Foreign Transaction Fees
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Foreign Transaction Fees
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Questions about the proposed currency conversion fee settlement? You’re not alone. by Erin
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?  Comments (4) by Luke
The possibility of diminished settlement scenarios are, if not surprising, at least disappointing. I was quoted in the article as acknowledging that “you could have bought a bottle of Canadian maple syrup online and still be eligible for a $25 refund.” But the new information also means that many credit card users may well have (regretfully — if not unwittingly) spent much more in foreign transaction fees than they will ever receive back. Consumers should bear in mind that this is a lawsuit settlement rather than a “win.” The credit card companies don’t acknowledge any wrongdoing. If you file a large claim, it’s worth remembering that the credit card companies aren’t being required to pay you back 100% of the amount you paid in foreign transaction fees. But if you file the “easy” form, it might be the case that they pay you more than you actually spent on foreign transaction fees. Did you pay less than $25 in currency conversion fees during the settlement period? Will you file for $25 anyway? CCF Settlement Lawsuit Extinguishes Hope for Others by Erin Subject to final Court approval, a settlement has been reached in “In re Foreign Currency Conversion Fee Antitrust Litigation (MDL 1409).” If approved, this settlement extinguishes the many other cases now in process that question the legality of charging foreign transaction fees without proper disclosure. Forms available at ccfsettlement.com list these cases, in a fine print footnote, as being Certified statewide classes:
Proposed statewide classes:
Proposed nationwide classes:
General public nationwide:
Bottom-line I’m still asking myself: Why not wait until the confusion around this settlement offer is resolved? There’s a bit of time before claim submission deadlines, and lots of other cases remain in process. Would it be better to go for a different lawsuit settlement? On the other hand, I’d like to get my money back sooner rather than later, and more lawsuits could mean more money to pay lawyers rather than provide consumer refunds. The Real Deal — CCF Settlement Forms by Luke I received a tidal wave of questions from readers this week after thousands of people received forms in the mail promising rebates for foreign transaction fees. Some worried that the CCF Settlement forms were part of an elaborate scam. Fueling fears were discrepancies in the forms. Some forms asked for sensitive personal information, while others didn’t. To get a grasp on the situation, I asked readers to email me forms they feared were fraudulent. I received two types of forms. Both are legitimate and officially represent the CCF Class Action Settlement. The official website is www.ccfsettlement.com. The first type of forms are the forms that people received in the mail. They come in three flavors (red, blue & green). These forms have personal information included on the forms including name, address and a “refund ID.” The cover letter looks like this (in all examples personally identifying information has been deleted): The green form people received in the mail does not ask for information such as SSN or credit card number and looks something like this:
The red form is the only form mailed to people that asks for sensitive personal information, including part of your SSN and credit card numbers for cards on which you’re filing claims:
The second type of forms available to people are downloadable from the official settlement website: ccfsettlement.com. The downloadable green form, for example, looks almost identical to the mailed form except it asks for sensitive personal information, including part of your SSN, credit card number, and issuing bank. It looks like this:
In all cases the proper mailing address is: Settlement Administrator Just because these forms are not part of an elaborate scam effort doesn’t negate the fact that many people suspected they were fradulent. Also, just because they’re legitimate doesn’t necessarily mean you should file a claim. There are several other class action lawsuits pending on issues related to this one. If you’ve received forms that look different than one of the forms above, feel free to email it to me at ccfscam@travelfinances.com. I’ll look at it and potentially post it… if it looks like a legitimate scam by Luke
Why am I getting all these emails!? Is this a SCAM? **UPDATE** See this post to read about the types of forms people emailed me… Foreign Transaction Fee Settlement Poll by Luke Over the last couple weeks more and more people have been receiving claims notifications for the CCF class action settlement. Details about the case have been available to the public for over a year now, but the claim forms for the lawsuit changed in September. Changes to the form include a new Easy Refund for people who traveled outside of the U.S. for less than a week or spent less than $2,500 on foreign currency transactions with eligible credit cards. Though the new forms were meant to make filing a claim easier, many people are uncomfortable sharing credit card details and personal information with the “settlement administrator.” Others are off-put by the whopping 27.5% fee of an estimated $313,000,000 that the law firm will be requesting from the settlement funds. The law firm also asks to be reimbursed for their expenses — which will not exceed $5,000,000. As such, some people are opting out of the settlement. What will you do?  Loading …
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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 
Last week USA Today reporter Laura Bly published an article about the Currency Conversion Fee (CCF) Settlement. The article, titled “
I’m overwhelmed!!! My inbox is flooded with questions pertaining to the CCF Settlement. I’m sorry to say that I won’t have the time to reply to every single email, but I’m going to try to tackle the big questions in this post. First, I’m starting with a question I had when staring, mouth agape, at an absolutely overflowing inbox: