Does Visa, MasterCard or Diner’s Club Owe YOU Money?
Here’s something you don’t hear everyday: credit card companies paying cardholders.
A hearing will be held on March 31st, 2008 involving a class action suit filed against Visa, MasterCard and Diners Club- hundreds of thousands of cardholders reported seeing transactions on their credit card statements in currencies that were not their own country’s between the mid 1990’s and 2004.
The class action suit states that the credit card companies were hiding fees up to 3 percent in foreign transactions by cardholders outside the US, which is a violation of both federal and state laws. Additionally, the class action suit attempts to convict Visa and MasterCard for inflating the base exchange rates before applying fees.
July 2006 saw the involved credit card companies agreeing to settle the case for a cool $336 million. People who receive settlement notices (being mailed this week) can choose to apply for a $25 refund, or go through their itemized transactions to request a fractional percentage of those fees.
The credit card companies involved in this class action suit, and including Bank of America Corp., Bank One/First USA, Chase, Citibank, HSBC/Household, MBNA Corp. and Washington Mutual Bank unit Providian Financial Corp., deny that they have done wrong in this situation.
Don’t forget to request your money if you’re part of this class action suit!
