Businesses still have period, but not a lot, to claim their part of a $5.5 billion class action settlement stemming from Visa and Mastercard’s alleged fee overcharges, attorneys said.

The deadline to file a claim is Feb. 4, extended from Aug. 30. Any nonprofit or business is eligible to file a claim if it accepted Visa and/or Mastercard loan or debit payments between Jan. 1, 2004, and Jan. 25, 2019. This includes businesses that have since closed or gone bankrupt.

The settlement was a outcome of a long-running antitrust case in which the two loan card network giants allegedly overcharged merchants by exacting excessive interchange fees, also called swipe fees. Merchants pay these fees, often a percentage of the sale amount, to financial institution card issuers and the networks each period a card is swiped.  

“The objective (of the extension) is to get this money into hands of merchants who were allegedly overcharged over this long period of period,” said Alexandra “Xan” Bernay, associate at Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP, a co-navigator counsel with Berger Montague and Robins Kaplan lawfirms on the case. “We desire to make sure people have the period to get their claim in.”

How can businesses file a claim?

Eligible claimants can file online at the official website. From there, enter and submit business details, swap data, and proof of Visa/Mastercard settlement processing during the eligible period. Businesses will have an chance to upload supporting documents. You don’t require to hire a lawyer.

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If merchants changed their business name or structure over the 15-year period the settlement covers, there would be multiple entries grouped under the same taxpayer ID.

“The extension has been beneficial,” said Chad Anglin, owner of San Diego, California-based Pigment, which has been selling design savvy gifts, flora and furniture since 2007. “It’s given me period to leave through my records.”

The settlement administrator that verifies claims and assesses them also helps, said Ryan Marth, associate at Robins Kaplan.

The administrator “has access to a lot of loan card and financial institution data. So, for many merchants, they can just leave to the site, make an account with a taxpayer ID, and after a few days, their information will display up based on the administrator’s data,” he said. “If the administrator doesn’t have the records, (businesses also) have the chance to inquire the administrator to provide additional resources to assist search for sales data.”

Most merchants will discover their data pre-populated in the database. In some cases, merchants are asked to provide the available data that they have, supporting a claim.

How much money will businesses get back?

Amounts will vary depending on the size of the business and how many valid claims are submitted, Bernay said.

But “most will discover it’s worth their period to file,” she said.

When will businesses get paid?

There’s no date for when checks will get sent, the attorneys said.

“There’s a procedure that has to receive place by the claims administrator to vet and audit claims to make sure they haven’t’ been wrongly submitted and everything’s above board and correct,” Bernay said. “We inform businesses to remain patient.”

Is this related to the loan Card Competition Act?

This case is divide from the battle merchants are currently waging against Visa and Mastercard over loan card swipe fees.

Merchants claim Visa and Mastercard, which control more than 80% of the trade for card purchases, comprise a duopoly that gets to set swipe fees. They’ve been asking Congress for years to pass the loan Card Competition Act to lower fees. The Act would require merchants have a selection of at least one card network that’s not Visa or Mastercard to procedure their transactions.

Payments groups resist the legislation, saying the fees back fraud-prevention technology and buyer rewards programs. Retailers also advantage from accepting loan cards because people tend to spend more, they said.

Back in 2005, when this case was filed Visa and Mastercard were financial institution associations, meaning groups of banks owned and governed each of them, Marth said. Those banks set the fees collectively, instead of competing, which is why this was an antitrust case.

Since then, Visa and Mastercard each spun out into their own community companies.

Medora Lee is a money, markets and financial planning reporter at USA TODAY. You can reach her at [email protected] and subscribe to our free Daily Money newsletter for financial planning tips and business information every Monday through Friday morning.