Earlier this year, I wrote about the details of the Airborne Settlement and how you could claim your Airborne settlement refund. Airborne agreed to settle a complaint with the FTC of false advertising because their nasty orange mixture doesn’t actually prevent colds. The original settlement was for $23.5M and the FTC recently added $6.5M to the original figure to bring it to $30M (this is all subject to approval by a federal court in California).

If you purchased an Airborne product between May 2001 and November 2007, you qualify to participate in this settlement. You can get a refund for as many items as you can prove you bought in that time period (purchase receipts) plus six. If you have no receipts, you can claim six without any proof of purchase. If you have receipts for 2 items, you can claim eight. This means that a lot of people can claim six products purchased without any proof and so you probably will just get a microscopic percentage of the $30M settlement (at least it’s $6.5M higher!).

The deadline to submit is 15 September 2008. If you opt to mail it in, it must be postmarked by September 15th.

Resources:

• Settlement Website
• Settlement Agreement
• Online Claim Form
• Paper Form

(photo: fredosan)

If you had a credit card, loan or credit account between January 1987 and May 28th, 2008, you are eligible to file a claim in a preliminary settlement of a class-action lawsuit (though not slated to be approved until September, though it’s probably going to happen). That’s a whole lot of people. The lawsuit was filed eight years ago in Chicago and alleges that TransUnion sold consumer profile information to businesses, which is a violation of federal law. What started in Chicago certainly didn’t stay there, eventually there were 14 federal lawsuits. Yikes!

(Thanks to Cap, if you used TransUnion or TrueLink between December 1, 1999 and April 16, 2007, you can get three months of credit monitoring through a settlement in the Robert V. Townes, IV v. TransUnion, LLC and TrueLink, Inc. case, deadline for that settlement is July 22, 2008)

What Do You Get?

You may be eligible for one of two options:

(1) Basic relief. Free credit monitoring for six months, which gives you daily access to your credit report and credit score and 24-hour credit-monitoring service. This normally costs $59.75. Those who elect this option may get a cash payment if there’s money left from the $75 million settlement fund.

(2) Enhanced relief. An alternative enhanced set of services” in exchange for a full release of claims. This options includes nine months credit monitoring, a suite of insurance scores and TransUnion’s mortgage simulator service. This option normally would cost $115.50. You won’t be entitled to any cash payment under this option. [Source: Phuong Cat Le of SeattlePI.com]

What Are My Option?

Option 1, basic relief, is the only one where you could potentially get money (if there’s any left over). If you elect basic relief you can get the free credit monitoring for 6 months or a $59.75 cash payment. I don’t think there will be any cash left over in the $75 million settlement fund (there never seems to be, plus you figure with the internet and how fast information spreads, you’ll get a pretty high percentage of the estimated 160 million eligible Americans registering for this).

Option 2, enhanced relief, has no cash out option and comes with three aditional months of credit monitoring, and a “suite of insurance scores.” There’s conflicting interpretation of “suite of insurance scores.” Some news outlets are reporting that it’s your credit score, others call it a different score that insurance companies use to determine your rates. I didn’t know that there were even separate scores (there may not be) in the first place. Bottom line, you will get a credit related number for free that you otherwise would’ve had to pay for.

My Thoughts

1. All the estimates put the settlement cost in the billions, yet TransUnion said they’d earmarked $75 million (this could always go up). They must not think people are going to sign up for this.
2. Option 1 seems more like a waste of time for the consumer and a boon for TransUnion. Getting credit monitoring for six months and then not renewing is like getting life insurance for six months and then canceling. Sure, you’re protected for six months but then what? Maybe you forget to cancel something or end up renewing the service, both earn money for TransUnion (turn a big long lawsuit in a money making venture, brilliant!). I wonder if we’ll hear complaints in six months (maybe I’m just cynical) about it. Nix that, no credit card will be required.
3. Option 2 seems a little better, though it still has the failings of Option 1, but you get to see some credit related score for free.
4. If you aren’t interested in either option, I’d register for Option 1 and see if you can get cash; that’s likely what I’ll be doing. I think we need to see the options all spelled out and finalized before reserving judgment.

How To Participate

First, you’ll have to register. After June 16th, 2008, you can register online at www.listclassaction.com or by calling them up at 1-866-416-3470. As of May 31st, the website doesn’t work yet.

Lastly, you can always get a free copy of your credit report, thanks to Federal Law, through AnnualCreditReport.com.

What happens when you make a product that promises to “boost your immune system” and ward off colds? You make a ton of money, if it actually boosts your immune system and wards off colds. When you make that promise and don’t actually do that, at least anymore than a sugar pill placebo, then you are called Airborne and you settle for $23.3 million for false advertising. I’ve never taken the stuff, mostly because it looks like a nasty orange mixture and because I didn’t believe it, but a lot of people did and if you are one of those people, you are entitled to a piece of the settlement.

If you did drink the stuff, you probably didn’t do your body any harm; the mixture was just a super-shot of Vitamin C along with some other goodness that was mostly likely expelled out of your body the next time you used the bathroom. In fact, Vitamin C is water soluble and you urinate out anything more than 100% the daily recommended value (so the extra 230948203483209% is pretty much useless). If you do feel a cold coming on, taking Vitamin C is not a bad idea but taking 2309428304923% will not help anymore than 100%. (Some other vitamins such as A, are fat soluble and thus not expelled in urine, and you can certainly overdose on those so be very careful!)

Anyway, if you bought an Airborne product between 01 May 2001 and 29 November 2007, then you qualify to file a claim against the settlement. If you have proofs of purchase (unlikely unless you are a serious receipt filer) then you can get a refund for everything you bought and stuff have a proof of purchase for. Otherwise, you can claim as many as six products in addition to the ones you have proof for. So, if you have a receipt for three boxes then you can make a claim for as many as nine (3 proofs plus 6 undocumented items). The only downside is that everyone and their mother is likely to make a claim since you can claim up to 6 items without proof, whether you bought it or not, so you will only get your piece after the $23.3MM has been divvied up.

The deadline to submit is 15 September 2008. If you opt to mail it in, it must be postmarked by September 15th.

Resources:

• Settlement Website
• Settlement Agreement
• Online Claim Form
• Paper Form

Diamonds are a girl’s best friend! And if you bought into the marketing slogan and got your sweetie a diamond (or anything with a diamond in it), you may be able to recoup some of the cost in a settlement. De Beers was charged with cornering the diamond market between Jan 1, 1994 and March 31, 2006 and recently settled for $295 million. Of the $295 million, $135 million was earmarked for consumers with the balance going to wholesalers. Check out their press release statement on the issue.

How Much Do I Get

Unfortunately, because it’s unclear how many people will make a claim and because the lawyer fees haven’t been published, the table (published on MSN Money) is just a maximum value and not what you’ll likely see. $135M spread across all the diamond purchases over the course of eight years is not going to amount to much. In fact, if your prorated share of the settlement is under $10, they won’t even send it to you because of “prohibitive administrative costs.”

The minimum payout is $10 and the maximum is $640 (the Recognized Claim Amount). If you bought a lot of diamonds, the maximum you can receive is the Recognized Claim Amount of $640.

Should I File?

Considering the $10 rule, you may want to reconsider whether to spend the time to file. This is what they recommend: “As a general guideline, if your total purchases consist of Mixed Stones Jewelry with combined purchase prices of $165 or less, or Diamonds Only Jewelry with combined purchase prices of $95 or less, your claim will not reach the payment minimum amount of $10.00.” Now, is that just the lawyers wanting a bigger piece of the pie? Is it just there so people don’t dilute the pool? Who knows, that’s up to you to decide.

How To File

To file a claim, visit the online claim form or fill out the PDF form and mail it back by may 19th.

If you claim less than $10,000, you don’t need to provide proof right now but you might need it later. If you claim more than $10,000, you have to include a copy of a document that shows the specs of the diamond (what’s essentially in an appraisal). Good luck!

(Photo: salreus)

Did you know that there was an anti-trust case brought against the major credit card issuers regarding foreign transaction fees? For those who aren’t aware of foreign transaction fees, these are fees that some card issues add onto a credit card charge made in a foreign currency. This fee can range anywhere from 1-3%, though some issuers will absorb the fees. These fees are not the cost of converting the currency, which is likely absorbed in the exchange rate used by the credit card company. Well, today these foreign transaction fees are often broken out and detailed on the credit card bill itself (sometimes as a mere asterisk indicating a x% fee was levied for this foreign transaction, sometimes an actual dollar amount) but this wasn’t always the case. In the past, card issuers wouldn’t even mention a transaction fee was levied and buyers would merely see a poor exchange rate.

But the fee itself wasn’t the problem, plaintiffs claimed that the Visa and MasterCard networks, their member banks, and Diners Club conspired to set the fees and conceal them from the public by inflating their exchange rates (essentially hiding the fee in the rate). Which cards are included?

Visa- and MasterCard-branded credit cards (including charge cards) and debit/ATM cards (including stored value and payroll cards), and Diners Club-branded credit cards (including charge cards). The Visa-branded cards include Visa-, Interlink-, and Plus-branded credit and debit/ATM cards; the MasterCard-branded cards include MasterCard-, Cirrus-, and Maestro-branded credit and debit/ATM cards. The lawsuit includes purchases, cash advances, cash withdrawals, and internet transactions.

So, the defendants have now elected to settle and set aside $336M to pay for it all. If you wish to participate in the settlement, what you’ll need to do is choose one of three options. The option you choose will depend on your level of international travel and how much you’ve spent in the years between 1996 and 2006.

1. Refund Option 1: Request an Easy Refund of $25. This Option is recommended if you traveled outside of the U.S. for less than one week or had foreign transactions of less than $2,500 using your eligible cards during the 1996 to 2006 period. (Green Form); OR
2. Refund Option 2: Request a Total Estimation Refund based on typical spending during travel and your answers to a few questions about your own travel outside of the U.S. This Option is recommended if you traveled outside of the U.S. for more than one week or had foreign transactions of more than $2,500 using your eligible cards during the 1996 to 2006 period. Refunds will be a maximum of 1% of estimated foreign transactions. (Blue Form); OR
3. Refund Option 3: Request a refund based on information that you provide concerning your Annual Estimated foreign transactions during the 1996 to 2006 period. This Option is recommended if you had extensive foreign travel or foreign transactions and are willing to provide year-by-year information. Refunds will be a maximum of 1% to 3% of foreign transactions. This is the only Option you can use to get a refund for corporate card use. (Red Form)

I think I’ll probably do Option 1 or perhaps Option 2, since I’ve traveled internationally quite a bit to visit family in Taiwan and on vacations abroad. I have yet to review the claim form to see the level of rigor involved but it seems relatively straightforward.

The deadline to file this has been extended to May 30, 2008.

(Thanks Tim!)