Foreign Currency Conversion Fee Antitrust Litigation - CCF Settlement.
I got a letter in the mail yesterday stating that I was eligable to get part of national settlement against some credit card companies, for charges made on overseas transations. There are a couple of different options, depending on how much travel I did between 1996 and 2006.
I’ve never heard of this case. Is this legit? When I Google CCF Settlement, I see that there is indeed such a case, but I’m wondering more about the paperwork that was sent out.
The current form has 3 options. The first, if you travelled for a week or less over the time period, is for a $25 refund. No documentation needed. Don’t know if that changes your mind.
I went to the site and opted for my $25. It seemed pretty “legit” - or at least harmless - because it didn’t ask me for any info other than my “reference ID” which had come in the mail, and to verify that the address info they already had for me was correct.
They didn’t ask for credit card numbers or anything.
So, seeing as how I maybe made one foreign currency purchase in the last 3 years, I’ll be happy to collect my $25 and be done with it.
I got one of these too. I haven’t used a credit card outside of the US since 1979, so I have no idea why I got it. I’m wondering if it would be considered fraud to apply for a $25 settlement anyway.
I’ve been following this case with interest for some time now, ever since one of my cards included a notice of the lawsuit along with one of my monthly statements. I’m 99.9% sure it’s legit. Now all I need to do is figure out which method to use…
Since I lived outside the US and traveled extensively for at least two of those years - using my American Mastercard everywhere - I went for option 2. We’ll see what they come up with.
IANAL but IMHO it would be fraud. I have one in front of me and it talks about fees from 2/1/96 through 11/8/06. If you didn’t make foreign purchases or ATM transactions during that period, then you don’t qualify.
I don’t know how they determine who to send these to. Conceivably it could be anyone who held a Visa, MC, or Diner’s club during that period.
The notice doesn’t specify currencies or countries, just “foreign currency or with a foreign merchant, including purchases, cash advances, cash withdrawals, and Internet transactions.” Seems like that would include check cards. Do you live in the US?
Note to LurkMeister:
BTW it also says “If you had as of November 8, 2006, a Visa, MasterCard, or Diners Club card, you are a member of the *Settlement Injunctive Class * and will benefit from the settlement even if you did **not ** use your card to make a foreign transaction.” So that contradicts my earlier post regarding fraud.
Also BTW it says that the lawyers get 27.5% of the fund after administrative costs, which works out to be over $86M (the total fund is $336M).
Hmm, I think I made a foolish (if honest) choice. I chose option 1, for $25, instead of option 2, which is based on your days of travel. When I travel, I don’t really use my cards, so I was under the $2500. But I probably have 75-100 days of travel in the range they want, and that would surely give me a higher payment, assuming they estimate at least $50 or so per day.
Whoa. It’s been so long I forgot about this. I opted for something other than $25, and listed my approximate days in other countries, though I forget what that was, maybe 20 or 30 days. I wonder if I’ll get something in the mail soon.
Huh. I was wondering about this the other day. It’s been so long I figured nothing was ever going to come from it. I chose option 2, hoping that I’d net more $$$ on the strength of a couple of trips to NZ and Australia. Maybe I should keeping an eye on my mailbox!
It was a really long time ago, that I heard about this and I don’t remember what I submitted. I lived overseas for several years and used my VISA card almost exclusively when I traveled around (I worked all over the eastern Caribbean, so went country to country for my job). Most likely I am due some kind of settlement, but who knows how to pursue it at this point.