A bit on NPR just reminded me of a bit of paperwork that I have to complete. Well, me and maybe 30 million other people. As you may already know, there is a proposed settlement for a pending class action suit involving anyone who made a foreign purchase with a credit card between February 1, 1996 and November 8, 2006. Assuming that the proposed settlement is approved by the court, class members will received a refund of part of the foreign transaction fee that was charged any time they used a US credit card outside of the US.<\/p>\n
I received my first notice about this some time ago. However, I didn’t think I’d end up taking advantage of it, as you not only had to know when you traveled, but you had to have your actual credit card records substantiating each transaction. I don’t know about you, but I don’t keep my credit cards records for 10+ years. I know what I did last year<\/a>. 1997? Not so clear.<\/p>\n However, the most recent settlement draft seems to have simplified things greatly. Roughly, you can:<\/p>\n I suspect I’d probably end up with a larger settlement if I could substantiate all of my spending, but that would involve such a ridiculous amount of time and effort that I’m going to opt for option 2 (which, for the most part, is simply a matter of going through my passports and deciphering the visa stamps). I encourage fellow travelers to take the time to participate in this settlement. It was conventional wisdom (encouraged by the credit card companies) that you received the best exchange rate by using your credit card overseas. While that may be technically true, their tacking on of unpublicized fees certainly made that a moot point. Make sure they have to pay for that deception.<\/p>\n\n