Bank of America Abusive Overdraft Fees Class Action Lawsuit
On November 10, 2009, Bank of America customers filed a second amended complaint against the bank for the alleged unfair and illegal assessment and collection of excessive overdraft fees.
Bank of America's Alleged Fraud
The lawsuit claims that Bank of America processed debit card transactions in order of highest to lowest dollar amount to maximize the number of overdraft fees assessed to its customers. Specifically, the lawsuit claims that, instead of declining transactions when an account had insufficient funds to cover a purchase, Bank of America authorized the transactions and then processed them in highest to lowest dollar amount order, which had the effect of increasing the number of overdraft fees the bank charged its customers.
Bank of America maintains there was nothing wrong about the posting process used.
Case Update
On November 7, 2011, the Court granted final approval to a $410 million settlement of the case against Bank of America, and, for settlement purposes, certified the following class:
- Had a Bank of America consumer checking and/or savings account that you could access with a Bank of America debit card, at any time between January 1, 2011 and May 24, 2011, and
- Were charged one or more overdraft fees as a result of Bank of America???s practice of posting debit card transactions from highest to lowest dollar amount.
Notice of the settlement was issued in July 2011.
If you are included in the Settlement Class and entitled to receive a cash benefit, you do not have to do anything to get a payment or account credit. When the Settlement becomes final and effective, you will automatically receive a payment or account credit.
You can learn more about the Bank of America overdraft settlement at the official settlement website, www.bofaoverdraftsettlement.com.
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