Grabar Law Office has filed a significant class action lawsuit against Visa Inc., alleging that Visa has systematically abused its market power in the U.S. debit network market. The complaint highlights Visa’s use of a complex and exclusionary strategy that has kept competitors out, restricted innovation, and burdened merchants with exorbitant fees. This has caused extensive financial harm to businesses that rely on Visa’s network for debit transactions.
Allegations Against Visa
The lawsuit claims Visa leveraged its dominance to impose anti-competitive conditions on merchants and acquirers, locking them into contracts that limited their choice of payment networks. Visa also allegedly orchestrated agreements with potential rivals, such as fintech companies, to deter them from creating competing debit network solutions. This has led to artificially high fees, less innovation, and a lack of competitive alternatives in the debit network space, severely impacting businesses’ bottom lines.
How Merchants Are Affected
Merchants are said to have faced billions of dollars in overcharges due to Visa’s practices. As a result, businesses are now joining this class action to seek compensation and help restore fair competition in the debit network market. If your business has paid excessive fees or experienced restricted competition due to Visa’s actions, you could be entitled to substantial financial recovery.
You may have a claim if your business meets one of the following criteria:
- Merchants: Your business began accepting Visa-branded debit cards after January 25, 2019, and is located in: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and Washington, D.C.
- Acquirer Banks: If you are a bank that processes payments on behalf of merchants and Visa’s practices have limited your ability to choose more cost-effective routing networks.
For more details or to see if your business qualifies, contact Joshua Grabar directly at [email protected] or call 267-507-6085.
