MDL 1720 explainer · IC++ orchestration

Payment card interchange fee settlement — what it is, and how to reduce ongoing interchange.

The US class-action covering Visa and Mastercard merchant acceptance from 2004 → 2019 is administered by a court-appointed administrator. topropay isn't that administrator — but the same merchants who lived through the case are the ones whose ongoing interchange the platform's orchestration layer is built to reduce.

topropay is not the settlement administrator. For claim status, payout questions or notice verification, use only the court-appointed administrator's official site named in the court's filings for MDL 1720 in the Eastern District of New York.
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MDL 1720
In re Payment Card Interchange Fee · EDNY
2004 → 2019
merchant class period (cash settlement)
IC++
interchange transparency on the topropay side
Multi-acquirer
routing that reduces ongoing interchange

Key benefits

How merchants benefit from understanding credit card interchange fees plus the underlying case

Four properties — two informational about the settlement itself, two about ongoing interchange on the topropay platform.

  1. Explainer

    Read the settlement clearly

    The class-action settlement is a US-only legal matter run by court-appointed administrators. We explain what the case covers, who is eligible and where the official claim filings live — so you can check what you may already be entitled to without falling for impostor mailings.

  2. Explainer

    Recognise impostor outreach

    Genuine settlement communications come from the court-appointed administrator and direct you to a single, named official site. Any pitch demanding upfront fees to 'unlock' a settlement payout — or asking for card details — is not legitimate.

  3. Product

    Reduce ongoing interchange

    Whatever the settlement returns historically, the real money is in ongoing interchange. topropay's IC++ reporting separates interchange, scheme fees and acquirer mark-up per transaction; routing can shift volume to lower-cost interchange categories where eligible.

  4. Product

    Lift approval at the same time

    Multi-acquirer routing isn't only about cost. The same engine that picks lower-interchange lanes is the engine that lifts approval — soft declines cascade across the connected acquiring panel inside the same authorisation.

How the payment card interchange fee settlement and ongoing IC++ work

The case on the left · topropay's interchange product on the right

Two parallel narratives — what the court-administered case covers, and what topropay's platform actually does for merchants on an ongoing basis.

The settlement (informational)

  1. 01

    Class period & eligibility

    Merchants who accepted Visa or Mastercard payments in the United States between 1 January 2004 and 25 January 2019 were eligible for the cash-settlement class — provided they met the procedural deadlines administered by the court.

  2. 02

    Court-appointed administrator

    A court-appointed claims administrator handles notice, claim intake and distribution. Recipients should always verify any settlement-related communication against the official administrator's site, which is named in court filings and judicial orders.

  3. 03

    Distribution method

    Payouts are made pro-rata against the merchant's interchange paid during the class period, after deductions for opt-outs, legal fees and administration costs. The administrator publishes a methodology and FAQ.

topropay's interchange product

  1. 01

    Capture interchange-quality data

    topropay's orchestration captures the full data set per Visa / Mastercard transaction needed to qualify for the most favourable interchange categories — Level II / Level III data for B2B and government, AVS / CVV for CNP, tokenisation flags, MCC, and merchant address.

  2. 02

    Route to the right acquirer

    Smart routing scores each authorisation across the connected acquiring panel; the best route balances approval probability and interchange-plus-acquirer cost.

  3. 03

    Surface IC++ in reporting

    Settlement files normalise into one ledger with interchange, scheme fees and acquirer mark-up itemised per transaction — the IC++ shape — so finance can attribute cost to traffic shape and act on it.

Main use cases

Where interchange-aware orchestration earns its keep regardless of the historical case

Five recurring merchant shapes that benefit from ongoing interchange transparency on top of the wider acquiring panel.

  • Audit

    Audit historical interchange exposure

    Finance teams reviewing 2004 → 2019 US acceptance for the class-action filing can use the official administrator's site to file or check status; topropay does not file claims on a merchant's behalf.

  • Cost

    Lower ongoing interchange cost

    The post-settlement world doesn't change the interchange a merchant pays each day. Topropay's IC++ reporting and acquirer-side routing reduce the on-going line item the original case targeted.

  • L2/L3

    Unlock Level II / Level III data for B2B and gov

    Where the merchant's traffic is eligible for Level II or Level III interchange categories, the platform captures the required tax / line-item / customer-code metadata at authorisation.

  • AMR

    Account-merchant routing for cross-border

    Routing cross-border Visa or Mastercard traffic to a regionally-licensed acquirer can lower the cross-border interchange portion materially. The engine picks the route per BIN and country pair.

  • PSP

    PSPs surfacing IC++ to downstream merchants

    Resellers who want to expose transparent IC++ pricing to their downstream merchants get the per-transaction interchange and scheme-fee detail from the platform's settlement feed.

Platform features

Interchange-side capabilities on the topropay platform

Twelve capabilities the platform exposes — IC++ reporting, Level II / III data capture, account-merchant cross-border routing, and the broader orchestration layer those sit inside.

  • IC++ settlement detail

    Interchange, scheme fees and acquirer mark-up itemised per transaction in the settlement feed.

  • Per-BIN interchange tagging

    Each settled transaction tagged with the interchange category and rate the acquirer assigned to it.

  • Level II / Level III data capture

    Tax amount, customer code and line-item data captured at authorisation for eligible B2B and government Visa / Mastercard traffic.

  • Account-merchant routing

    Cross-border traffic routed to a regionally-licensed acquirer where one is connected, reducing cross-border interchange exposure.

  • Acquirer-side cost transparency

    Per-acquirer cost vs approval surfaced in the routing dashboard — the team sees the trade-off, not just one number.

  • Smart routing engine

    Per-transaction scoring on BIN, scheme, currency, country pair and risk; routes ranked across the connected Visa / Mastercard acquiring panel.

  • Cascade & retry

    Soft declines cascade to the next ranked acquirer inside the same authorisation; nothing leaks back to the buyer.

  • Network tokens (VTS / MDES)

    Network tokens by default for recurring and stored-credential; updaters keep them alive across re-issuance.

  • Selective 3DS2 / SCA

    Frictionless 3DS2 where eligible; step-up where required; the auth path doesn't break approval to satisfy compliance.

  • Dispute & chargeback queue

    Unified queue across acquirers; evidence-pack templates per vertical; representment automation for select scheme types.

  • PCI DSS Level 1 vault

    Card data captures into the platform vault before any acquirer sees it; vault tokens drive refunds, retries and recurring.

  • Audit-grade event log

    Every transition logged with actor identity, IP and timestamp; ledger and event log exportable for finance and audit.

Industry relevance

Where interchange transparency matters most

Interchange is the largest line item on most card-acceptance cost stacks. Merchants with high US card volume, with cross-border traffic that lands on cross-border interchange categories, with B2B / government traffic that qualifies for Level II or Level III rates, or with restricted MCCs that attract scheme-programme fees feel the impact most. topropay's posture targets licensed merchants across Europe, the UK, APAC and LATAM (with US connectivity via the connected acquiring panel); grey and black-market verticals are out of scope.

Trust & disclaimers

What topropay is and is not

An explicit posture: the platform's compliance scope, the limits of what it can do for the underlying class-action, and the safety-first reminder for merchants who receive settlement-related outreach.

Not the settlement administrator
topropay is not the court-appointed administrator of any payment-card interchange-fee class-action settlement and cannot issue, validate or accelerate settlement payouts. Always go to the official administrator's site for claim status.
PCI DSS Level 1
Annual on-site assessment plus quarterly ASV scans; sub-merchants inherit the posture across every connected acquirer.
Scheme programme posture
VDMP / VAMP / VFMP (Visa) and ECP / EFMP (Mastercard) positions surfaced per acquirer; routing weights can rotate around at-risk lanes.
SCA & PSD2
Selective 3DS2 on the authorisation path keeps approval high in Europe without skipping the SCA bar.
Sanctions & AML alignment
Sanctions screening on onboarding; AML monitoring tuned per merchant vertical, volume and channel mix.
Licensed verticals only
Licensed gaming, regulated financial services and other compliance-bound verticals supported only where current operating licences exist. Grey and black-market verticals are out of scope.

Ready to put interchange on a leash

Whatever the past settlement returns, ongoing interchange is where the future money lives.

A 30-minute interchange review covers your current IC++ shape, the Level II / III data your traffic could be capturing but isn't, the cross-border interchange you could re-route to a regionally-licensed acquirer, and a sandbox to test against before any commercial commitment.

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Frequently asked

Buyer and merchant questions about the case and interchange in practice

Definitions, eligibility, scam-spotting, IC++ mechanics and the practical answer to 'where does topropay fit into a long-term interchange strategy?'.

  1. 01

    What is the payment card interchange fee settlement?

    The payment card interchange fee settlement is the cash settlement reached in the long-running US class-action 'In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation,' MDL No. 1720, in the Eastern District of New York. The case was brought by US merchants against Visa, Mastercard and several major issuing banks; the Rule 23(b)(3) cash-settlement class covers US merchants that accepted Visa or Mastercard between 1 January 2004 and 25 January 2019.

  2. 02

    What is the official site for the in re payment card interchange fee case?

    The official site is operated by the court-appointed claims administrator. Court filings and judicial orders in MDL 1720 name the administrator. We deliberately don't restate the URL here in case the case page moves — go to the court docket or your original notice mailing for the canonical link, and only ever use the named administrator's domain.

  3. 03

    Is the payment card interchange fee settlement legit?

    The underlying class-action settlement is legitimate and is overseen by the US federal court (EDNY). What is NOT legitimate are scam outreach mailings, robocalls or emails that try to impersonate the administrator — typically demanding upfront fees to 'unlock' your share or asking for card details. The court-appointed administrator never charges merchants to file or receive a payout. If a message claims you're owed money and asks for payment to release it, treat it as fraud.

  4. 04

    What does payment card interchange fee settlement how much will i get really depend on?

    How much an eligible merchant receives from the payment card interchange fee settlement depends on their pro-rata share of the net settlement fund, which is itself based on the interchange the merchant paid during the 2004 → 2019 class period after deductions for opt-outs, legal fees and administrative costs. The administrator publishes a methodology, but no third party (including topropay) can quote an exact number for any specific merchant.

  5. 05

    Where does the phrase payment card interchange fee and merchant discount antitrust litigation come from?

    'Payment card interchange fee and merchant discount antitrust litigation' is the formal style of the underlying case — In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation. 'Merchant discount' is the technical term for the fee the merchant pays for accepting a card payment; 'interchange' is the largest component of that fee. The antitrust theory was that the schemes' rules constrained merchant fees above competitive levels.

  6. 06

    Does topropay process settlement payouts?

    No. topropay is a payment-aggregation and orchestration platform. It does not process, validate or distribute payouts under the payment card interchange fee settlement, and it has no privileged information about any particular merchant's claim status. For claim status, contact the court-appointed administrator directly.

  7. 07

    If the case is historical, why does interchange still matter today?

    The class-action settlement compensates for a historical period (2004 → 2019), but interchange is still the largest line item in card-acceptance cost today and shows up on every settlement file. Ongoing interchange optimisation — Level II / III data capture for eligible B2B and government traffic, routing to regionally-licensed acquirers on cross-border, accurate MCC and merchant-address data — typically delivers more lasting value than a one-time settlement payout.

  8. 08

    What are credit card interchange fees in plain language?

    Credit card interchange fees are paid by the merchant's acquirer to the cardholder's issuing bank on each transaction. The card scheme (Visa, Mastercard, etc.) sets the rate structures, broken down by card product, region, MCC, channel and a list of qualifying data fields. The merchant sees interchange either bundled into one rate or itemised as part of an IC++ pricing model.

  9. 09

    How does IC++ pricing relate to the settlement?

    IC++ pricing itemises interchange, scheme fees and acquirer mark-up per transaction, rather than bundling them into one blended rate. The original class-action argued that the bundled / restricted nature of merchant pricing prevented competition; IC++ pricing is part of the modern response — and topropay's settlement feed exposes the IC++ shape regardless of which acquirer carried the authorisation.

  10. 10

    Can topropay help me file a claim?

    topropay cannot file or submit a claim on a merchant's behalf in any class-action settlement; that has to go through the court-appointed administrator's process and any deadlines the court has set. We can help with ongoing acceptance — interchange-aware routing, IC++ reporting and acquirer-side cost transparency — which is independent of any past or future class-action.

  11. 11

    What about non-US merchants — does the settlement apply?

    The US class-action settlement covers US merchant acceptance during the named class period. Non-US merchants are not covered by this specific case. Other jurisdictions have separately litigated and regulated interchange (e.g. the EU's Interchange Fee Regulation caps consumer card interchange in the EEA); topropay applies the relevant scheme and regulatory caps per region.

  12. 12

    How long does interchange optimisation take to show up on the platform?

    Interchange optimisation shows up on the settlement file from the first cleared transactions that benefit from the new routing or data-capture configuration — typically 1–3 days after capture, depending on the connected acquirer's settlement cadence. Reporting in the platform dashboard updates per the same cycle.

  13. 13

    Is interchange the only fee on the settlement file?

    No. The settlement file separates interchange (paid to the issuer), scheme fees (paid to Visa / Mastercard) and acquirer mark-up. IC++ reporting in topropay surfaces all three per transaction so finance can see exactly where the cost is going.

  14. 14

    What if I receive a suspicious mailing about the settlement?

    Suspicious mailings that name the settlement but ask for upfront fees, card details, banking credentials or unusual identity verification are NOT from the court-appointed administrator. Don't reply, don't pay, don't share details. If you want to verify, go directly to the court docket (PACER) for MDL 1720 in EDNY, or check the administrator's official site as named in the court's own filings.

  15. 15

    Where does topropay fit into a long-term interchange strategy?

    topropay fits as the orchestration and reporting layer underneath whatever acquirers you work with. By exposing IC++ detail per transaction, ranking routes on cost plus approval, and capturing Level II / III data automatically where eligible, the platform turns interchange from a fixed cost-of-business into a measurable, controllable line item — well beyond the scope of any one-time legal settlement.

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