Lawsuit Investigation: Were You Charged Unlawful Fees on Foreign Transactions?

Last Updated on March 14, 2024

At A Glance

This Alert Affects:: Anyone who used their Bank of America, TD Bank, or Capital One-issued credit or debit card to make a purchase from a foreign company or while traveling overseas.
What’s Going On?: Attorneys working with ClassAction.org are investigating whether debit and credit card users are being charged illegal and hidden fees on foreign transactions. A handful of cases have already been filed on behalf of consumers, but the attorneys need to hear from additional cardholders to help strengthen the litigation.
What You Can Do: If you used your Bank of America, TD Bank, or Capital One card to purchase goods or services in a foreign currency, fill out the form on this page. You may have paid too much for your purchase and may now have the chance to get your money back.
What’s the Catch?: There is none. Attorneys working with ClassAction.org are investigating whether consumers are being improperly charged for foreign transactions and need to hear from people to assist with their investigation.
What’s This Cost?: It costs nothing to get in touch with us, to speak to one of the law firms we work with, or to have an attorney review your credit or debit card statements for any hidden fees.

Attorneys working with ClassAction.org are investigating whether certain banks and credit card companies are charging consumers illegal and hidden fees on foreign transactions.

To help with their investigation, they need to hear from consumers who made purchases in foreign currencies on credit and debit cards issued by any of the following banks:

Bank of America
Capital One
TD Bank

What Counts as a Foreign Currency Purchase?

For the purposes of this investigation, a foreign currency purchase includes goods and services bought while traveling abroad, as well as those made online or over the phone from a company that’s based overseas, as long as the purchase was made in a foreign currency.

How Could I Have Been Overcharged?

As most readers probably know, when a U.S. consumer uses a credit or debit card to make a foreign purchase, their account is charged in U.S. dollars and the seller is credited for the purchase in another currency (usually their own). The credit card processor (for instance, Visa or Mastercard) will calculate the amount charged to the consumer using an exchange rate.

Several banks, including Bank of America and Capital One, are said to have outlined in their cardholders’ contracts that the rates to be applied to these transactions will be representative of those available in the wholesale foreign exchange market. It has been alleged, however, that the rates actually being imposed “bear no resemblance to any exchange rate […] in wholesale markets.”

This is because, in many cases, the banks and credit card companies actually “exchanged no currency whatsoever,” as the transactions were either settled in U.S. dollars or the processor had enough foreign currency on hand to resolve the transaction with the foreign seller, the suits allege.

Ultimately, the suits claim consumers paid more for their foreign purchases, more money in interest, and higher foreign transaction fees than they should have because the companies claimed to be exchanging currency when they were simply paying out of pocket with the currency they had on hand.

Would I Know If I Was Charged an Unlawful Fee?

It’s unlikely. Attorneys working with ClassAction.org suspect that these fees are well hidden and nearly impossible to detect if you don’t know what you’re looking for. That being said, they’re willing to review your credit/debit card statements – at no cost to you – to help determine if you were charged improperly.

How Can a Class Action Lawsuit Help?

A class action lawsuit, if filed and successful, could help put an end to any illegal practices and help consumers get back their money if they were found to have been improperly charged.

What You Can Do

If you used a Bank of America, Capital One, or TD Bank-issued credit or debit card for a foreign purchase, fill out the form on this page to learn more about this investigation and what you can do. It costs nothing to get in touch or to speak to someone about your rights.

It’s possible that millions of Americans have been overcharged for their foreign transactions.

Before commenting, please review our comment policy.