Bloomberg | October 12, 2011
By Tom Schoenberg

Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. (MA), the world’s biggest payment networks, were sued by a trade group representing operators of automated teller machines over claims the card companies fix prices and suppress competition between ATM networks.

The companies, in a lawsuit filed today in federal court in Washington, are accused of “eliminating or severely restricting independent decision-making” among ATM operators by establishing a uniform agreement with almost every card-issuing U.S. bank to “fix” ATM access fees.

The allegations were made by the National ATM Council Inc., a trade group based in Jacksonville, Florida, and 13 operators of ATMs in nine states.

“The ATM restraints prevent ATM operators from offering their customers a discount or benefit for completing a transaction over a network that is less costly to the ATM operator, so consumers cannot be rewarded for using a lower cost and more efficient network,” the lawsuit states.

James Issokson, a spokesman for Mastercard, based in Purchase, New York, declined to comment, saying the company had not been served with the lawsuit. Will Valentine, a spokesman for San Francisco-based Visa, declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The case is National ATM Council v. Visa Inc. (V), 11-1803, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).