There seems to be confusion about whether the refund offering is a scam or not. As readers have demonstrated, it’s not a scam — that is, if you’re receiving official information on the refund that is the same as is available at http://www.ccfsettlement.com/.

The questions keep rolling in, and I’ve responded to the most frequently asked questions below. I’ll try to simplify the information I’ve seen at the ccfsettlement.com website, and also invite others to share their decision-making process and experiences with requesting a refund. Keep in mind that I’m not a lawyer, I’m only an interested credit card user who’s (to my dismay!) been charged foreign transaction fees for about 10 years and would like a refund.

Who is eligible for a refund?

Any person who is the primary cardholder of a US-issued

• Visa-, MasterCard- or Diners Club-branded credit, charge or debit/ATM card that was used to
• make a foreign transaction, purchase or ATM withdrawl between February 1, 1996 and November 8, 2006.

What are my settlement response options?

Currently there are three ways affected individuals may respond to the proposed foreign transaction fee settlement offer for “In re Foreign Currency Conversion Fee Antitrust Litigation (MDL 1409)” :

• ask for a refund (you choose from one of three refunds):

o Easy Refund, worth $25

o Total Estimation Refund

o Annual Estimated Refund

• exclude yourself from the settlement damages class by opting out
• object to the settlement

It’s not clear to me whether the three response options are mutually exclusive. For example, can you object to settlement and still ask for a refund?

When’s the deadline?

• Refund Request Deadline: May 30, 2008
• “Opt-Out” Deadline: February 14, 2008 (Valentine’s Day — nice touch, huh!)
• Object to the Settlement Deadline: February 14, 2008

At this point, though, the settlement is simply a proposed settlement. The final approval hearing for the settlement will be on March 31, 2008.The hearing is to decide whether to approve the settlement, class counsels’ requests for attorneys’ fees and expenses, and awards for the class representatives. (The time and date may change without further notice.)

How much is the refund?

It depends on how much you spent during the eligible period. Right now it looks like a maximum of 3% of eligible foreign transactions. (At a minimum, though, you can apply for a flat $25 “Easy Refund.”) Do keep in mind that if lots of people submit applicable claims, the maximum percentage may be adjusted so that designated settlement monies are equally distributed.

The amount of your refund will depend on the bank that issued your credit or debit/ATM card and:

• which claim form you choose,
• the dollar value of your claim, and
• 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.)

Bottom-line I’m still asking myself:

Is now the right time to complete the forms and request a refund? There’s a bit of time before claim submission deadlines, and lots of other cases remain in process. There’s no guarantee that I’ll see a full refund, but it would be nice to have at least a little back.

What will you do? What other factors have I missed here that ought to be considered?