We recently had the same thing happen over here in my country, and the banks sent everyone an official letter apologising AND telling them the total of their foreign transactions during the disputed period. They then said they would be refunding the 2% directly into the credit card or you could choose to have it put into another account if you no longer had a credit card.

We didn't have to lift a finger, and we didn't have to produce any receipts - if your bank doesn't have a record of your credit card transactions, then who does?

I just got mine yesterday. Nothing about it screamed "fake" - especially since they didn't really ask for any extra personal information. I've gotten numerous class action notices in the mail (from Verizon Wireless, Microsoft et al) and they looked the same. Maybe they had different versions of this?

In any case, I went for option number 2. I spent about 3 months abroad total, and I made very few credit transactions. But hey, all they asked for was how many days I spent abroad!

@MalcoveMagnesia:
The credit card companies in this suit illegally overcharged their customers to the tune of about a billion dollars, and yet the problem you see here is the lawyers fees?
Who's the "bastard" in all of this? I'd say its not so much the attorneys that took the time to argue and prove the companies broke the law as it is the companies who, well, broke the law.
Somehow, passing a "tort deform" law to stop the lawyers from policing the companies in the first place doesn't exactly make me think the companies will magically start behaving themselves.
If you want to get down to it, do the math. This fee makes Visa and its banks $1.2 Billion each year, of which $.8 Billion is allegedly in violation of the law. Run that over a 10 year period, and consider triple damages and fines for violating various laws, and that stacks up to a very conservative guess of at least $10 Billion in liability. If anything, the lawyers are suckers for settling so low...
No the real "bastards" here are the law-breaking credit card companies. Apologizing for them and trying to blame the lawyers who catch them with their fingers in the till just makes people wonder why you're shilling for the bad guys.

I'm super excited by this! I'm starting a job search soon (finishing up grad school) and can totally use this money.

I got zinged by these fees when I purchased a couple things from EBay vendors during the time period in question. This means I qualify. You do not have to actually have been physically out of the country to have incurred foreign transaction fees.

Bastard lawyers like these, stealing dump trucks full of money, are the biggest reason why I'd enthusiastically endorse: "Tort reform, please!"

@David Thomas: If all you do is claim your refund, your name will not show up as a plaintiff in online registries of actions (i.e., court dockets).

@PatrickIs2Smart: Correct.

@synergy:
No, you don't have to show receipts but I think you have to have a pretty good idea where you were and what you spent. There is a nice long paragraph of legal language re how to estimate.

I got that late last week. I believe you have to show receipts if you go for more than $25.

Anyone know how they estimate spending? I couldn't find anything on the subject.

On and you don't need to get the letter to submit the claim, just submit it online anyway.

I went for option 3, and might get as much as $225 back! I figure if i ever need to documents it would be easy, I maxed out my credit card in Europe over 8 months in 2004. So $7500 at 1-3% is $75-225 returned, for about 5 minutes online, can't go wrong.

I don't like getting my name on legal actions for something in the $25 range.

I suppose I got the letter because I did make some purchases while in Canada a while back.

My GF got notice and I was almost sure it was a scam... You can never be too trusting of things like this.

Guess we'll hit it up.

I just did it online. Really easy.

Now I am really curious when people will start receiving their refunds. Probably not for a long time. =(

I got a notice but wasn't sure why. I was overseas during this time but I always used cash--but now I remembered I did do a lot of purchasing via amazon UK and amazon Canada for items so maybe buying online overseas counts.

That was probably intentional. The more people they get to throw it out, the less they pay in settlement.

I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice but just my own take on what I read.

I will go for the $25. I guess I would be one of the "lucky" ones that were not gouged for this much to begin with.

I went to Canada back in 1997 for a short vacation.

I was totally waiting for Consumerist to hit on this before I did anything.

From [www.ccfsettlement.com]

"If you made a transaction (purchase, cash advance, cash withdrawal or internet transaction) in a foreign currency on a Visa-, MasterCard- or Diners Club-branded credit, charge or debit/ATM card issued in the United States at any time from February 1, 1996 to November 8, 2006, you may be a member of the Settlement Damages Class. Members of the Settlement Damages Class may (1) ask for a refund and/or object to the settlement, OR (2) request to be excluded from the settlement. If you do not request to be excluded from the settlement, you will be bound by the settlement and you will release certain claims against the Defendants.

If you held a Visa-, MasterCard- or Diners Club-branded credit, charge or debit/ATM card issued in the United States as of November 8, 2006, you are a member of the Settlement Injunctive Class. If you are not also a member of the Settlement Damages Class, you may not ask for a refund or request to be excluded from the settlement. You may, however, object to the settlement."

Nice, I got this in the mail last week and have been wondering whether or not it was legit. I have indeed conducted foreign transactiion during the specified time period so my conscience is clear ;)

I have the same question as Kimsama, though. I feel like I could get more than $25 but I don't have receipts or the like anymore.

Yeah I got like 5 letters in the mail but it says that eligibility is 1 offer ($25) per customer! :(

"Who may submit a claim?(top)
You may submit a claim if you made a foreign transaction between February 1, 1996 and November 8, 2006 with a U.S.-issued Visa-, MasterCard-, or Diners Club-branded card."

...is listed on the Claim form's FAQs. Admittedly, it could be clearer because elsewhere its more vague, but they do have a specific statement that eligibility is limited to people who made a foreign transaction between 1996 and 2006.

@kimsama: yeah, I read the paperwork, they get like 30% of the big prize ($330M or so) and another big chunk from settling related suits into this one. All told the attorneys walk away with like $145M.

Maybe I'll have her send it in, now! Thanks!

I closed my accounts with BOA right after I got back.

Hell, I guess it's only a loss of a measly $25 even if they estimate it really low. I'll probably do it that way.

P.S. The lawyers, as always, are making an absolute killing on this. Remind me why I didn't go into antitrust law again? ^_^

wait this is real? i got the letter and thought it was a scam or something, sweet 25 bucks!