Household HSBC Watch

Here is another class another class action that involves HSBC, among others. 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. The period covered is from the mid 1990’s through 2004.

July 2006 saw the involved credit card companies agreeing to settle the case for $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. Bank of America Corp., Bank One/First USA, Chase, Citibank, HSBC/Household, MBNA Corp. and Washington Mutual Bank unit Providian Financial Corp are involved.