Vanilla Gift Card Settlement: How Californians Can Claim Money Drained From a Card by February 19

Californians who lost money on a drained Vanilla prepaid gift card can now file a claim for a refund. San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu announced the claims fund on Friday, October 23, 2026, from a settlement of more than $1.5 million with InComm Financial Services, the Georgia company behind Vanilla cards, and its partner banks, KQED reported. Claims are open through Friday, February 19, 2027.

What the Case Was About

The city filed the case in 2023. It is listed on the settlement website as People of the State of California v. InComm Financial Services, Inc., et al., No. CGC-23-610333. The lawsuit alleged that scammers tampered with the cards’ cardboard packaging to drain the balance before the person holding the card could spend it, which Chiu calls “card draining,” and that the companies knew about the security problems for a decade, according to KQED.

Chiu called the fund “a win for consumers” and said his office sued partly because of “hundreds of complaints” from people across the state and the country. He said he did not know how many Californians were affected.

Who Can File

According to the official settlement website, you qualify if you are a California resident and all of these are true:

• You bought a non-reloadable Vanilla Prepaid Gift Card in California between November 1, 2019 and September 30, 2024, or someone gave you one bought in California in that period.
• You could not use some or all of the money on it because of unauthorized charges, which may come from criminals tampering with the packaging.
• You have not already received a refund from InComm for that money.

Vanilla cards are the non-reloadable cards sold on racks at places like grocery stores and gas stations.

How to File

File online through the claims administrator’s portal at veritaconnect.com/CAGiftCardSettlement, or by mail to Gift Cards Claims Administrator, P.O. Box 301132, Los Angeles, CA 90030-1132. For mailed claims, the postmark date counts as the filing date.

The claim form asks for your home address, the card’s stated value, roughly when and where it was bought, how much was lost to unauthorized transactions, the card’s 11-digit serial number, and either the 16-digit card number or a statement that it was altered or scratched off, KQED reported. You also sign an attestation under penalty of perjury that the information is true.

A separate proof of claim form is voluntary. It takes a purchase receipt, photos of the front and back of the card, and the card’s transaction history. The settlement says the administrator may share your claim information with the company to check it against company records.

How Much You Can Get

Per KQED’s summary of the settlement terms:

• Valid claim with a complete proof of claim form: you may recover all of the money you lost.
• Valid claim with an incomplete proof of claim form: up to 75 percent of the loss, subject to adjustments.
• Valid claim with no proof of claim: a flat payment of up to $15, whatever the loss. These claims are paid last and could receive less than $15.

Payments are expected around June 19, 2027. The settlement website lists only the mailing address and a contact form, with no phone number.

For other recent city decisions that affect residents’ wallets, see our report on the new rules on unpaid rent and hidden rental fees.

Photo: Runner1928, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. San Francisco City Hall, home of the City Attorney’s office.