Thou shalt not be late

A little 4 x 6 card arrived in the mail today with dozens of lines of 6-point (maybe) type, and after going into Heavy Squint Mode, I finally got the gist of it.

A bank whose Visa card I use has offered to settle a class-action lawsuit which alleged that it failed to credit some cardholder payments on the day received (which, if true, is tacky) and failed to include in the Minimum Payment Due on some statements an amount sufficient for cardholders to avoid an overlimit fee (which, if true, suggests that some people can't figure this out on their own). The bank, of course, denies any wrongdoing, and is basically paying the lawyers to go away.

The following Serious Changes are being made in the bank's M.O.:

• Cutoff time — the time of day after which payments will be credited the next day — will change from 1 pm to 3 pm.

• The bank will exercise due diligence to insure that payments are credited, even if the due date falls on a weekend.

• The bank will fork over $3.5 million to settle claims.
  

Now I don't know how heinous their crimes are — I've never been late with a payment to this bank, and as far as I'm concerned their service has been first-rate so far — but inasmuch as the lawyers are getting a third of the loot, I have to assume that this is essentially a shakedown.

And to further support this assumption, there's this sentence about what I, as a member of the class, can expect:

Considering that the average late fee is about three times that, this isn't much of a settlement — unless, of course, you're counsel for the plaintiffs. I am seriously tempted to write a letter to the Court to opt out of the settlement, just because it will likely cause at least $10 worth of paperwork.