Federal District Court Judge King gave final approval Monday to a $410 million Bank of America settlement related to a class-action lawsuit that accused it of charging excessive overdraft fees to millions of debit-card customers. The settlement will give account holders as much as 45 cents on the dollar on their claims, according to co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs. Continue reading “Federal judge OKs Bank of America’s $410 million settlement”
On November 2, 2011, Iberia Bank agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle a class action against it that was pending in the Florida multidistrict litigation in which several banks are defendants in cases alleging that the banks breached the covenant of good faith and fair dealing when they unfairly charged customers exorbitant overdraft fees by reordering how the debit transactions were processed from highest to lowest.
A $9 million class action settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit against Bank of Hawaii. The complaint alleged that Bank of Hawaii improperly charged overdraft fees on debit card transactions by re-ordering debit card transactions from highest dollar amount to lowest dollar amount to maximize overdraft fees.
It appears that some of the banks are now willing to settle these cases and put these bad practices behind them.
I earlier wrote about a number of banks being sued for reordering debit card transactions from high to low in order to increase overdraft fees. Those suits were all transferred by the multi-district panel to a district court in Florida.
In their latest attempts to ditch the multi-district litigation pending in Florida, the banks once again argued that the National Banking Act (“NBA”) barred the plaintiffs’ state law claims, pointing to a recent Eleventh Circuit decision holding that the NBA preempted an action based on a state consumer protection law aimed at limiting a bank’s ability to charge fees for certain services. Continue reading “JP Morgan Chase attempt to exit MDL nixed”
I earlier wrote a posting about the excessive overdraft fees cases we filed against several banks that have all been transferred to Florida. On July 18, 2011, U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King orally ruled in court that he would grant a motion for class certification filed by customers of Union Bank. In other words, customers may sue as a group over the bank’s overdraft-fee policy of reordering debit transactions to highest to lowest. Continue reading “First class action certified against Union Bank in excessive overdraft cases against banks”
On May 23, a federal district judge in Florida preliminarily approved a settlement in a class action alleging that Bank of America had charged excessive overdraft fees on debit cards. The bank reordered the processing of the debit charges from highest to lowest, which resulted in more overdraft fees. Under the settlement, the Bank would pay $410 million.
Bank of America was the first defendant to settle in the case. Roughly 30 defendants remain, including US Bank, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, and Citibank. Bank of America no longer charges overdraft fees for debit purchases. Instead, it declines the card if there are not sufficient funds.
Click here to see the order preliminarily approving the settlement.
This blog has pointed out big hits Wells Fargo Bank has recently taken for charging excessive overdraft fees by reordering from high to low debit transactions. Now, Wells Fargo is facing a new charge relating to its overdraft fees. According to a class action lawsuit filed in Miami-Dade County Court, Wells Fargo charges bogus overdraft fees to customers whose accounts have gone into garnishment to increase its own profits. The complaint alleges that “Wells Fargo takes advantage of the financial turmoil created by garnishment and targets the weakest customers at a time when they are most vulnerable by mixing legitimate Overdraft Fees with bogus Overdraft Fees in order to generate additional profit for itself.” Continue reading “Wells Fargo In More Trouble About Overdraft Fees In Garnishments”
Bank of America Corp has agreed to pay $410 million to settle lawsuits accusing it of charging customers with excessive overdraft fees. The largest U.S. bank by assets is among the more than two dozen U.S., Canadian and European lenders named as defendants in these type of class actions, which have been consolidated by the MDL panel in a giant proceeding in Florida. Continue reading “Bank of America Settles Excessive Overdraft Class Action for $410 million”
A federal court in Chicago has begun notifying current and former bank account customers of Fifth Third Bank of a proposed $9.5 million class action settlement. A lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Northern Illinois claims Fifth Third improperly assessed overdraft fees for insufficient funds on debit card purchases and ATM withdrawals by “re-sequencing” transactions to maximize the number of overdraft fees. The bank has denied the lawsuit’s claims. Continue reading “Another bank tries to settle excessive overdraft class action”
On August 10, 2010, A federal judge in California ordered Wells Fargo Bank to pay restitution of $203 million to California consumers who overdrew their checking accounts and were charged excessive overdraft fees because the bank re-ordered electronic debit transactions from the high dollar amount to the lowest dollar amount so as to deplete the customer’s available funds as quickly as possible while maximizing the amount of “Overdraft fees” collected by the banks. The practice generated massive revenues. Between 2005 and 2007, Wells Fargo assessed over $1.4 billion in overdraft penalties in California alone. Continue reading “Judge orders Wells Fargo to pay $203 million in overdraft fee class action”
