Kit Roberts
Trader Joe's has agreed to a multi-million dollar payout as part of a class action lawsuit which was brought against the company.
The lawsuit ended with an agreement from the business to pay out some $7.4 million in settlements.
However, there are specific criteria to determine who is eligible for a payout.
The original complaint dates back to 2019, when Brian Keim claimed that food store Trader Joe's had been printing 10 digits from the payment card numbers customers had used on the receipts the first six and the last four.
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Keim claimed in the class action that this did not comply with an amendment to the Fair Credit Reporting Act called the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) amendment.
The suit alleges that this could have put the financial information of customers at risk of crime like identity theft.
In a statement on their website, Trader Joe's said that there had not been any reports of identity theft as a result, and denied allegations and liability of wrongdoing in the case.
Nonetheless, it explained that it had made the decision to settle because fighting the suit in court could have proved expensive, but it was not confirming Keim's claims.
They added: “Identity theft is not required to prove a FACTA claim, and therefore you do not need to have suffered identity theft to submit a claim for payment from this settlement."
The $7.4 million settlement covers customers at the grocery store between March 5 2019 and July 19 2019, as well as legal fees and administration costs.
In order to make a claim, someone must have received a receipt showing too many digits.
If you can submit a claim then you will receive a proportion of any money which is left after legal and administration costs, as well as Keim receiving a payment of $10,000.
While this depends on how many valid claims are submitted, a settlement notice has said Keim believes the rough payout should be around $102.45.
In order to make their claim, someone who is eligible needs to submit a claim form either on the settlement website or by phone by June 6 2026, citing a class ID number.
People who don't have the class ID number you can enter the first six and last four digits of the payment card you used, as well as the date you made the purchase at Trader Joe's.
Anyone who either submits a claim or does nothing forfeits the right to sue Trader Joe's about any of the claims raised in the class action lawsuit.
However, if someone does wish to keep this option open then they must opt out of the settlement by June 9 2026.