DID YOUR BUSINESS PROCESS OR ACCEPT A MISCLASSIFIED DISCOVER CARD TRANSATION
FROM JANUARY 1, 2007
TO DECEMBER 31, 2023?
YOU MAY BE ELIGIBLE TO RECOVER PART OF THE $1.225 BILLION SETTLEMENT!
MERCHANT FEES (DISCOVER)
CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT
Eligible Class Members:
If certified, eligible Class Members include all “End Merchants”, “Merchant Acquirers” and “Payment Intermediaries” involved in processing or accepting a “Misclassified Card Transaction” (credit cards transactions that were classified by Discover as a commercial credit card but should have been classified as a consumer credit card) from January 1, 2007 through December 31, 2023 (the “Class Period”).
Defendants:
Discover Financial Services, DFS Services LLC and Discover Bank (collectively, “Discover”).
Relevant Case History
In 2023, class action lawsuits were filed alleging that, as a result of violations of the federal RICO statute, as well as several state consumer protection and common laws, merchants were charged excessive interchange fees beginning in 2007. The classes have reached with Discover a settlement for a total amount of $1,225,311,279.
The settlement is pending preliminary approval. If preliminary approval is granted, distribution of the settlement funds will occur after the class is certified, final approval is granted and the claims process is completed.
FAQs
Definition of “Merchant Acquirers”
Merchant Acquirers are business entities that during the Class Period
had an agreement with Discover to facilitate Discover credit card transactions for other businesses and was
characterized by Discover’s rules and regulations as an Acquirer.
Definition of “End Merchants”
End Merchants include individuals or business entities that during the Class Period accepted a Discover-issued credit card directly from a person as payment in return for the delivery of goods or services. For the purposes of this settlement, the following are different types of End Merchants:
o Indirect End Merchants accept or process Discover credit card transactions through Merchant Acquirers and/or Payment Intermediaries;
o Inactive Direct End Merchants are non-active Direct End Merchants (Active Direct End Merchants are End Merchants that have a current written contractual relationship with Discover to accept Discover credit cards without the aid of entities other than Discover such as Merchant Acquirers or Payment Intermediaries, and that have recently processed a Discover Card transaction);
o Managed Active Direct End Merchants are Active Direct End Merchants that also interact with Discover through a dedicated client relationship manager on a regular basis; and
o Unmanaged Active Direct End Merchants are Active Direct End Merchants that do not interact with Discover through a dedicated client relationship manager on a regular basis.
Definition of “Payment Intermediaries”
Payment Intermediaries include business entities that during the Class Period processed Discover credit card transactions on behalf of another business, but that is neither an End Merchant nor a Merchant Acquirer
The Services FRS Provides
Financial Recovery Strategies (FRS) is a class action claims management consultant; we are not a court appointed claims administrator or class counsel. If you hire FRS, FRS will work within your guidelines to manage the claims process. The services that FRS provides include the following:
(i) notifying you when we believe that you may be eligible to participate in settlements likely to be valuable to you;
(ii) endeavoring to enhance the likelihood that all of your eligible business units (e.g., subsidiaries, divisions, acquisitions and divestitures) are included in the claims process;
(iii) to reduce the support needed from your in-house staff, providing advice on what, if any, documents need to be collected and
maintained, and, when requested, assisting in that effort;
(iv) when required documents are not available or are too burdensome to collect, attempting to develop innovative alternatives to satisfy documentation requirements and striving to obtain approval of those alternatives;
(v) preparing, assembling and submitting your claim package, and managing it throughout the claims processing phase, including working with you to address any concerns or questions claims administrators may have;
(vi) providing regular updates on the recovery process; (vii) reviewing your payment to assure that it has not been under calculated; and
(viii) following up with you to assure that your recovery check is deposited. FRS’s recovery specialists are always available to answer any questions you may have.
If a merchant retains FRS, will the claim form go to the merchant or to FRS?
To make the process for its clients as efficient and seamless as possible, FRS is in communication with the Class Administrator to ensure that claim forms for all of its clients are sent directly to FRS. FRS will make every attempt to obtain claim forms for new clients that have not signed up yet but do so before claim forms are disseminated. FRS will also work directly with the Class Administrator to submit any “missing” claim forms that were never received by FRS or the merchant.
What is deadline for filing a claim?
As of April 1, 2025, the filing deadline has not been established.
SRH Business Resource Marketplace exists to help busy business leaders and entrepreneurs find essential business resources quickly and efficiently. We partner only with trusted organizations that bring tremendous value to our clients.
In alliance with Financial Recovery Strategies, pioneers in class-action claims processing, we are committed to maximizing each client’s settlement share. Leveraging tried and tested financial strategies, we leave no stone unturned in ensuring your business benefits optimally and fairly from class action settlements.
THE VALUE OF WORKING WITH FRS
• Notification of any future settlements for which a client may be eligible and would likely be valuable to them;
• Endeavoring to enhance the likelihood that all our clients’ eligible business units (e.g., subsidiaries, divisions, acquisitions, and
divestitures) are included in the claims process;
• Reducing the support needed from our clients’ in-house staff;
• If our clients do not have records from a class period, FRS has alternative methods to substantiate and maximize the claim;
• Preparing, assembling, and submitting our clients’ claim packages, and managing them throughout the claims processing phase, including working with the Class Administrator and the client to address any questions, concerns, or substantiation as required or requested;
• Providing regular updates on the recovery process;
• Reviewing payments to ensure that they have not been under-calculated;
• Following up with clients to ensure that recovery checks are successfully deposited; and
• Continuing to monitor court dockets to provide material updates on settlements and their recovery processes.
DISCLAIMER
Class Counsel or the Class Administrator may be contacted for additional settlement information. You also may visit the Court-approved website.
Please understand that you have the right to file on your own.
THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL COURT NOTICE.
INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS SUMMARY IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
How to Retain FRS
If you wish to hire FRS to file and manage a claim on your behalf, you must return a signed Claims Management Agreement and a signed Authority to File and Manage Claims. Before doing so, it is important that you understand their terms and make sure that all information about you is correct.
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