MasterCard and Visa Passes Out Checks in Anti-Trust Case

NEW YORK – Trustees in the antitrust settlement with MasterCard and Visa USA began a third distribution Tuesday of checks to merchants involved in the so-called Wal-Mart antitrust case. About 128,000 checks with a total value of more than $300 million were distributed. Merchants in the case, including Wal-Mart, sued the two cards giants, claiming their ‘Honor-All-Cards’ policies violated antitrust laws. The policies linked acceptance of the networks' debit cards with their credit cards. The networks settled the case in the spring of 2003, with MasterCard agreeing to pay $1 billion and Visa agreeing to pay $2 billion. The two also agreed to de-link acceptance of the card products. The network payments cover overcharges for MasterCard and Visa signature debit and credit cards for the period from October 1992 to July 2003. About $650 million was sent to merchants in two previous distributions in December 2005 and June 2006.