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Questions about the proposed currency conversion fee settlement? You’re not alone. by Luke
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
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)” :
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?
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:
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?
20 Comments to "Questions about the proposed currency conversion fee settlement? You’re not alone."
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January 19, 2008 
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 
Comments (20)
I attended the Fairness Hearing for this case (Currency Conversion Fee) today and objected to the settlement as unduly favoring the class lawyers’ interests over the class members’ interests.
One thing that many people do not know is that Option 2 actually has a $25 minimum recovery (subject to pro-rating), just like Option 1 does. So there is no reason really for anyone to choose Option 1. Option 2 guarantees a return of at least as much as Option 1, and maybe more.
We chose option 2 (as many people will) but the stamps in our old tattered passports are smudged beyond recognition & we have many trips to Canada and back (with no passport stamp at all). We came up with a clever “hack” using our old photos for estimating the number of days we spent out of the country:
Easy Hack for the Currency Conversion Fee Settlement
Hope this helps
Debbie
http://www.deliciousbaby.com
Hello. My name is Nellie. I like your blog and I wonder if you could write a post (review) about my credit card site and place it on your blog (around 150 words, 1-2 anchor). Is it possible? What is your lowest final price?
If not, tell me what kind of links you can offer. Non- site-wide links please.
PS: If you have any other good blogs, you are welcome
NellieHawkins55@gmail.com
Just where is this refund. This case has been going on for years and since I had quite a bit of overseas spending..I figured I’d hear something by now. I did what was asked of me and went through all me past statements and turned in a comprehensive amount and all this blah, blah blah about this litigation and where is it….or is it that the lawyers ate it all up. What gives????? Was all that effort and searching I did – in vain? At least we are owed an explanation.
When will we be getting checks from this settlement? My understanding was that this was settled months ago at a final hearing – what is the delay? Does anyone know where to go to get further information aboutt he current status of this as there is nothing meaningful on the ccf settlement website.
May I note that it is now March 2009 and that I for one have not yet seen a refund – like Constance in October – anything meaningful on the website (last updated Feb 24 2009) – like James in November – or even a response to letters sent directly to Philadelphia. Next step – writing the lawyers direct, I guess.
Anyone gotten refunds yet?
April 2009. We spent tens of thousands overseas, no refund, no communication from ccfsettlement, no update to the site.
Well, Richard – if ever you see this! I am surprised to say we have gotten an update (last week, in April 09) saying our ‘appeal’ on the method used was successful, tho no sign of any money yet!
Hi Erin, Thanks for providing Further information it is useful for us
Thanks a lot.
Glad to see that at least someone is getting an update. I have been waiting since Jan 08 – when I filed for Option 2 for both my wife and I….
I’ve sent notes and called the # on ccfsettlement and was ready to chalk it up to bad experience
B
We submitted several claims for different family members last year back before the deadline. Some small, some large. The only correspondence we have had was a few months ago we were asked to verify some information on my sister’s days overseas (our largest submission since she lived in Italy basically the whole time). We filled that out and sent it back in. We just received back information that they have approved our information, and changed the # of qualify days by 100 or so (from 3300 to 3200). So things are happening still, even if no final word on checks have been issued. Just curious if anyone else’s claims were audited or not.
I submitted a claim before the deadline. I have never heard anything back. Hope something happens this year.
Braxton, I’m living overseas and so my parents-in-law are managing my mail. I was wondering if the letter your family received requesting more info had anything on the envelope that shows it’s connected to this case. I’d like to ask my in-laws to look through my mail for such a letter, but they are quite old and easily distressed by such requests, so the easier I could make their search, the better. Thanks.
For those who chose option 2 – They will receive 0.5% of the estimated transactions. This is based on 1% of the initial claim reduced by 50% to be able to pay the option 3 and option 1 people (who will get about $17).
Two issues still not clear:
1. What is the “algorithm” referred to in the documents to determine the “actual transactions”. The # days is obvious, but what is missing is a dollar amount per day which will probably be based on what you claimed was the reason for your visit.
2. When do we get the money
I to spent over 6 thousand dollars on a trip to Austriala, I too am waiting for my money. It is NOW pass August the 6th. I applied for the second page of the law suit. It is MY money and I want it NOW!!!!!
My claim form was returned by the lawyers as “deficient”. They say that I filed option 3 but omitted the dollar amount. Not so. I filed option 2 which requires only the number of days in foreign countries. It looks like they have the money and want to keep it.
The only thing that is clear is that the lawyers will be taken care of big time. They should change the name of “class action” to “cash cow”.
I’ve had a long look at the final judgement – http://www.ccfsettlement.com/documents/mdl-1409-oct-22-2009-1238-ts.pd f – which is still subject to final confirmation, appeals, etc. before we see any money.
I was interested to see that the Court gave out more details of the various ‘stages’ of the reduction of awards, which is due to the huge number of claims (10 million!) over the fixed pot of money (tho legal fees and expenses have certainly taken a bite.
Option 1 people will get less than the $25 minimum (possibly only $15), option 2 people – based on 82 days average travel time – will get just over $35 – or, as I work it out, about 22 cents per day plus the minimum (assuming this is the method used). After 82 days up to 999 days the daily amount will be reduced down to 10% ‘in a linear fashion’ – which seems to mean that day 540 for example would be worth about 12 cents, if I’m right, or possibly as much as $125 if you were abroad 1000 days, and $22 for every 1000 thereafter (to the maximum figure claimed of 3960). (Warning – this is just my take on the court’s analysis – this is the option of interest to me.) Those diligent folks who went for option 3 (originally the only option) will supposedly get an average of some $268.
I don’t think I’ve confused the Options with the Stages, but I did find the language about the stages somewhat confusing, as it seemed to contradict the average figures the court quoted – first all claims (presumably option 3) above $225 were cut in half (or to $225), then by a further 50% (or $25), and then (for all claims) pro rata reduced further – apparently to some 60%. If that is correct then an initial claim for $1000 would be expected to receive $150 or some 15%… which suggests that the average Option 3 claim was probably for something like $1800.
The relevant figures are on pages 14-18 of the judgement.
This actually is somewhat better than I had anticipated and seems ‘reasonably’ fair – though others may well disagree. Of course, we would probably all agree we’d like to see the money, sooner rather than – as is likely – later!
hello all,
I am new here and , fatiguing to earn knowledge of some things here.
Sorry for my bad english i m Belarus
Thanks.
camspotadult.com
Just returned from a trip from Hong Kong and China
In HK, all the charges are in HK $, thus avoiding the 3% Dynamic exchange fee. The only one that charge Dynamic exchange fee is Bank of China subsidiary that process Visa CC transactions.
In China, things gets really bad. Each time I ask to be charged in RMB, it came out to be in US$. After protest, it still come up with a statement saying that I was offer to reject the US$ option (which I did not). The bank say all I have to do is to cross out the option line and all the fine prints and I will be fine and will be in RMB. When I came home and check my statements, it all had the 3% Dynamic Exchange rated added onto my Schwab Credit card.
It is a big scam by Bank of China.. Be careful when you use credit card in China.
All my charges including Shangri-la are in US $ even I crossed out all the options in the US$ option, also wrote big sign as RMB. Is you want, I can eMail you the credit card slips.