It was a long hard battle but class members are starting to get paid part of the $276 million settlement agreement in relation to an alleged conspiracy amongst the major credit card companies to conceal markups and fees, typically 1% to 3%, on foreign transactions. The credit card companies involved in the lawsuit included Visa, MasterCard, Bank of America, Bank One/First USA, Chase, Citibank, Diners Club, HSBC/Household, MBNA and Washington Mutual/Providian. Over 10,000,000 claims were submitted in the Credit Card Foreign Transaction Fee lawsuit and they will receive a check in the mail by the end of the year. Most class members will receive around $18 from the credit card foreign fee class action settlement.
