Visa Antitrust Lawsuit Investigation

Audet & Partners, LLP is investigating long-standing claims by merchants and business owners alleging antitrust violations against Visa as part of a Visa antitrust lawsuit.  Merchants have alleged an antitrust conspiracy among Visa and a long list of banks and financial institutions claiming that companies have worked to create an illegal scheme that effectively prevents merchants from passing along the true cost of credit card transactions to customers.

Merchants and small businesses have noted contractual rules mandatorily enforced by Visa that effectively handcuff businesses to less-than-favorable transaction terms with Visa.  These rules include, but are not limited to, the following:

• “No Surcharge Rule” – effectively prohibits merchants from passing on transactional fees charged by Visa (“Interchange Fees”) to consumers;

• “Honor-All-Cards Rule” – requires merchants to accept all Visa or MasterCard cards if any are accepted, regardless of differences in Interchange Fees;

• “All-Outlets Rule” – this is a rule enforced by the Visa International Association (an association that facilitates transfer of value and information among member financial institutions) that mandates the merchants with more than one outlet must accept Visa products in all outlets;

• “No-Bypass Rule” – this Rule allegedly prevents bypass of the Visa system even when the Issuing Bank and Acquiring Bank are the same.

The law firm is no longer accepting clients in this case.

 

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