Big foreign transaction fee news out of Canada this week for Canadians.  While US cardholders have been engaged in large class action lawsuits for years, it looks like Canada is now getting on board too.  Here is the gist of a Globe and Mail article explaining the important win for Canadian cardholders:

In a Quebec Superior Court judgment, the Big Six banks and Desjardins Group, Laurentian Bank of Canada, Citibank Canada and Amex Bank were ordered to reimburse tens of thousands of credit card customers more than $200-million.

Mr. Justice Clément Gascon ruled that the financial institutions were in “flagrant violation” of the province’s consumer protection law when they charged a fee for foreign currency transactions on customers’ credit cards. [Read More...]

The bits of feedback I’ve received from Canaidan readers is that foreign transaction fees are as ambiguous on many Canadian credit card statements as they are on US credit card statements.  Are you Canadian — what are your thoughts about foreign transaction fees charged by Canadian banks and credit cards?

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?

Last week USA Today reporter Laura Bly published an article about the Currency Conversion Fee (CCF) Settlement. The article, titled “Refunds on the way for many overseas travelers,” is definitely worth a read — not only because yours truly is quoted, but because she has asked a lot of probing questions and uncovered more details about the CCF Settlement. Particularly, she has answers for what happens if the settlement fund runs out of money to pay full refunds to all those who requested one:

If claims outstrip available money, payments will be trimmed on a pro-rated basis. Claims of more than $225 would be cut first by up to 50%, to a minimum of $225. Next, claims from $25.01 to $225 would be reduced by up to 50%, to a $25 minimum.

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?

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:

1. Cavette v. MasterCard, CT-002506-03 (Shelby Cty., TN), W2005-02422-SC-S09-CV (TN Sup Ct) (conditionally decertified on May 23, 2007)

2. Schrank v. Citibank, 03 Civ. 2843 (SDNY, NY)

Proposed statewide classes:

1. Fischer v. MasterCard, 03600572/2003 (NY Cty., NY)

2. Friedman v. MasterCard, CV 04-539330 (Cuyahoga Cty., OH)

3. Gastineau v. MasterCard, CV 2004-283 (Lonoke Cty., AK)

4. Gillard v. MasterCard, 03 CH06659 (Cook Cty., IL), 05-3143 (IL Ct App, 1st Dist)

5. Hernandez v. MasterCard, C-1056-03-C (Hidalgo Cty., TX)

6. Johnson v. MasterCard, 62-C7-04-009691 (Ramsey Cty., MN)

7. Perry v. MasterCard, CV 2003-007154 (Maricopa Cty., AZ)

8. Rubin v. MasterCard, 03-09368 CA 20 (Dade Cty., FL), 3D05-2373 (FL Ct App, 3rd Dist)

9. Salkin v. MasterCard, 002648 (Phila. Cty., PA), 1741 EDA 2005 (PA Super Ct, Eastern Dist)

10. Sandera v. Bank of America, CG06-458404 (NDCA, CA) (transferred to MDL 1409, at 07-CV-05583)

11. Bildstein v. MasterCard, 03 Civ 9826 (SDNY, NY)

Proposed nationwide classes:

1. Clarken v. Diners Club, 01 Civ 10857 (SDNY, NY)

2. Gaffigan v. MasterCard, 042-07768 (St. Louis, MO) (nationwide, except IL and CA) (subject to signing the settlement agreement)

3. Mattingly v. Visa, RG05198142 (Alameda Cty., CA) (nationwide for Visa; CA for MasterCard)

4. Shrieve v. Visa, RG04155097 (Alameda Cty., CA) (nationwide for Visa; CA for MasterCard; also on behalf of general public). Includes proposed nationwide class: +Baker v. Visa, 06-CV-15447 (SDNY, NY) (coordinated or consolidated with MDL 1409).

General public nationwide:

1. Schwartz v. Visa, 822404-4 (Alameda Cty., CA) (CA general public only for MasterCard), A105222 (CA Ct App, 1st Dist), S-138751 (CA Sup Ct).

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.

What will you do?

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
PO Box 290
Philadelphia, PA 19105-029

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

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:

Why am I getting all these emails!?
The answer, it seems, is because thousands upon thousands of people began receiving letters in the mail offering to let them stake their claim of an almost $300,000,000 class-action settlement. The catch? You have to disclose your credit card number and last four digits of your SSN to a third party “Settlement Administrator” rather than your credit card company. As a result, the biggest question I’m receiving is:

Is this a SCAM?
This question also comes up repeatedly in comments posted over the last few days. The class-action settlement in question is real and has been well documented in the news and on this site. However, I’m not going to begin vouching for strange looking letters people receive in the mail. I’m not a lawyer or financial adviser so I’m also not giving ANY legal advice. Whether you should object, opt-out or file a claim is up to you. I will say that from the emails I’ve gotten there sounds like there is some variation between the forms that people have been receiving in the mail. If anyone wants to scan and email me the forms they’ve received, I will have a look at them and post any differences found on the forms to this site. Email documents to: ccfscam@travelfinances.com. (Do not send me any forms with personal information included or I will discontinue this email address). You can also compare the forms you’ve received to the forms found at ccfsettlement.com or in this PDF.

**UPDATE** See this post to read about the types of forms people emailed me…