Here's an interesting fact in You may be entitled to a cash prize if you had a Visa, MasterCard, or Diner's Club Cards during any time between February 1 1996 and November 8 2006. A successful class action lawsuit contended that credit card companies overcharged customers for foreign transactions and didn't disclose the fees well enough. You can apply for a straight $25 refund, 1% of estimated foreign transactions, or annual estimation refund of 1-3% of foreign transactions for which you have records . Claim your moneys by filling out forms that were mailed to you, going to The ongoing subprime meltdown is Richard writes:I am an MD-PhD, working at a medical center in New York. In 2006 I came here form Wisconsin, and at that point I called American Express (had a credit card with them for about 7-8 years before), explained my move, and the new academic position I was taking on, and asked them if they can help me in the transition period while moving. The rep told me that since my account is in excellent standing, I can go for 2 to 3 months without incurring late fees or penalties, IF I can prove that I am moving to another state and taking on a new job, to which I said, of course, there will be plenty of documents such as rental agreement, job offer, etc., to prove that. I was at the same time told, that "American Express helps its card holders in times of need and transition".

About 2-3 months later I wasn't able to make a payment on-line, then found out that my on-line access was inactivated and the account closed and forwarded to collection agencies.

Since then, I have been dealing with collection agencies, some of them - the most nasty ones. Even though I specified that I would like to pay what I owe, I asked for validation, because the amount they indicate is higher than the credit limit and I never used that much. I simply want to see what I am paying. I sent a validation request to the first collection agency, they stopped contact with me and sent the account back to American Express; then a second collection agency contacted me, I asked for validation, and they also stopped contacting me after that. It seems that none of these agencies