I remember a thread about this a couple of months ago, but can't seem to locate it. Anyway, in todays mail I received a letter from The U.S.Distric Court Settlement Administrator, stating that I am eligible for a refund of foreign transaction fees charged to my credit card, dating back to 1996. It seems that I have three options to choose from, the first is accepting a $25 refund, second is total estimation refund, and the third is an annual estimated refund. The first option is for people who have spent less than a week outside of the U.S. This class action suit goes back to 1996, and I have spent many, many more weeks outside of the US since then. I was wondering if any of you folks have received this letter? If so, what option do you plan to take? I could just do the first option for simplicity reasons ( hey....they want to give me $25 back ) or I could fill out the informational paper and list all of the weeks that I have spent outside U.S. soil and possibly receive more. I'm really not sure how to handle this. So, who has received this letter and what do you intend to do?

(Message edited by reefdiver on December 5, 2007)

I received the same letter. I've traveled outside the US 15 times since 1996, to Mexico, Curacao, and Bonaire. I've never actually used a credit card abroad except to guarantee payment for meals and such at resorts and I always pay cash so there's no actual charge to the cards.

I could claim the $25 I guess but since I've not actually incurred any fees abroad I don't feel it's fair for me to claim $25 or anything else.

Daniel

Hi Don I got the letter as well I opted for option #2 we have been out of the county 140 days in the 10 year period.. I figure it has to amount to a little bit over $25. we will see.. I submitted it online..

I got the letter & I put it where it belongs; in the garbage. The only ones who will make any $$ are the lawyers.

Don, I got the letter too. Glad you posted, I was going to but you beat me to it.
I am going with Option #2, have spent 120+ days out of the country on vacation..and have charged a significant amount on my Visa card. I agree with Freddie..don't know how much I'll receive, but hope it's more than $25!

I don't know about others, but I have never had a "foreign transaction fee" added for charges made in Bonaire, because they have always just billed it in US$. Can't say the same about travel to other foreign places, or on-line purchases in foreign countries like Canada.

Haven't yet gotten the letter, but will be looking for it. Does anyone know which credit cards are covered by the "settlement offer" - Visa, Master Card, Amex, etc.?

Don, I got the letter too. I opted for option #1, I submitted it online. I chose #1 because most of my out of country travel during that time was to Bonaire and I do not believe I was ever charged a foreign transaction fee there. To the best of my knowledge, they always have charged my CC us$.
6 more days and I will be there for one month, I will keep an eye on the CC charges then.

I got the same letter. Planned to use Option #1 for the simplicity of it. And doing it on line. I don't think my foreign transaction fees ever totalled to much more than $25 anyway. And I have never been charged a transaction fee for charges made in Bonaire, and I have made several over the past two years. My credit card company (CitiCards) stopped adding the foreign transaction fees years ago. Not sure when....

Dr. Director, it was nice meeting you in Bonaire at the end of a Tori's reef dive in October.
In the letter it states that it is Visa, MasterCard, and/or Diners Club credit, charge, and/or debit.ATM cards. the fees were based on foreign transactions, including both purchases and ATM withdrawls, from Feb 1,1996 to Nov 8, 2006

The settlement offer is for Visa, Mastercard & Diner's Club charges.
We've been charged transaction fees by Visa..but am not certain we were charged the fees during our trips to Bonaire.

We got the letter too. Although this is the first year that I recall being charged a foreign transaction fee after our trip to Bonaire.

Funny thing is, I recently purchased a game off of MSN for 19.95, and was charged a .19 transaction fee. I was pretty shocked by that, and wondered where MSN originates.

I haven't done anything with the letter yet.

Thanks Peter. It was nice meeting you too at Tori's Reef. Enjoy your month's stay.

Haven't gotten anything yet in the mail, but will be watching for it. Interesting that the settlement doesn't seem to include Amex.

Anyone care to post the website for filing online?

Sure -- Here it is:

http://www.ccfsettlement.com/

It is incredibly short and sweet to do this. But you need the ID Claim number that is stamped on the mailer that you will receive. They merely ask you for how many days you traveled abroad between 1996-2006, and the primary reasons that you did so. They then calculate by some algorithm just how much you are owed, and in theory, will send you a check later.

Steve

Hello Dr. Director! AMEX is probably not listed because they already settled their suit. I received notification yesterday from AMEX. I should have taken the lump sum. They determined that I didn't have any applicable charges, therefore I got nothing from AMEX. Oh well... I will watch for this new one.

I'll have to go through the math, but I suspect that my refund for spending 1500 days out of the US will be substantial.

I may be mistaken but even if you never noticed a fee, you may have been charged one if you had transactions in a foreign currency. It seems that, in addition to the foreign service fees they are charging, they also played some games with the exchange rates. The pennies add up when you have the volume the credit card companies process.

Mine showed up as a regular bank transaction this past year. A $299.00 charge would follow up with a $2.90 transaction fee. Prior to this past year, I'd never seen the fee appear.

Thanks all. Don't recall ever seeing any foreign transaction fees on my main Amex card over the years of foreign travel, but it was a corporate card used only for business travel for my former employer. They may have had a deal with Amex to waive those charges or get any refund. Regardless, all of those travel charges were always paid by my employer.

Except for car rentals on Bonaire that I charged on my personal Amex card (and they were always billed in US$), all personal foreign travel was on Visa or MasterCard. And the first time I ever saw any foreign transaction fees was starting this year, and they have always been listed as part of the description of the purchase. Will be interesting to see if and when I get any notification of the settlement. Perhaps my card issuers were not parties to the settlement.

I was charged the fee even tho the transactions were processed in US $$. I argued/discussed the matter with several supervisors at the cc company to no avail. I only had this happen one year and will tally up the fees and then determine which option to select. cb

I just got my letter in today's mail. I don't recollect getting charged fees at all, but will check with hubby. That is a bit too far back to recollect for me. I am thinking that I will let it go if that is the case.

I am doing option 3 due to the time spent and all the purchases made when building my house.

Regarding comments that the credit card foreign transaction fee refund judgement "only makes money for the lawyers"--While it is true that the class action lawyers make a lot of money from these suits, remember that YOU are being cheated by the companies they sue. The cheaters (credit card companies in this case) love people who take this approach (blame the lawyers). Read the filing paper; it says these credit card companies conspired, colluded, inflated costs and failed to disclose the fees and their basis, thereby violating "federal and state antitrust, disclosure, unfair competition, deceptive practices, and consumer protection laws..." The companies did not contest this in front of a jury. Rather they settled for $336 million dollars.

Even if you only file for the basic $25 refund in this particular case, it is a convenient, trouble free way to play a part in getting back at the cheaters. Our federal government should provide protection against this type of extortion and enforce the laws cited above, but, increasingly in recent years, it has not. The only retribution for cheating like this is provided when some group of lawyers files a class action suit when some action like this is particularly egregious. Sure they make a buck, but the bad guys also get punished where it hurts them second most--in the pocket book. I would like to see some of them be personally liable, but I guess that is beyond our justice system's abilities.

I got no such letter, and I've spent quite a lot of time out of the country in the last ten years. I wonder if it is only rapacious cc companies, I have USAA, and they are not as nasty as the run of the mill bank.

As far as lawyers and class action suits, if you fail to respond, you are quite possibly putting more money into the pockets of lawyers-money that otherwise would be yours.

Got my letter today.