If you’ve used a credit card to make an international purchase, a recent class-action lawsuit now enables you to recoup some of the fees that your credit card company may have charged you.

The lawsuit concerns the way that credit card companies including Visa, MasterCard, and Diners Club charged fees to customers for making foreign currency transactions. These transactions include internet and online purchases made in a foreign currency. The key complaint revolved around the way these companies disclosed (or as defendants argued — did not disclose) fees charged for foreign currency transactions. Typically the fee ranged between 1-3%, but the lawsuit alleged that some credit card issuers also inflated the base exchange rate before adding the fees. The plaintiffs including Bank of America, Bank One/First USA, Chase, Citibank, MBNA, HSBC/Household, and Washington Mutual/Providian all deny wrongdoing but have agreed to settle the case nonetheless.

This is great news for you if you’ve traveled internationally and made an foreign currency credit card transaction in the last 10 years — or if you’ve purchased products or services from international merchants who billed you in a foreign currency! Even better, the claims process is relatively straight forward. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Make sure you’re eligible. (See above).
2. Download claims form here. Or fill out this online form.
3. Sit back and wait for your check to arrive in the mail.

That’s it! Yes, it’s probably going to take a while for you to see the money, but it’s still money in your pocket.

Keep us posted with your experiences!

After waiting months I can finally estimate how much money I’ll be earning from a settlement that has been reached between several major credit card companies and consumers.

The lawsuit is about the price cardholders of Visa-, MasterCard-, or Diners Club-branded payment cards were charged to make transactions in a foreign currency, or with a foreign merchant, between February 1, 1996 and November 8, 2006. Plaintiffs challenge how the prices of credit and debit/ATM card foreign transactions were set and disclosed, including claims that Visa, MasterCard, their member banks, and Diners Club conspired to set and conceal fees, typically of 1-3% of foreign transactions, and that Visa and MasterCard inflated their base exchange rates before applying these fees. The Defendants include Visa, MasterCard, Diners Club, Bank of America, Bank One/First USA, Chase, Citibank, MBNA, HSBC/Household, and Washington Mutual/Providian. They deny the Plaintiffs’ claims and say they have done nothing wrong, improper, or unlawful. [read more...]

Many of us should start receiving claim forms in the mail, but if you can’t wait for yours to come, you can download a claim form here [.pdf file].

CCFSettlement.com will also allow you to submit claim forms online.

Here are a few important items from the FAQ that stood out to me:

• Do I need to list the dates of my foreign transactions?

  No. However, you must separately total up your transactions for the period 02/01/96 to 12/31/96, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 1/1/2006 to 11/8/06, and list the totals for each period in the appropriate space on the claim form.

• Will my claim be audited?

  All claims are subject to audit. Please keep proof of your eligible transactions until your claim has been processed. By submitting a claim, you authorize your bank and the settlement administrator to provide and share information to verify your status or claims.

• May I submit more than one claim?

No, you must submit all claims you have at the same time. You may, however, attach additional pages to your claim form if all of your transactions do not fit on one form. Do not submit more than one claim form.

• How will the amount of my refund be determined?

If you are eligible for a refund, the amount of the refund will depend on the bank that issued your credit and/or debit/ATM card, the dollar amount of your foreign transaction fees (apart from any alleged increase in base exchange rates), the amount of money available to pay claims and the number and total dollar value of all valid claims filed. You might get only a partial refund, or, in some circumstances, your claim might be adjusted upwards.

• Who will determine the amount to be refunded to me?

  A third party administrator will review all claims and determine the refund amounts.

This is an important settlement for all those who have traveled internationally and used a credit card anytime over the last 10 years, and I’d encourage everyone to take advantage of this opportunity to recoup some of those fees.

Finally, I’ll be setting up sections in the forum so that we can discuss the lawsuit outcomes further, keep tabs on what other people are earning, and to answer questions about how to file claims. Sharing information about credit card foreign transaction fees is one of the main reasons I setup this site, so this is a great day for me…and hopefully just the beginning!

Custom House, a Canadian company specializing in foreign currency exchange, announced a ‘next generation’ travel card that they claim offers special benefits and low exchange rates for international travelers. The new travel-card targets Canadian customers but also offers some services that American citizens can take advantage of. Below is a recent press release:
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Over the past few weeks we’ve been eagerly contacting popular Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) services with the purpose of getting a better perspective of how DCC works and how it might be of benefit when traveling. We are aiming to have each profiled company answer three central questions: What is the typical currency conversion fee care holders should expect to pay when using your DCC service? What is your service area? What are the competitive advantages for choosing your DCC service over alternative currency conversion methods?

To lead us off, we got a detailed response from FEXCO, a global payments company headquartered in Kerry, Ireland, with operations in Ireland, the UK, Spain, Malta, Australia and the USA. The company was established in 1981 and offers a range of Global Consumer Payments, Global Corporate Payments and Business Services. Through its services, FEXCO moves over 4.5 billion pounds annually to consumers and companies in more than 150 countries worldwide.

Our questions to FEXCO are in bold font below:
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