Bank Of America Gives $410 Million Settlement In Overdraft Fee Suit

By Cornelius Nunev


Bank of America is presently involved in a huge class action lawsuit concerning overdraft fees. The bank has reached a settlement that will certainly cost it some money.

Almost a million people are named in the lawsuit against the bank. B of A has agreed to pay $410 million to set-tle the suit. Aggressive overdraft policies are the subject of an enormous class action, involving about one million people and more than two doz-en banks, including B of A. Do not worry; you'll still be able to get your installment loans from these banks.

Bank suits occur with fees

Overdraft fees and account fees are not popular among customers, and anger over fee practices has led to major class action lawsuits against some of the larg-est financial institutions in the U.S. and Canada. Almost 1 million individuals are part of an enormous class action suit, according to Bloomberg, against Bank of America, and similar suits have been filed against JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo. Bank of America is able to settle now. A $410 million settlement has already been approved. Reuters explained that over 2 dozen banks in the United States. Europe and Canada are be-ing sued for fees like these, all of which were changed to be class action suits. The case is titled In Re: Checking Account Overdraft Litigation.

Undue burden placed on vulnerable customers

In order to create multi-ple overdraft fees rather than just one or two, Bank of America has been accused of pro-cessing largest to smallest transactions so that accounts will go into overdraft over and over rather than in the order they came in. Short term credit and overdraft fees are very easily compared. The bank will les the trans-action be made as a "loan" to the consumer and then charge a charge for it. Usually between $25 and $35 is typically charged. That's an average area for fees. Many consumer advocates consider overdraft protections and fees to be abusive to less fortunate customers. Banks can no longer enroll consumers into an overdraft protection program automatically; consumers have to elect to enroll.

Using your phone with Bank of America

The LA Times reports there is a pilot program at Bank of America starting. If a transaction is declined for insuffi-cient funds, the customer will receive a text message giving the customer the option to have the bank cover the overdraft. The consumer has to deposit the funds then by 8 p.m. that evening to cover the transac-tion. If they do not, then they'll get the $35 charge. This is only allowed with the one transaction. It is very limited. Overdraft fees will become the province of the CFPB, according to the New York Times, when the agency begins opera-tion. The CFPB is involved in an ongoing Congressional tug-of-war over the director posi-tion and what powers the bureau should have.




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