SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A settlement was reached for a class action lawsuit involving how many local businesses are being charged to run credit cards.
For Rodniya Attiq and her mom, owning a business has always been a dream.
“My mom wanted to do lamb tacos in San Diego because there wasn't one so she stated selling barbacoa,” Attiq said.
What started off as a pop up has turned into a restaurant in City Heights. They have learned a lot along the way, especially when it comes to costs like paying credit card transaction fees.
“I start making numbers and we have spent more than a hundred thousand dollars just to have the machines - that's until 2019," Attiq said.
There are many other business owners like Attiq who have shelled out a lot in the Visa and Mastercard interchange fees.
Alexnadra Bernay is one of the lawyers who has been handling a class action lawsuit against the credit card companies.
It has been going on for more than a decade. A settlement was just recently awarded.
“This case settled for 5.54 billion dollars, which is the largest class action anti- trust settlement that's real money for the millions of merchants across the country who accepted via and Mastercard Credit and debit cards," Bernay said.
Bernay said businesses who may have been impacted between Jan. 1, 2024 to Jan. 25, 2019 can file an application online to see if they qualify for a piece of the settlement.
“We know how much the settlement is for but we don't know how many pieces we're going to divide it into," Bernay said.
Regardless of the amount, Attiq said that extra money can go a long way.
“It's going to help a lot because that's money you aren't counting that you already spend," Attiq said.
A claim must be filed by Aug. 30, 2024.
