A £14 billion Mastercard consumer damages case is to return to the UK's Competition and Appeals Tribunal for certification next month.
The return of the case to the Appeals Tribunal follows a Supreme Court judgement in December that ruled that the original dismissal of the class action suit included five errors of law.
Former financial ombudsman Walter Merricks originally launched the legal challenge in 2016 on behalf of 46 million customers and based on the European Commission’s 2007 finding that the card scheme charged inflated card fees on consumer card transactions between 1992 and 2008.
The claim was brought as an opt-out collective or class action, made possible by the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
Says Merricks: "Once the case is certified by the CAT following the hearing in March, the question to be decided is exactly how much Mastercard needs to pay to UK consumers in the form of damages."
If the suit succeeds, almost every adult present in the UK between 1992 and 2008 could receive a payout of up to £300 from Mastercard.
In a statement, Mastercard says: “This claim isn’t being brought by UK consumers but is being driven by US lawyers, backed by organisations primarily focused on making money for themselves. We fundamentally disagree with this claim and know people have received valuable benefits from Mastercard’s payments technology.”