A press release from HR&S Claims Administration details more about the recent court settlement by Visa, MasterCard and others over foreign currency transactions. Details about who is eligible for settlement refunds and exact billing disclosures have yet to be announced. The full text of the press release reads as follows and is available as a .PDF from CCFSettlement.com.
A nationwide settlement agreement has been reached in a consolidated federal class action lawsuit about use of certain payment cards for foreign transactions, In re Foreign Currency Conversion Fee Antitrust Litigation (MDL 1409). The settlement agreement is subject to Court approval. The parties will submit the settlement agreement to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York for preliminary approval.
The lawsuit concerns the prices that cardholders of Visa- and MasterCard-branded credit and debit/ATM cards, and Diners Club cards, have been charged to make transactions denominated in a foreign currency or with a foreign merchant. The plaintiffs claimed that the defendants violated federal and state antitrust laws, disclosure laws, and other legal requirements. The defendants deny any wrongdoing. The Court has not made any ruling on the merits of the case. Settlement was reached following years of litigation, after extensive negotiations, and with the assistance of a mediator.
Under the settlement, defendants will pay $336 million to create a settlement fund to pay monetary claims by eligible cardholders, the costs of administering the settlement and notice to cardholders, and any Court-approved fees and expenses to attorneys for the class and awards to the class representatives. The settlement also includes provisions relating to disclosures on billing statements and other documents. Implementation of the claims process will involve a third party administrator.
Defendants in the case include Visa, MasterCard, Bank of America, Bank One/First USA, Chase, Citibank, Diners Club, HSBC/Household, MBNA and Washington Mutual/Providian. Card accounts covered by the settlement include brands such as Visa, Interlink, Plus, MasterCard, Cirrus, and Maestro.
The settlement documents also include agreements to settle certain related lawsuits, including Schwartz v. Visa, No. 822404-4 (Alameda Cty., CA). If this settlement is approved, claims in those and other related lawsuits will be extinguished.
Details of the settlement agreement will be released after submission to the Court. If the Court gives preliminary approval to the settlement, additional information will be available by calling 1-800-945-9890, or by visiting www.ccfsettlement.com.
177 Comments to "Details About Credit Card Currency Conversion Settlement Emerge"
July 29, 2006
This is good. Credit card companies have come a long ways in disclosure over the past years, but it is still very confusing. It’s unfortunate that it always takes legal action to get them to do the right thing. I’m sure the lawyers keep making a killing.
Everyone criticizes lawyers, but often we (yes, I am one) are the only people willing to hold wrongdoers accountable. I am a public interest lawyer (specializing in cases relating to Medicaid and other state and federal benefit programs) and have had a real education over the past ten years of litigating with private HMOs who have taken over the former government role of administering health care services for the poor. Many corporations are run by ruthless, bloodsucking profiteers who care nothing about the end-users of their products, but only about the bottom line (including their own fat salaries). The idea of profiting on the backs of poor children who need medicine but are told they can’t have it (illegally, I might add) is beyond disgusting and into the criminal realm. BUT FOR lawyers like my colleagues, these practices would go unchallenged and unexposed.
No offense intended RFM. But for every good lawyer like you how many lawyers have the HMOs bought to help maintain their “ruthless, bloodsucking.” For every “good” lawyer, there is at least one “bad” lawyer on the other side.
In this case I was speculating that it is likely the lawyers who will profit the most from the settlement, but thankfully there are lawyers like you to represent the little guy. But as I said above, it’s too bad it takes a lot of legal action to get these big corporations to do the right thing.
I have 3 credit cards all involved in these lawsuits. When will I reap the benefits of these suits? It has been long enough for the consumers who have had to deal with them, lets get it over already. My account with Emerge was cancelled by Emerge yet, I am still paying the on the account and still being charged a huge interest rate, while all these agreements are being shifted back and forth. Give me my credit now so I do not have to ever open another statement from them.
This indeed is good news for the consumer who uses credit in foreign countries (as our Navy family does). But, the information about the settlement being distributed is just as convoluted and hidden as the credit card disclosures themselves. Keep it simple, how do we make a claim for our foreign transaction fees arrearages?
We are affected by this too as DOD civilians living in Europe.
Keep checking the website http://www.ccfsettlement.com
They seem to be the “go to:” site.
They will have the claim forms up sometime in early 2007.
On an amount of one thousand dollars that was on my account in Germany how much will I be refunded ?? I charged much more but would like a ball park figure. This was over the ten year time.
Details about the lawsuit have just emerged. See here for more information…
Since Citi Card is the only credit card I used in the past 10
years, it would be the only card where I charged for conversion of US Dollars. Please advise my charges.
Thank you.
Mary A. Ryan
is anyone worried about disclosing CC number(s) and/or last four of SS# to a website?
I just received a notice from my credit card company regarding the foreign transaction fees class action suit and settlement. After reading the FAQ, the following questions arose.
1. Why don’t the credit card companies use their computer records to compute the amount of my foreign charges?
2. Why am I being asked to reconstruct charges from as long ago as 10 years and over 120 statements, of which 6 are free to me and the other 114 are available only by paying the offending credit card company?
I recognize that it would be difficult for the credit card companies to process their transaction histories, but it is impossible for me!
It is hard to escape the conclusion that this settlement is structured so as to discourage filing requests for refunds.
I hate giving my SSN to anybody! But I’ll do it for money. Since this is the place that litigated the lawsuit they seem reputable. I’ll be mailing them my info and not doing it online though!
I totally agree 100% with Robert Brown. That’s slimy. I posted on that elsewhere on this site too!
i settled a debt with emerg credit in 2002 them are now calling me sayg that i owe 1000 dollars to them wen i payd them and shut off my card if there is a rep fior these shady peopele please call me your colections agent got me y cant u
i would like to resolve this matter asap
I second the concerns of McWheat and Robert Brown–
I was wary of this as a scam at first; the ccf website did little to allay my concerns, but other stories of it on the web, such as this, have made me less doubtful.
Still, per RB, its a bit unreasonable to assume people have retained 10+ years of cc statements.
Most of us won’t get any significantly richer by filing, I suspect; the question will be whether you have accumulated enough foreign charges to justify the labor (and potential cost) of compiling the information for your claims considering (I’m estimating)a possible low of a .5% or 1% refund.
I called the posted telephone # for info on which numbers to include on the claim form, the actual charges which could range from .02 to $5.00, or the net amount of the charge. The clerk said that I should put the net amount. Is this correct?
Hi all:
I received a mailing offering a refund with three options. The first option is a flat $25 payment in trade for forgiving all the card companies from any other claims. Nothing to fill out or justify, just sign my name. No SS or CC numbers requested.
I have traveled a little but not very much over seas. I suspect the flat rate is fine for me. Judging by this conversation this is not some kind of a scam.
CCFSettlement.com does warn NOT to contact the card companies. It would be nice to hear from them that this is legitimate, but I suppose the card company would try to talk me into some other deal.
Has this been on the financial news? Seems like it would have been broadcast more widely.
My wife and I just received this same notice in the mailing: 3 options. If you submit the full information, you can get more money back. I am still wary if this is a scam: the 3rd option requests the account number and issuing bank.
IS THIS LEGIT?
Shaun — The Google is your friend…. search for “Currency Conversion Fee Antitrust Litigation” — if it’s a scam, there are hundreds of web sites involved in it. highly unlikely.
[...] Over the last couple weeks more and more people have been receiving claims notifications for the CCF class action settlement. Will you file a claim? [...]
I just got the same notice. The first refund option doesn’t ask for any personal information (SSN, banking info, etc.). You literally just sign and date a form with your name and address on it and mail it in. It seems legitimate to me…
JayJay — The first refund DOES ask for personal information!! You need to provide a credit card number and the last 4 SSN’s.
my form for the $25 refund asks for nothing more than a date and signature. not sure how this is so confusing, randy!
It seems too elaborate to be a scam; but I am worried I cannot find any entry when I Google ccf settlement and Wall Street Journal together; surely there would have been some articles written about this?
We also just received this Refund notice w/ 3 options… both me and my husband. MY QUESTION IS: how did “they” know to send it to us? Just because we hold a MasterCard and/or Visa? I don’t get it. We’ve been out of the states 2x since 1999 - but who the hell knew that? Are the CC companies disclosing our information? I’m so confused… IS THIS A SCAM????? I’m glad to have found this website / message board - but still googling it to understand what this is all about and IS IT REAL? Any responses are welcomed and appreciated. THANKS.
I just got the same letter with 3 options as well. I am going to trash it. I think it is a scam. It offers me $25. To me it is not worth the risk.
Please post how it turns out of someone responds to it.
Thanks
got the letter today. was worried about scam too. After reading, seems legit. spent 5 years overseas during the timeframe…thank goodness for Quicken. Will try option 3.
wow, paranoia rules the day…..
Randy — you only have to supply the last 4 digits of your SSN if you file online. that’s the only way they have of knowing that you are who you say you are! if you file with the form that is being mailed out, you don’t have to do anything other than sign and date the form.
Keith — in the grand scheme of things, this is not a major news story. i doubt the WSJ will ever mention it in their online edition. at best it might have merited a one-paragraph story on page 28 of their print edition. there are literally dozens of online news sources reporting on the story — do you really think all of them are part of some scam?
MaggieMae — while you were out of the country you apparently used a credit card to make a purchase in a foreign currency. that’s how you ended up as part of the settlement. “Are the CC companies disclosing our information?” is that a trick question? of course they are.
I also just received a package in the mail. It seems legit, because there’s lots of legal web pages about it, like from law firms. I’m going for Option 2.
As for why you recieved it, I had the same question since I have a different card (hence different account number) than I did when I went over seas. In the packet, on the backside of the front page it talks about two different “classes”. One is if you went overseas (Settlement Damages Class) and one is if you had a card as of Nov. 8, 2006 (Settlement Injunctive Class). That could be why. But this leads me to wonder if one could submit for more than one card - as I would fall into both classes.
If they are legit… and you have the potential of getting some nice cash back.. I’d put in whatever info I could back up, then inflate… I mean… estimate the amount and let the accountants figure it out. Honestly… aside form the CC Companies who have a vested interest in NOT paying fines on their ill gotten booty, who holds on to CC crap that long? We should fine the credit card companies for not stepping up and offering this information. Corporate America is behind everything that is wrong with this world.
This IS an elaborate scam. There is absolutely no reason to think otherwise other than to believe what you read on the internet?!?!?! My lord, people! You are just ASKING for trouble!
True; the GREEN form doesn’t request any personal information, but just because you send it in doesn’t mean you’ll receive the $25 refund!
The BLUE form doesn’t request any personal information either even though it offers a “bigger” refund of 1% of the total estimated charges as determined by the “Settlement Administrator” based on your responses in the check boxes. But just because you send it in doesn’t mean you’ll receive the refund!
The scam is in the RED form!
The RED form provides the maximum refund, as much as 3% of YOUR estimated foreign transactions, not the Settlement Administrator’s estimate. You don’t even have to send in documentation of your estimate. But you do have to give them your credit card number and bank name.
The green and blue forms will be immediately discarded by the scammers, but the RED forms will be used to “follow up” on the suckers who were gullible enough (and greedy enough) to give their financial information to total strangers. Unsolicited for that matter!
Anyone who thinks that this is TOO elaborate to be a scam is probably too naive to make that judgement, and they will be victimized.
Robert Brown’s comments above are valid. The scammers don’t care about your old statements or documentation. If it’s too difficult for you to compile that information, they don’t care!! They just want your financial information on the RED form for further use and abuse.
JES’s comment hits the nail on the head: “CCFSettlement.com does warn NOT to contact the card companies” DUH!! Of course the scammers don’t want you to contact the credit card companies.
Keith Ford - Nothing in the WSJ?? Hmmmmmm … a $336 MILLION dollar settlement with the major credit card companies doesn’t warrant any mention?!?!? A nationwide refund program to who-knows-how-many Americans doesn’t warrant any mention? NBC? MSNBC? CBS? CNN? ANY nationally syndicated cable news program? Particularly the financial programs?
I hope I’ve made my point, and I hope that you ALL discard these worthless documents. They want YOUR money!!
Hard to say whether it’s scam or not. I have found the following information(http://www.komotv.com/news/7073532.html). It looks to be legit. The only thing, they provide different time frame (1990 through 2006) instead 1996-2006 on the claim form.
-Rudy– is your post about it being a scam opinion or fact? Do you have confirmation that it is scam, or just a “too good to be true” gut-feeling?
more info… this looks legit, apparently there will be a hearing held on March 31, 2008 according to this September article on PR Newswire: http://sev.prnewswire.com/banking-financial-services/20071203/NEM01703 122007-1.html
I called the NY southern district clerk of courts right now, and I was told this was legitimate. (212) 805-0136. Her one caution was to make sure I only dealt with this number when filing my claim: 800-945-9890. I lived overseas extensively and am looking forward to a refund on my fees!!
Rudy — if you truly think this is a scam, i have one suggestion for you. if this is a scam, then the entire internet is in on it. therefore, you should unplug your computer from the internet immediately and throw it out the window!
Ozzie - Yes, my post is my opinion based on the facts.
Mike - No, it is not hard to tell if this is a scam.
It should be EASY to verify that this settlement is LEGITIMATE, yet nobody seems to be able to do that.
Why is it fraught with so much doubt and so many questions? Why is it so difficult to confirm?
This is a generic mass mailing. It is no different than any other junk mail you receive. Except this one is enticing you to give them your credit card number and bank name, WITH your SIGNATURE I would point out. This should be a clear red flag and a warning to you!
People here have wondered “Why did I receive it?”, and immediately think about the one trip they took to Cancun in 1998 or something similar as the reason. You received it RANDOMLY whether or not you ever spent a dime in a foreign country and whether or not you even HAVE a credit card!!! They don’t care!!! They know that SOMEBODY SOMEWHERE will fill out that red form sooner or later.
This is no different than any mass EMAILING scam. Would you trust those? I hope not!!
There is no verifiable information on these forms. The form evens goes so far as to state in BOLD letters: DO NOT CONTACT THE COURT, THE DEFENDANTS, OR YOUR BANK WITH QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS CASE. Of course they don’t want you to call your bank!!
They direct your questions to THEIR telephone number and THEIR website, and, if you call them, they give you a very plausible explanation and tell you everything you want to hear.
They also tell you that you can hire your own lawyer at your cost. Why would you pay a lawyer $100s of dollars per hour to get a $25 refund?!?!? Of course nobody is going to do that, and they know it!
I repeat: can you find any credible information on a CREDIBLE internet website about this nationwide refund? It is worth more than 1/3 of a BILLION dollars!!!
How can you possibly believe ANY internet web site that suggests that this offer is legitimate?!?!?! How could you possibly know that the website itself isn’t part of the scam?!?!?! It is not difficult at all to create a convincing website. Welcome to the world of internet fraud. It is rampant.
I will agree that this scam is convincing, and I am sure that it is based on a similar legitimate settlement using all the same wording and clauses, etc. It cites several cases which probably are all real cases, but so what!! That doesn’t mean anything!! And then they direct you to THEIR website for more information about those cases!!
I would love to live in San Diego, Philadelphia or New York to check on the addresses they cite and to view the court documents. Have you ever gone to a courthouse to request to review court documents? What court documents??? What is the case number??? What is your involvement with the case??? Try it yourself. Go to any court anywhere (even in your own community) and ask the clerk to see the “court documents” about any current ongoing case about anything in your home town. Pick any local news story about a court case and go try to view those documents. You’ll find out that you can’t just ask to see court documents and the court will gladly turn over all the documents to you. Sheesh …
My intention here is to prevent people from being victimized by foolishly providing signatures, bank names and credit card numbers to strangers. You are asking for trouble if you do that.
I too am here to check if it is a scam…
from 1998 to nov 2006 timeframe, off the top of my head I come up with at least 120 days outside of US on vacation travel. I do use my credit card, but try to use cash too because of their bullshit conversion fees…
but I’ll be damned if I am gonna account for all of it…120 days outside of US I can (by passport) confirm…option 2 gamble here I come
I received the same packet and letter and I’ve never even traveled outside of the US.
I got my first passport this year though so maybe that is where they got my address, but I havent used it yet.
If its not a scam, I have no idea why they would think I’ve spent money outside the US.
Its obviously trash, so I’m throwing it away. Oh yeah, and they printed my address wrong. Sketch.
Go to the website of the law firm that brought the suit
http://www.bergermontague.com/about.cfm
I’ve been reading other posts questioning whether this is a scam or not.
The following link will show you who created the site, which, in my opinion, offers a lot of validity to the situation
“http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/results.jsp?domain=ccfsettlemen t.com”
This is some of the information I found
Registrant:
Heffler, Radetich & Saitta LLP
1515 Market Street
Suite 1700
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19102
United States
And I then visited the company website. I’m considering calling them directly with questions. I feel good about using the EZ form. I recommend that if you feel uneasy about the more detailed information, contacting them directly.
I too was weary of any “PO BOX” and “dot com” scam, but I’ve spent some time reading and searching as well. I feel comfortable with the explanation found at Consumer Action (.org):
http://www.consumer-action.org/press/articles/336m_settlement_in_credi t_card_currency_conversion_case/
http://www.jenner.com/...
see the conclusion on page 10.
Because I am not an attorney I am not sure what this means…but it may help in verifying the validity of the ccfsettlement mailing.
Also, note beneath the postage paid stamp…Smith-Edwards-Dunlap is a printing company that also creates web sites.
Note the huge influx of activity on this Blog in the last few days…it went from litte/no activity to mulitple posting every hour…seems everyone is getting this in the mail and running to google to see if it is a scam…
I’m mailing in my Option 1 form…I’m not revealing any personal info by doing this or entering into any type of contract agreement. Who knows if I will ever see the $25…
I to received this today, and I have spent significant time in Europe and Asia. I am in the military, and I know that at least 75% of my unit has been overseas during this time, so i will ask around at work and see if eveeyone else got this same form, and let you all know what the concensus is. If this is legitimate (which I am sketchy about), I am due back a nice chunk of change. Also, my brother is a lawyer, so I will seek his opinion as well, have a good day all.
Collen
Jennifer - Good idea!
Jeff - Bad idea! Even though you won’t be providing them with any personal information on the BLUE form, you will be confirming that your name and address are correct AND that you have/had a credit card AND that you are desire a refund. It is my opinion that at best they will simply discard your form, but they could also use that knowledge to continue to pursue you for more information at a later date in order to process your “refund”. Beware! You are exposing yourself to financial predators without ANY credible or verifiable information that the form is legitimate.
Ray - The issue here is not whether the law firms and attorneys mentioned are legitimate. The issue here is whether or not the FORMS that you received in the mail are legitimate.
Phishing scams usually use a legitimate entity to defraud their victims. They use real bank names, Ebay, PayPal, etc. Of course those entities exist and are legitimate, but that doesn’t mean that the emails you get from “them” requesting that you update your account information is legitimate!!
Incidentally, I did visit the Berger law firm website briefly, but I didn’t find any reference to this particular settlement. I might have missed it, and if anyone finds it listed there then I’d be interested to know where it is. Considering this appears to be immediately current news, I would think that it would be posted somewhere prominently on their website. I also searched for Bonnie Sweeney’s name in connection with the ccfsettlement, but only found it on the ccfsettlement website. Again, you would think that an attorney associated with a 1/3 BILLION dollar settlement would get some web press.
I’m not questioning their existence or legitimacy … I’m questioning their involvement with the mass mailing of forms requesting bank names and credit card numbers.
Look … if this was legitimate, and they got my name from legitimate credit card records, then they DON’T need that information again!!
Sending your bank names and credit card numbers to total strangers is a bad idea.
Kevan/Atl - I disagree that a website set up through GoDaddy.com adds any validity. Anyone can use GoDaddy.com to buy an internet domain name for any purpose including this scam. Hardly convincing.
Kasie - The website that you posted has a press release dated July 26, 2006. 2006!!! It’s probably a legitimate press release. But there has been plenty of time since then for the scammers to develop and mail the refund forms. Hardly convincing.
Gayle - Again, this document is dated 2006, and I haven’t read it thoroughly yet. I will, but Page 10 appears to dismiss the class action suit! ” … the … Defendants’ motions to dismiss the Class Action Complaint … are granted.”
In other words, this was a valid lawsuit (but that is NOT the issue here) but the lawsuit was dismissed on September 20, 2006!!! And therefore: NO settlement … NO news reports … NO Wall Street Journal articles … NO lawyer website information … NO nothing!
BUT!!!
A scam HAS been developed based on this sparse internet history and legal factual matter.
Please try to understand the difference between the truthful factual matter (if any) regarding the 2006 lawsuit and the bogus refund forms you received.
It’s a scam, it’s a scam, it’s a scam.
I believe this CCF Litigation IS totally litimate. When I made my original submission back in May/07 I first contacted my CC Co, to obtain copies of my statements, they confirmed that there was litigation in process and did not hesitate to provide me with copies …… 6 years worth or about 300 pages in my case. So you skeptics & unbelievers, bury your head in the sand. The more of you who don’t submit the better chance I have of getting my full 3% …… and take a nice holiday!
I just filled mine out online and I did not have to put in my social security number. I put in a claim ID from the mailing and it pulled up my address on the site.
Check out this link from the attornyes website:
http://www.bergermontague.com/newsitem.cfm?id=55
You’ll note at the bottom of that web page a link to the CCF website to gain additional information. The 336 million dollar settlement was awarded in July of ‘06, but these things take a long time to play out, so take your money or not!
I was sure that this was a scam. While he doesn’t say this isn’t a scam, it does seem like at least an easy $25. Clark Howard has never led me astray.
Per Clarkhoward.com:
“NEW! I’ve received a letter offering a refund of fees charged to a credit card I used when traveling outside of the United States. What should I do?
We’ve been getting a lot of calls about this topic. This class-action lawsuit involves foreign transactions over a 10-year period from Feb. 1, 1996-Nov. 8, 2006. Clark suggests you go for refund option 1 (”Easy Refund”) and claim your $25. The easiest way to claim your refund is by visiting CCFSettlement.com. Call 1-800-945-9890 if you have additional questions.”
I’m in agreement with being skeptical and wanting to do some research before risking potential identity theft. There are a number of legitimate websites reporting on the agreement of the card companies to settle on July 26, 2006.
http://www.paymentsnews.com/2006/07/336_million_set.html
http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/othercities/houston/stories/200 7/12/03/daily14.html?b=1196658000%5E1559164
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/columnist/block/2007-06-04-exchang e_N.htm
I am inclined to think that we all received the mailing because the credit card companies were subpoenaed for this info. That doesn’t necessarily mean they received transaction details for the millions of card holders over the course of the 10 years in question, which is why there are multiple options to collect a refund. For those whom have not used their credit cards outside the U.S., you don’t submit for a refund.
All I know is they must get your name and address from public records. I bought a house and they put the wrong address on the deed, then fixed it and that’s the only time my name and that wrong address was together. Now today I receive the same letter everyone else got and to top it off, I have never been overseas in my life. I’ve never been out of the U.S. So I find it hard to believe that there’s any merit to this “so called claim”.
http://whois.domaintools.com/ccfsettlement.com
If you notice the created date for the website, it was in 2006, and expires in 2008. Most scammers will only buy a domain for the min. amount of time (so they aren’t spending too much $) and switch to a different domain when people are catching on to them. I’m not saying this proves anything but it makes a website appear more legit.
Julie, I just searched on clarkhoward.com and i couldnt find that statement in the search engine on that website. Can you paste the actual address of that statement?
““NEW! I’ve received a letter offering a refund of fees charged to a credit card I used when traveling outside of the United States. What should I do?
We’ve been getting a lot of calls about this topic. This class-action lawsuit involves foreign transactions over a 10-year period from Feb. 1, 1996-Nov. 8, 2006. Clark suggests you go for refund option 1 (”Easy Refund”) and claim your $25. The easiest way to claim your refund is by visiting CCFSettlement.com. Call 1-800-945-9890 if you have additional questions.”
http://clarkhoward.com/advice/cac_answers.html#q13
just checking if this blog is legit
this completely reeks scam. everybody that is planning on using the last form ( ithink the red one), consider yourself warned ..
Don’t know if it’s a scam or not BUT last sentence of paragraph 2 on the 2nd page says “if you had, as of Nov 8, 2006, a visa, mc, or diners club, you are a member of the Settlement Injunctive Class, and will benefit from the refund even if you did NOT use your card to make a foreign transaction.
So those of you saying that you’ve never been overseas, that is why you are getting the forms also. If it ’s true..
I am filing a mail fraud compalaint with the local USPS. Phishing on the internet is one thing. Mail fraud occurred when they used USPS to send out fraudulent documents.
This is clearly a scam. I have been the beneficiary of 3 class action suits. All documents from the court provides palintiff, defendant names, case number and court/attorney addresses phone numbers. This document provides no direct contacts except an 800 #.
Don’t send anything in. If in doubt call your credit card customer service #, Call the courthouse ( not the 800#) or call attorney Merrill Davidoff at Berger & Montague. Hear from the horses mouth it’s a scam. Nothing to lose with a phone call or Lose your identity to theives. If you won’t even call to verify, then you deserve to be scammed.
HOW MANY OF THE SCAMMERS ARE MONITORING THIS BOARD & CONVINCING YOU THAT THIS IS LEGIT?????????????????
aha ! so that helps the scamsters (mike u one of them?) collect some more CC numbers huh?
And here is another question to ponder: what is the possibility those so vigorously warning that this settlement is a scam are paid agents of the credit card companies….??
Ok … let’s try this …
You might want to print the following so you can follow the steps.
I realize that some people will have different types of computers and software than I do, but perhaps those people will be able to figure out how to follow the same steps on their systems to get to the same point. I use Windows XP and Internet Explorer 6.
OK …
1. Go to the http://www.ccfsettlement.com website
2. On your web browser tool bar at the top of your screen you should see the FILE EDIT VIEW FAVORITES TOOLS HELP options
3. Left mouse click once on VIEW and a menu will appear with several options including SOURCE
4. Left mouse click once on SOURCE so that you can VIEW the source code for the http://www.ccfsettlement.com webpage.
5. A simple text document will open in a separate window probably in Windows Notepad. The webpage should also still be open but that depends on your browser settings. Print the text document for reference if you like (might be easier than having two windows open).
6. This text document will look like a lot of gibberish and code and funny characters because it is! But it is merely the text version of the HTML language for the webpage for the http://www.ccfsettlement.com website.
7. Now, scroll down about 1/4 of the way in the text document, and, if you can ignor all the code and gibberish, then you can see that the text in the document is the same as the text on the website. You can compare the text document to the webpage to line up the appropriate sections. Ignor the codes. Look for plain English text.
8. Ok, now scroll all the way down to the bottom of the text document and to the bottom of the webpage, and here’s the good part.
9. In the text document do you see the references to “www.heffler.com” and “Heffler, Radetich & Saitta LLP” and “www.hrsclaimsadministration.com” and “http://www.hrsfinancial.com”? (You should if you followed my instructions!) But, do you see those same references on the webpage? Nope! Why not? Good question! But that’s not all! There’s more!!
10. Do you see the references to “http://www.thorntonpaintball.com” and “http://www.xyzlongurl.com” and “http://www.7thamendmentdietdrugs.com”? What are those websites doing in this webpage?!?!?! Curiouser and curiouser.
This is a sloppy cut-and-paste job at website creation using previous websites as a template. The website is bogus, but it doesn’t go so far as to actually list the Heffler, Radetich & Saitta LLP name or any of it’s affiliates, probably for liability reasons.
There is nothing credible on this website. It even emphasizes that claim forms should NOT be sent to any other address. Gee, I wonder why not?
And I can’t find any reference to the credit card refund case on the HRS website, but I might have missed it. There’s about 100 cases in the class action section, but I couldn’t find it if it’s there.
I hope this exercise helps someone.
THIS IS NOT A SCAM
THIS IS VERIFIED TRUE
1) Visit this site: http://ccfsettlement.com/documents/cases/cavette/
2) Note the Docket Number, No. CT-002506-03
3) Note the Courthouse name, address, contact information.
4) Visit http://gs2.co.shelby.tn.us:7779/pls/crweb/ck_public_qry_doct.cp_dktrpt _setup_idx
OR
http://co4.shelbycountytn.gov/court_clerks/circuit_court/index.htm
AND click “CASE INFORMATION” (Hard to find)
5) In the CASE ID field put the DOCKET NUMBER “CT-002506-03″
6) SEE THE PROOF THIS IS NOT A SCAM (ie. Court documents on a government site)
CCFSETTLEMENT IS NOT A SCAM
Press release from PR Newswire from the plaintiff’s law firms:
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,234051.shtm l
No scam.
Here is the source document, i.e. the ruling from the U.S. court website: http://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/courtweb/public.htm. First, select “Southern District of New York” from the drop-down and click Enter CourtWeb. On the resulting screen, change ONLY the following fields:
Case # Type - select md
Case # Number - enter 01409 (matches your mailing on page 2)
“From” date - change the year to 06, leave “To” date as today
Leave all the other fields blank, and click “Run Report” which will give you all the 2007 activity, mostly in April. (That’s why there’s no recent news.) Feel free to click and read at length.
Rudy and others - there are lots of cheats, but try not to be SO suspicious. The courts are trying more and more to make companies and attorneys use plain English. Unfortunately, that also makes it look more like junk mail.
Obviously, I’m here because I had my doubts, too. Fortunately the web also reveals the answer.
Good luck to all, and if you don’t like Class Action lawsuits and attorneys making a killing (27.5% of $313 million), then file an objection instead of a claim. I considered it but think I’ll go with option 2.
I HATE THE CC COMPANIES , I ALSO HAVE RECIEVED THIS NOTICE IN THE MAIL
I LIVE IN OHIO, I AM A VICTEM OF IDENTY THEIFT,
SURE I FILLED OUT THE RED PART OF THE LETTER
I HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE
WHAT I DO NEED FROM ANYONE , IS HAS, ANYONE EVER GOTTEN A TICKET FOR BEING INTOXICATED IN THE STATE OF OHIO? THEN HAD ALL CHARGES DROPED ?
BECAUSE I GOT A DAM TICKET FROM CUYAHOGA FALLS POLICE , BECAUSE I HAD FELL AND HIT MY HEAD , AT A BP STATION AND WAS KNOCKED OUT COLD FOR OVER 20 MINS , THE COPS THOUGHT I WAS DRUNK , I DONT DRINK NOR WAS I DRUNK , SO IM SUEING THE STATE, OF OHIO AND THE CUYAHOGA FALLS POLICE DEPT , THEY HAD A FUN DAY WHEN I FELL MY TOP CAME OPEN , THEY WERE MAKEING JOKES AS I NEEDED MEDICAL ATTENTION , 6 HOURS LATER I WAS IN THE HOSPITAL, I LOST MY LONG TERM AND SHORT TERM MEMORY , FOR OVER A YEAR , I NEED SOME HELP FINDING A GREAT LAWER CONTACT ME AT WTF9601@AOL.COM
THANK YOU
I just googled for Bonny Sweeney Attorney San Diego and it popped up a lot on her and talks of this specific claim as well. I intend to keep checking this out since I spent over $5,000 a month on Visa for 2 years living in a hotel in Europe. But I sure don’t want to be a victim of identity theft either because that could cost me a lot more than I could get from this settlement.
Blaine-
The docket number does show court action…but unable to identify that it had anything to do with ccf.
I think we need a reporter on this subject to investigate it’s validity.
WHERE ARE YOU REPORTERS…WE NEED A NEWS STORY ON THIS.
ABC….CBS….FOX NEWS….US NEWS…etc.
HOW POPULAR WILL YOU BE WHEN YOU BREAK THIS STORY……LOTS OF AMERICANS CITIZENS NEED YOUR INVESTIGATIVE EXPERTISE.
REPORTERS- INVESTIGATE FOR THE PUBLIC!
Oh my god. Rudy. You are the most paranoid person on the face of the earth. I am pretty sure that if you got a refund from the IRS, you would not cash the check because you couldn’t verify personally that the check was not part of an elaborate Nigerian investment scheme. But, I expect that you don’t have to worry about that, because I’m sure you live in Montana, heat your house with corn, and don’t actually have a social security number or file taxes.
Numerous people on this board have: called state attorneys general, contacted law firms involved, provided references to this suit in credible news sources, and other documentation to the effect that this is, obviously, legitimate.
Yes, we are all wary of phishing scams. But you know what the biggest difference between patently illegal information-collecting schemes and this is? It’s in THE MAIL. It costs the company MONEY to print and send each package. It provides a physical addresses of actual law firms in the mailing that can be contacted and verified. If this is a scam, it is of such epic proportions that we can only assume the entirety of Western civilization is, in fact, also a scam. But if that’s the case, then I prefer to stay in the Matrix.
This is obviously the backlash of the internet generation. We now have millions of young people who are so jaded to internet scams that they have the opposite problem: they can pick out a scam in two seconds, but they don’t know how to identify something that’s legitimate!
I would suggest, that the only way you will sleep at night, is to krazy glue your mailbox shut, get rid of your email addresses, and cancel your phone service. And of course, if someone knocks on your door, run like hell.
I think its legit, but would love better confirmation. Here’s the most convincing piece I found:
http://www.radioiowa.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=AC13EF57-C960-4D75-45 B45C680B7AA95E
I thought it was a scam, but they already had my information and didn’t request anything. Then I read the form and saw that one of the attorneys working on the case just happen to work in the same building as I do. So, even if it’s a scam, I can confront them pretty easily, since all I have to do is take the elevator up 9 floors. And considering the rent at this building (one of the newest in San Diego), a 19th floor office here (about 2 blocks from the ocean) would cost too much for a scammer to rent. That would be way too much overhead for some kind of scam. It seems LEGIT. I hope…
well, maybe the litigation is true; but has anybody yet checked to see if the piece of paper you got in mail is really linked to the case?
i am waiting……………..
Just so Sam. There seems no doubt that the litigation took place and is genuine. However . . . who sent the piece of paper is the real question. I am uncomfortable with PO Boxes; 1-800 numbers; “do not contact anyone else”; “disregard any earlier notices”; and a website of dubious provenance without a security socket. The forms say that refund requests must be submitted by May 30, 2008. I think I will keep an open mind and wait until May 29th and watch for developments in this blog or other news sources before deciding to act - if at all!
And it goes on. What does it take to convince you people? Or are you just trolling. But really. You are wary of PO boxes and 800 numbers? Apparently, you missed the PHYSICAL ADDRESSES of the two law firms that were printed in the same mailing. And what did you expect, they were going to request responses from 25 million people to be delivered to the front desk of their office?
I also love the “has anyone yet checked to see if the piece of paper is linked to the case…”. I’m literally on the floor. What a great scam!! You print up a fraudulent notice of the settlement of a REAL class action suit and send it to 25 million people, at the cost of probably 20 million dollars, which as we know every scammer has at his disposal, and at the same time alerting the media to this fact. All this to do what — collect social security numbers, that you can probably just buy directly from any number of sleazy web sites online afor pennies apiece? Brilliant plan. Nobody’d ever catch on. At least, nobody would ever be able to figure out what the hell the point of it all was.
Hello all. I’m rather suprised that so many of you haven’t received banking refunds in the past that would have given you some experience with this.
Whenever a banking institution has been ordered to repay fees that were deemed illegal, the court decides a flat rate payout to the cardholders. That notice is sent to the cardholder and never requests any type of reply. A check (with a 3 or 6 month expiration) is then sent to the cardholder some months later. If the cardholder wishes to protest the flat rate payout, that same notice lists the address of the banking institution or law office to receive a claim form (this I’ve never done).
I’ve received this type of banking refund maybe 5 times, an AT&T phone company refund twice (they violated state law) and a PG&E refund once (also violated state law).
My advice (which is worth what you pay for it) is to hold on to the mailing and wait for a different set of paperwork to arrive in the mail next year. As to believing what you read or hear, please remember that the operating word here is “believe”. When it comes to money, I choose to use my critical eye rather than belief.
jwinsatt. You are a crackhead. For all you people too stupid to claim your 25 bucks, all the better, since if too many people file the amount could be less. Though I’m sure you will be convinced that the scammers have hijacked these web sites, here is some more press:
http://www.radioiowa.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=AC13EF57-C960-4D75-45 B45C680B7AA95E
http://www.bostonnow.com/blogs/experienced/2007/12/06/mastercard-money
http://dispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2007/12/06/CREDIT_CA RD_REFUND.ART_ART_12-06-07_C8_AK8MJME.html?sid=101
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story /12-03-2007/0004715098&EDATE=
THE REAL PROBLEM, AS I SEE IT, IS WHEN YOU SIGN THE BACK OF THE REFUND CHECK THEY SEND YOU, FOLLOWED BY YOUR BANK ACCOUNT NUMBER! NOW THEY HAVE YOUR SIGNATURE AND BANK ACCOUNT NUMBER.
SCAM!
I agree, Ed. Depositing checks in your own bank account is too risky, since it requires that your account number be written on it. For your own protection, whenever you receive a check, simply sign the check WITHOUT putting your account number on it, and mail it to me.
I called my credit card company. They’ve never heard of any VAT lawsuit.
It’s another phishing scam
Funny, but I thought I should mention this to you all: today I got another one in mail. Can anyone who believes (or tries to make us believe) that this is NOT a scam tell me why on earth I should be getting two of them?????
“Credit card refund offer not a scam in this case”
via:
http://www.radioiowa.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=AC13EF57-C960-4D75-45 B45C680B7AA95E
C’mon people!!! After all the arguments, all you have to do is look at the postmark; Presorted STANDARD!! No company is going to send important documents to you without at least sending it First Class - or AT LEAST Presorted First Class!!!
Presorted Standard is bulk mail. It won’t get forwarded to you if your address is incorrect. And it won’t get sent back to them (they don’t want the fee associated with sending it back using first class).
SCAM.
JAMIE:
FUNNY, FUNNY, FUNNY!!!
.
okay i had called fox5news today and they just ran a story on this abt 2 minutes back on the 10 pm news. believe it or not, this is for real. 100% genuine.
I called my credit card company (Chase-Visa), asking if this was legite or a fraud. After being on hold for 2 minutes, the guy came back and said “I can’t comment on anything regarding this lawsuit, however I can direct you to this website: http://www.ccfsettlement.com.”
I said “So this website it legite?”
He said “Yes”.
The following is how I’ve tried to find out if legitimate vs. scam. Just tried to find the court on the uscourts.gov website which is obviously not on the mailed material. Here’s the response. I’ll be calling them soon to confirm but it appears this further supports it as legit. Hope you found this polite and informative.
Lou
Thank you for contacting the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. There is a legitimate court case regarding this matter. Please contact thelaw firm directly at 215-875-3081 and speak with Ms. Susan Leo for moreinformation. ***********************************Office of Public AffairsAdministrative Office of the U.S. Courts
Washington, D.C. 20544
(202)502-2600
http://www.uscourts.gov To 12/05/2007 10:55 PM Subject: How to find out if class action suit is a scam
How would I go about finding out if a recent mailing is legitimate or not. It has to do with supposed class action suit settlement regarding Foreign Currency conversion Fee Antitrust Litigation. Supposed to be finalized at a court date of mar 31, 2008 at the US district Court for the Southern District of NY. It asks me for last 4 digits of SS# and my VISA info to process my claim for refund. I can’t figure out how to determine if it’s real or an elaborate identity theft scam. Seems odd to be requesting info for the claims when the final court date hasn’t even occurred yet. Any suggestions where I can look to find this information. Appreciate your feedback.
Has anybody recieved at least the $25 yet? The first post on this was March 17 2007. It is now Dec 6 and I have not seen anybody post that they have recieved any money.
got this in the mail yesterday and called the law firm of berger and montague. not only is this settlement listed on their website along with many others, but i was also one of many who was calling to confirm that this was legit. i was wary too, but this is very similar to the class action with apple and early generation ipods regarding battery life. i thought that was a scam too, but took a chance and now my ipod lasts a lot longer than it used to thanks to the battery exchange program!
I think at this point, you know whether or not you’re going to proceed and receive the possible pay out. Let’s do this, if you participate and get a check back, post your “got mine” message.
Rudy provides the best argument that this is a scam. Why is thornton paintball and mike mccann in the html source but not displayed on the page. Also the link to 7thamendmentdrugs is not displayed but in the source. So if this is legit why are those tags int the source but not on the page? How are those sites related to ccfsettlement? if this is legit then it is being managed by morons that I wouldn’t give my dogs name to.
it looks like mike mccann is responsible for creating the page. his name is in the source for thornton paintball. like i say if this is legit they are morons and mike mccan is a da for putting crap code on the web.
jeff mcann is the moron and I am the moron who didnt get the name right
I called the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia and as soon as the word ccfsettlement got out of my mouth they sent me through to an automated message. In the automated message, I was given another phone number to call 215-875-3084, which is the phone number for Berger & Montague. The law firm asked me to confirm the address on the paperwork as P.O. Box 290 Philadelphia, PA and assured me that as long as that is the return mail address for the documents, then the papers in my hand are legitimate. For those of you who will tell me the law firm Berger & Montague may be fake, think about this: Why would the district co