Comments on: Credit Card Foreign Transaction Fee Settlement

By: Blacknell.net » Deadline Tonight: Credit Card Foreign Fee Settlement Claims

Blacknell.net » Deadline Tonight: Credit Card Foreign Fee Settlement Claims — Fri, 30 May 2008 22:04:34 +0000

[...] transaction fee settlement is tonight (May 30th). More info about the settlement and your options here. The official site is here. I’m just posting this as a reminder to those of you that, [...]

By: Glenn Bemis

Glenn Bemis — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:12:54 +0000

I am finding that many people are confused about what to do. Applying for the settlement is fiarly easy. Go to http://www.ccfsettlement.com

The site has a lot of information, but if you click on “Submit Claim Form” link on the first page, you will go straight to the submission forms. The options are clearly spelled out.

In Option 1, you are taking a simple $25 settlement, which is recommended especially for those who were out of the country for a week or less.

In Option 2, you are estimating the number of days you were overseas. An algorithm is used to estimate your typical expenditures. But note that the refund is based on a 1% foreign transaction fee. Many cards charged a 3% foreign transaction fee. So you will need to decide if this is a good option for you.

In option 3, you give your exact expenditures and your refund will be the exact amount charged to you. This is especially a good option if you had large expenditures overseas. If you need your bank statements, banks will give them to you for free, but keep in mind that the deadline o submit your application is before May 30.

By: Carol

Carol — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 20:33:51 +0000

Can anyone suggest a card that doesn’t have fees — I have lived overseas for 11 years and make ‘foreign’ transactions regularly… foreign banks (I am in Spain) have huge fees as well…

By: TM

TM — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 15:51:17 +0000

Does anyone know the formula they will use to calculate the average daily spending estimate for Option 2?

By: LJ

LJ — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 06:17:17 +0000

Anything that credit card companies have to pay back to consumers for their ruthless fee and interest rate gouging is worth it. I spent over 700 days traveling outside the U.S. I opted for option 2 because, like others, I doubt much would be left over after the lawyers get their 27.5% with interest of the $313,000,000 settlement. I’m sure it’s just a drop in the bucket for the creditors (what is it like Visa, MC, Discovery, etc.) but still, anything is better than nothing. Legal loan sharks!

By: MB

MB — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 19:49:13 +0000

I’ve seen a lot of people say that, Kent. And I have to agree - it doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.

By: Kent

Kent — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 18:45:22 +0000

I’ve had extensive travel outside the U.S. during that period and have my records, so I looked at the third option that they recommended would give me the best return. The sticking point, however, is that they want all of my bank and credit card names and ACCOUNT NUMBERS! Is this a scam? How do I verify that this as a legitimate operation. I can understand that they might want to see proof, if I’m audited, but any good attorney should know better than to tell people to send such information to unsolicited individuals that you don’t know!

By: SJG

SJG — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:57:18 +0000

You guys are funny. You talk about it not being worth your time - for the $25, it takes maybe all of a minute online - you may be good attorneys and all but $25/minute is really an excellent rate. Fill out the form April! - I agree with MB - the more people that fill out the claim, the less they get to keep- By your not filing for the claim, it doesn’t prevent their attorneys from still getting their millions, anyway so go for it.

By: April

April — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 21:07:31 +0000

Mark, I know the argument can be made that since recovery is speculative a handsome payment to the attorneys either via contingent fees or statutory attorneys fees is in order. But when I get these things I am always astounded at the terrible waste of expenses…It probably cost close to the $25 “no questions asked” recovery I could get to put together that information packet (attorney and paralegal time) and mail it to me by first class mail. Even if I wanted to take the most simple option ($25) it would probaby take over an hour of my time just to dig out the plane tickets if I still have them to prove I even went abroad, or to contact the credit card company which handled the ticket transaction. I wish there were an option in these stupid settlements to donate the money to a consumer protection charity of some sort. I’d gladly give away my entitlement rather than just not bothering to do all the paperwork.

By: MB

MB — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 19:30:00 +0000

That’s my gut reaction, too, April, but then I try to figure out the alternatives. The coupon settlements are ridiculous - I especially love the ones where you’re offered $x towards another product from the company that just ripped you off. Uh, no thanks. But honestly, most of these things are low-dollar value offences, when you take it individually and often don’t seem worth our time. However, that’s exactly why it can be worth it to companies to commit these low-value offences - not enough to get you or I to move, but it results in a lot of extra $$$ in the pocket of the offender. So yes, I do think the class action system serves a good purpose. The attorney comp in these matters . . .well, I honestly don’t know how to fix that. It is, by nature, contingency work. I don’t really begrugde PI lawyers their percentage, so I suppose I don’t really find it all that offensive here, either. What I would like to see, however, is more supervision by the court in assuring that the class action plaintiffs actually do secure value for the class members (going back to the stupid coupon things).