Class Action Lawsuit Over Foreign Transacton Fees Settled

If you’ve charged any transactions overseas on your credit cards within the past 10 years or so, you’ll likely be receiving a notification in the mail about a class action lawsuit that was recently settled against several major credit card issuers regarding foreign transaction fees. If you get one of these notifications in the mail, don’t throw it away. In fact, if you are one of nearly 30 million people that are included in the settlement of the class action lawsuit aimed at major credit card issuers, you’ll be getting a refund of at least $25 back.

The lawsuit was filed in order to represent cardholders that were charged foreign transaction fees when making purchases overseas. The settlement currently being proposed is a whopping $336 million and was originally filed in 2001. Those card issuers at risk from the lawsuit include MasterCard, Visa, and Diners Club, all of which are being accused of colluding to conceal these fees.

If you used your ATM card or credit card while overseas between February 1, 1996 and November 8, 2006, you’ll be able to choose from among three different refund options. Your first option will be a flat $25 refund, which is what you will be eligible to receive if you traveled for less than one week oversees and you spent $2,500 or less while overseas. Another option is to receive an estimated refund that is based on how much you typically spend on travel, assuming that amounts to more than $2,500. Finally, if you traveled extensively overseas during that time period, you can participate in a more thorough accounting that will help to determine the value of your refund.

So far, approximately 1.5 million claims have been filed. Legal experts are expecting a total of 3 to 5 million claims to be filed by the time the battle is over.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 12th, 2007 at 9:22 pm and is filed under Credit Card News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.