The claim also alleges that these rules prevent merchants from charging more for payments with premium cards.
Ward Branch, partner at Branch MacMaster LLP said, “The lawsuit alleges that merchants are forced to raise prices for all customers to cover the cost of transactions with premium cards. Our research suggests that these fees cost Canadian merchants $5 billion in 2009 alone. The system is bad for Canadian merchants, Canadian consumers, and for the Canadian economy as a whole.”
The suit follows a filing by the Competition Bureau of Canada, which seeks to prevent Visa and MasterCard from imposing the rules preventing surcharges and forcing merchants to honour all cards. This proposed class action seeks to recover the fees that Visa, MasterCard, and the banks are alleged to have collected illegally from merchants.
Read the press release from the law firms here: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/a…/29/c7275.html
