$167.5 Million ATM Settlement: What You Need to Know Before Filing

If you've ever paid a fee at an ATM inside a gas station, convenience store, hotel, or bar, there's a class action settlement you need to know about — and you have until February 10, 2027 to file a claim.

Visa and Mastercard have agreed to a combined $167.5 million settlement to resolve a lawsuit first filed in 2011 alleging the two payment networks conspired to keep ATM access fees artificially high. Visa is contributing $88.775 million and Mastercard is putting in $78.725 million. Neither company admits wrongdoing.

The lawsuit claimed that Visa and Mastercard used network rules to prevent independent ATM operators — the companies that own machines at non-bank locations like corner stores, hotels, and bars — from offering lower fees when transactions could be processed through competing networks. The result, according to plaintiffs, was that consumers paid more than they should have every time they needed quick cash away from their bank.

Who Qualifies

The window is enormous — nearly two decades. Anyone who paid an unreimbursed ATM access fee at an independent, non-bank ATM in the United States between October 24, 2007 and August 14, 2026, may be eligible. The transaction must have been made using a PIN-based ATM or debit card linked to a deposit account.

The key qualifier is that the fee must not have been fully reimbursed by your bank. Many premium checking accounts and online banks automatically refund out-of-network ATM fees — if yours did, you likely don't qualify. If you paid that $3, $4, or $5 fee and it came out of your pocket, you're probably in the class.

Credit card transactions, cash advances, and prepaid card transactions are not included. The settlement only covers debit-based withdrawals.

Residents of California, Illinois, Massachusetts and Michigan are included in separate statewide classes within the settlement.

How Much Will You Actually Get?

Nobody knows yet — and that's not unusual for this kind of settlement.

Individual payments will depend on two things: how many valid claims are submitted in total, and how many qualifying transactions each claimant reports. The more claims filed, the smaller each individual payout. The more transactions you report, the larger your proportional share.

ATM fees have been climbing for years. The average fee for an out-of-network withdrawal in 2025 hit a record $4.86 — $3.22 charged by the ATM owner and $1.64 by the member's own bank. If you've been pulling cash from gas station ATMs regularly for the past decade, you may have paid hundreds of dollars in fees that this settlement is designed to address.

How to File

At this point you only need to fill out the claim form and state under oath that you paid an unreimbursed fee at a qualifying independent ATM during the eligible period. You'll also be asked to estimate how many times you paid a surcharge. The claims administrator reserves the right to request receipts or bank statements later.

You can file online at the official settlement website — search "Non-Bank ATM Surcharge Fee Settlement" — or print the form and mail it to: Non-Bank ATM Surcharge Fee Settlement, c/o A.B. Data, Ltd., P.O. Box 173053, Milwaukee, WI 53217.

The deadline to file is February 10, 2027. The deadline to object to or opt out of the settlement is December 11, 2026 — if you want to preserve your right to sue Visa or Mastercard independently, you must act by then.

A final court approval hearing is scheduled for February 17, 2027. If the settlement is approved and there are no appeals, payments are expected within six months — meaning sometime in the second half of 2027.

Payment options include PayPal, a virtual debit card, or a mailed check.

Why ATM Fees Have Been So High for So Long

The underlying issue in this lawsuit gets at something most consumers have never thought about — the hidden layer of network rules that govern what happens every time you insert your card into an ATM.

Visa and Mastercard don't just process credit card transactions. They also set the rules for how their debit networks operate, including what independent ATM operators can and can't do with their fees. The lawsuit alleged that a specific rule — one that prevented independent operators from charging different amounts depending on which network processed the transaction — effectively eliminated price competition between Visa's network and competing networks. Without competition, fees stayed high.

The average out-of-network ATM fee has increased every single year for the past decade. In 2015 it averaged $4.52 total. By 2020 it was $4.72. By 2025 it hit the record $4.86. Whether this settlement — and the rule changes that may come with it — will put downward pressure on that trend remains to be seen.

For now, if you've been paying those fees for the past 19 years and your bank wasn't covering them, filing a claim is worth the five minutes it takes.

Curious for more stories that keep you informed and entertained? From the latest headlines to everyday insights, YourLifeBuzz has more to explore. Dive into what’s next.