Question
http://money.cnn.com/2003/02/10/news/companies/mastercard_visa.reut/index.htm
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I'm afraid I'd agree with MC: The banks are the ones responsible for disclosing fees. It's sad that the Feds don't bother to make them do it, as suing most of the banks in the USA is a massive undertaking.
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More in NY Times:
....The judgment could influence another lawsuit against Visa and MasterCard, lawyers said. That case, in federal court in New York, also attacks conversion fees, but names the nation's largest banks among the defendants and is a class-action lawsuit — meaning that repayments to cardholders could reach to the billions...
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/11/business/11CARD.html
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Credit card titans defend fee in court
Judge says companies concealing charges
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/03/05/BU63413.DTL
Visa International and MasterCard International lined up their attorneys in Alameda Superior Court Tuesday to defend a currency conversion fee that both companies charge when customers use their cards abroad.
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Credit card firms must repay fees
Visa and MasterCard defend charges on foreign transactions
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/04/09/BU8334.DTL
An Alameda County Superior Court judge has ordered Visa International and MasterCard International to disclose a currency-conversion fee that both companies charge customers when they use their cards abroad.
Despite arguments by the two credit card titans last month against disclosing the fee, Judge Ronald Sabraw stood by his original order, which requires that Visa and MasterCard provide restitution to cardholders who have paid the fee since February 1996. The plaintiff's lawyers estimate total restitution to be about $800 million.
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From the same article: Because Visa is based in the same state where the lawsuit was filed, it must pay restitution to all of its customers who were charged the conversion fee dating back to 1996. In MasterCard's case, because it is located in New York, the company is obligated to repay only its California customers who were charged the fee.
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I thought this was still in appeals...???
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Oh, I suspect the VISA and MasterCard lawyers will tie it up in appeals for years, or at least try to.
But we may see some changes in how foreign currency conversion rates are billed (already seeing it on one of my VISA cards, but not yet on AmEx).