Berger & Montague, P.C. is court-appointed co-lead counsel in this class action litigation brought on behalf of United States holders of Visa, MasterCard, and Diners Club credit or charge cards. The lawsuit alleges violations of the federal antitrust laws and the Truth In Lending Act ("TILA"). Named as defendants are Visa and MasterCard, the two largest credit card networks, and Diners Club, which is a charge card network owned and operated by Citibank. The complaint also names as defendants seven of the largest issuers of credit and charge cards: Citibank, Bank of America, First U.S.A./Bank One, Chase, Providian, MBNA, and Household.

The class action alleges that the defendants conspired to artificially set and inflate currency conversion fees United States cardholders incur each time they use their cards in foreign currency transactions. This alleged conspiracy was facilitated, in part, by the fact that the card issuer banks occupy important management positions in both the Visa and MasterCard organizations. The action also alleges that defendants violated their disclosure obligations under TILA to disguise these fixed conversion fees from cardholders. Defendants’ collection of these fees nets hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue.

Further inquiries about the litigation may be directed to Merrill G. Davidoff, Esq. at (215) 875-3000.