regularly.
“Meanwhile, another survey found that 30% of US customers still prefer cash as a payment method. While cash may no longer be the default payment method, demand remains high across the population.”
