There is more than one ATM fee settlement, they are in the same courthouse, and the administrator holds the same email list for both. That is why a single inbox can hold a claim invitation for one case and a payment notice for another — and why fraudulent ATM settlement payment emails are landing right now.
Claims open: Burke, deadline February 10, 2027 | Closed and paying: Mackmin, claim deadline passed January 22, 2025
Three Cases, One Courthouse
Three parallel ATM fee cases were filed in October 2011 and are moving through the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. They are coordinated, but they are not the same case and they do not cover the same people.
| Burke v. Visa Inc. No. 1:11-cv-01882 (RJL) | Independent, nonbank ATMs. $167.5 million. Preliminary approval August 14, 2026. Claims opened September 11, 2026 and close February 10, 2027. No payments have been sent. |
| Mackmin v. Visa Inc. No. 1:11-cv-01831 | Bank-owned ATMs. First settlements with three banks approved August 22, 2022, totaling $67 million; the second, with Visa and Mastercard, approved June 20, 2025, totaling $197.5 million. Claim deadline passed January 22, 2025 and is not reopening. Distribution is under way. |
| National ATM Council v. Visa Inc. No. 1:11-cv-01803 | Businesses that own and operate independent ATMs — not consumers. |
The One Question That Sorts You
Ignore the case names for a moment and ask where the machine was.
- A stand-alone machine in a convenience store, gas station, bar, club, hotel lobby or small retailer? That is an independent ATM — an IATM in the filings — a machine owned by neither Visa, Mastercard, a bank nor any other financial institution. That is Burke, and its claim window is open now.
- A machine at a bank branch? That is the bank-owned side, which is Mackmin, and its claim deadline passed on January 22, 2025.
The Burke class runs from October 24, 2007 through August 14, 2026 and covers a domestic cash withdrawal from a deposit account made with an ATM or pin-debit card where you paid a surcharge your bank did not fully reimburse. Credit card transactions, cash advances and prepaid card transactions are outside it. Four statewide classes — California, Illinois, Massachusetts and Michigan — sit alongside the Nationwide Class, and a person can be in both. The full eligibility breakdown is in our report on the open Burke claim window and on our sister site’s Burke v. Visa settlement page.
Opting Out of Mackmin Did Not Opt You Out of Burke
This catches people who deliberately sat out the earlier case. The August 14, 2026 preliminary approval order states that people who excluded themselves from the prior Mackmin ATM surcharge settlements are still bound by this Burke settlement unless they submit an exclusion request specifically for it.
The Burke exclusion deadline is December 11, 2026, by signed letter mailed to the Claims Administrator under Question 18 of the notice. Opting out is the only route that preserves a right to sue Visa or Mastercard separately over these claims, and it forfeits any payment. Objecting is the opposite choice and shares the same December 11, 2026 date: it keeps you in the class, and it does not stop you also filing a claim.
Why Your Inbox Has Both Cases In It
The preliminary approval order authorized the administrator to use the email addresses it already holds from the two prior Mackmin settlements to give notice in Burke, under the protective order in the coordinated actions. Alongside that, the notice program runs court-approved digital advertising, a news release over PR Newswire’s US and Hispanic newslines, and a one-time third-page print notice in People magazine.
So a legitimate Burke claim invitation can arrive at the same address that received Mackmin correspondence years ago. That overlap is real, it is court-authorized, and it is exactly the confusion that makes the current fraud wave work.
The Fake Payment Emails
The fraud sits on the Mackmin side, where money is actually moving. The official Mackmin settlement website now says digital payments were issued between April and June 2026, that all digital payments have since been canceled, and warns that there have recently been fraudulent attempts to send digital payments to class members — telling class members not to click links in those emails.
The distribution is not finished, which is what makes this hard. Class members report receiving digital payments in September 2026 after asking the Claims Administrator about claims that had been under review and were approved. Some Mackmin payment emails are therefore genuine and some are not, and nothing in the notice distinguishes them on sight. Our sister site has followed that thread from the April 2026 payments-available update through the fraud-review and timeline update.
Burke is exposed for the opposite reason: claims just opened, no payments exist yet, and a vacuum is where scam operators work best. There is no way to reserve, pre-register or expedite a Burke claim. Filing on the official settlement website is free.
What a real ATM settlement message never does
- It never charges a fee. Not to file, not to “release” a payment, not to expedite one.
- It never asks for online banking credentials or an account login. The Burke claim form asks for name, address, phone, email, whether you paid an unreimbursed surcharge at an independent ATM in the class period, whether the card was an ATM or pin-debit card, and an estimated transaction count. Nothing else.
- It never needs a link. Type the settlement website address into the browser yourself. For Burke, that is NonbankATMSurchargeSettlement.com, which carries the court-approved claim form, the long-form notice, the settlement agreement and the case’s important dates.
- It never promises a specific amount. Burke pays pro rata by qualifying transaction count against every other valid claim, so no per-person figure exists — the notice says outright that nobody can know in advance what a payment will be.
Phishing can be reported to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov.
What Is Actually Due, and When
- December 11, 2026 — Burke exclusion deadline, and the deadline to object or file a notice of intention to appear.
- Late November 2026 — Class Co-Lead Counsel’s motion for attorneys’ fees, costs and service awards is due 105 days after entry of the order. Counsel will seek up to 30% of the fund plus costs, and up to $17,500 per class representative, all subject to court approval.
- Late December 2026 — papers supporting final approval and responding to objections are due, 133 days after entry.
- February 10, 2027 — Burke claim deadline, online or postmarked.
- February 17, 2027 at 4:00 p.m. ET — Fairness Hearing, Courtroom 18, which the notice cautions may be moved or held electronically without additional notice.
- Roughly six months after final approval — the administrator’s anticipated Burke payment window, if the settlement is approved and no appeals are filed.
All proceedings against Visa and Mastercard are stayed until the court rules on final approval. If final approval is denied or vacated on appeal the settlement becomes null and void, and Visa and Mastercard retain the right to terminate it if 6,000,000 potential class members opt out.
Frequently Asked Questions
I got an ATM settlement email. Which case is it about?
Check what it asks you to do. An invitation to file a claim with a February 10, 2027 deadline is Burke v. Visa, the independent nonbank ATM case. A message about a payment relates to Mackmin v. Visa, the bank-owned ATM case, whose claim deadline passed January 22, 2025 and where fraudulent payment emails have been reported. Verify either one by typing the settlement website address yourself rather than clicking a link.
Can I still file a claim in the Mackmin bank ATM settlement?
No. The Mackmin claim deadline passed on January 22, 2025 and is not reopening. Only the Burke nonbank ATM settlement has an open claim window, through February 10, 2027.
I opted out of the earlier ATM settlement. Am I out of this one too?
No. The August 14, 2026 preliminary approval order states that people who excluded themselves from the prior Mackmin ATM surcharge settlements remain bound by the Burke settlement unless they submit an exclusion request specifically for Burke, by December 11, 2026.
Are the Mackmin payment emails all fake?
No, and that is the difficulty. The official Mackmin settlement website says digital payments issued between April and June 2026 were canceled and warns of recent fraudulent attempts to send digital payments, while class members report receiving genuine digital payments in September 2026 on claims that were approved after review. Reach the administrator through the settlement website itself rather than through an emailed link.
Does filing a Burke claim cost anything?
No. Filing on the official settlement website is free, no receipts or bank statements are required at the time of filing, and class members are not charged for Class Co-Lead Counsel. Any message demanding a fee, banking credentials or an account login to secure an ATM settlement payment is fraudulent.
Sources
- Official settlement website — NonbankATMSurchargeSettlement.com, maintained by the Claims Administrator under the supervision of Class Counsel.
- Burke v. Visa Inc., No. 1:11-cv-01882 (RJL), U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia — Order Granting Preliminary Approval, ECF No. 198, entered August 14, 2026.
- Court-approved long-form Notice of Proposed Class Action Settlement and Claim Form, Burke v. Visa Inc.
- Official Mackmin v. Visa Inc. settlement website — digital payment status and fraud warning.
- OpenClassActions.com — $167.5M Nonbank ATM Surcharge Settlement Claims Are Open, ATM Fee Class Action Settlements overview, and the ATM surcharge payout update and fraud review timeline.
Legal Disclaimer
This article is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. OpenClassActions.org is a consumer news site, not a law firm and not the settlement administrator, and is not affiliated with Visa, Mastercard or any party to the cases described. The allegations are allegations; the defendants deny wrongdoing and the court has not decided the merits. Deadlines and payment timing can change as the court and the administrator act, so confirm current status on the official settlement website. You never need to pay anyone to file a claim or to receive a settlement payment.