Vanilla Gift Card Settlement: $1.52M+ Deal Offers Cash to Californians With Drained Cards

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$1,525,000 settlement in California ends a lawsuit that alleged the funds on non-reloadable Vanilla Gift Cards were susceptible to being drained due to package tampering that occurred before the cards were even purchased, and that some cardholders with a stolen balance were improperly denied refunds. 

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Eligible for the Vanilla Gift Card settlement with InComm Financial Services are California residents who:

• Either purchased a non-reloadable Vanilla Prepaid Gift Card in California between November 1, 2019 and September 30, 2024 or received as a gift (or otherwise lawfully acquired) a Vanilla Gift Card someone else purchased in the state during that time;  
• Have been unable to use the full balance of the gift card due to one or more unauthorized transactions;
• Believe that the unauthorized transactions were caused by a person tampering with the card’s packaging; and
• Have not yet received a refund for the funds they were unable to access.

The court-authorized Vanilla Gift Card settlement website can be found at CAGiftCardSettlement.com.

Eligible claimants who file a timely, valid claim form with complete proof of claim—that is, a receipt, photos of the front and back of the gift card, the transaction history for the Vanilla Gift Card at issue, documentation of prior outreach to the company if the claimant tried to obtain a refund, and any communications they received in response—can receive a cash payment equal to the full value of their reported lost funds.  

There is no limit to the number of claims an individual may submit with complete proof.

Eligible claimants who submit a valid claim with incomplete proof can receive up to 75 percent of their reported lost funds for each Vanilla Gift Card at issue, depending on the documentation provided.

Those who file a valid claim form without proof can receive up to $15 per gift card for up to two eligible Vanilla Gift Cards.

Claimants who submit one or two claims without documentation may still submit an unlimited number of claims with proper documentation for other eligible Vanilla Gift Cards.

Should the total value of all valid claims exceed the amount that remains in the Vanilla Gift Card settlement restitution fund, payments to eligible claimants who file without proof will be decreased on a pro rata (proportional) basis.

To file a Vanilla Gift Card settlement claim form online, eligible claimants can visit this page and select that they do not have the claim ID and PIN found on their copy of the settlement notice. Alternatively, claimants can mail a completed claim form to the settlement administrator.

All Vanilla Gift Card settlement claim forms must be submitted online or postmarked by February 19, 2027.

Settlement payments will be distributed to eligible claimants by approximately June 19, 2027.

The Vanilla Gift Card lawsuit, filed in 2023 by the San Francisco City Attorney on behalf of the people of California, alleged that the gift cards were vulnerable to package tampering, which allowed unauthorized individuals to open the packaging and access card information before the cards were even purchased. The suit further claimed that some cardholders whose gift card funds were stolen or drained as a result of the packaging vulnerability were improperly denied refunds by defendant InComm Financial Services.

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