Credit card companies settle lawsuit
Tuesday January 15, 2008
Major credit card companies Diners Club, Visa and Mastercard are facing a major payout due to court action. Anyone who has made a transaction in a foreign currency on a Visa, MasterCard or Diners Club charge or debit card issued in the United States between February 1, 1996 to November 8, 2006 is eligible to be part of the lawsuit.
The credit card companies and major financial institutions sent out 38 million letters to customers in an attempt to avoid the inconvenience, expense and uncertainty of court action.
The lawsuit claims that the credit card companies poorly disclosed fees and that they had in fact colluded in fixing the fees.
However, the credit card companies say they have done nothing wrong, improper or unlawful, but have decided to settle this case in the best interests of all parties involved.
What happened?
When consumers used their credit cards overseas, the credit card company tacked on a 1% fee, add that to the 2% fee tacked on by the bank for their shareholders and a $1000 purchase became $1030.
Plaintiffs will be entitled to a minimum $25 or more payment, depending on how often they went on holiday or used their credit cards/debit cards to make a transaction in a foreign currency
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