$18.25M Heartland Payment Systems Settlement Ends Class Action Suit Over MySchoolBucks Surcharge Fees

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

An $18.25 million settlement will resolve a class action lawsuit over Heartland Payment Systems’ alleged mislabeling of certain credit/debit card surcharge fees as “program fees.”

Don’t miss out on class action settlement news like this. Sign up for ClassAction.org’s free weekly newsletter.

The Heartland class action settlement received preliminary approval from the court on May 23, 2025 and covers anyone who used a credit or debit card to upload money to MySchoolBucks to buy school lunches between June 18, 2013 and July 31, 2019.

The official settlement website specifies that consumers who did not upload money to MySchoolBucks for school lunches on or after January 1, 2015 are not included in the settlement class and cannot receive a payment from the deal.

The court-approved website for the Heartland settlement can be found at MSBFeeSettlement.com.

Heartland Payment Systems settlement class members who submit a timely, valid claim form may receive a pro-rata, or equal share, portion of the $18.25 million settlement after the payment of legal fees and lead plaintiff awards.

According to the class action settlement website, how much each eligible consumer will receive from the Heartland Payment Systems settlement depends on how many program fees they paid on MySchoolBucks for school lunches during the relevant time period, and the total number of valid claims that are submitted.

“We cannot calculate exactly how much money you have received until the deadline to submit Claims has passed,” the website states.

To submit a claim form online, class members can head to this page on the settlement website and log in with the unique settlement claim ID found in the email or postcard settlement notice sent out to all eligible consumers.

If you do not have a settlement claim ID and wish to check whether you are included in the settlement class, you may do so on the claim-filing page by selecting the appropriate option.

All class action settlement claim forms must be submitted by August 20, 2025.

A hearing is set for September 25, 2025 to determine whether the settlement will receive final court approval. Payments will begin to be distributed to claimants only after final approval is granted and any appeals are resolved.

The Heartland Payment Systems class action lawsuit alleged that consumers who used the company’s MySchoolBucks website were illegally charged “program fees,” which the suit claimed were disguised as credit and debit card surcharges, each time they used the website to input money for school lunches. The suit alleged that Heartland Payment Systems was not legally allowed to charge program fees to MySchoolBucks users and that consumers paid more money than they should have to upload money for students to purchase lunch.

Did you know that some class action settlements require no proof to submit a claim? Check out the latest top class action settlements.