No Need to Dread This Month’s Bill

There’s a surprise in this month’s billing statements for thousands of MasterCard and Visa credit-card holders: money.

To settle a class-action lawsuit, Wells Fargo Bank is mailing $4 to $32 to each of about 250,000 of its MasterCard and Visa cardholders in California, and First Interstate Bank of California is sending about $32 each to some 360,000 of its card clients.

Each cardholder gets a credit for the amount against the outstanding balance or annual fee, or a check if there is no balance this month.

The payments are part of an agreement reached by the banks a year ago to settle the suit, which was filed in 1986 and alleged that they conspired to fix interest rates on the cards. The banks denied wrongdoing.

Wells Fargo said its cardholders from 1982 through 1991 were eligible, while First Interstate said its eligibility period runs from late 1986 through 1991.