Bank Of America Settles For $410 Million In Overdraft Fee Suit

By Cornelius Nunev


Overdraft fees were the focus of a mas-sive class action suit involving Bank of America, which the bank just recently came to a settlement agreement in.

Bank of America has agreed to pay $410 million to settle a class action lawsuit over aggressive overdraft fee practices. Aggressive overdraft policies are the subject of an enormous class action, involving about one million people and more than two doz-en banks, including Bank of America. Do not worry; you will still be able to get your installment loans from these banks.

Bank suits occur with charges

Overdraft fees and account fees aren't popular among consumers, and out-rage over charge practices has led to major class action lawsuits against some of the larg-est financial institutions in the United States and Canada. Almost 1 million individuals are part of a mas-sive class action suit, according to Bloomberg, against Bank of America, and comparable suits have been filed against Chase bank, Citigroup and Wells Fargo. A $410 million settlement was approved for Bank of America. 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. In Re: Checking Account Overdraft Litigation is the name of the case.

The problem with overdraft fees seen by consumers

Bank of America is alleged to have processed transactions from largest to smallest rather than by when the transactions were made, thus making it more probable that accounts would fall into overdraft and the sum recovered by the banks would be greater. Short term credit and overdraft fees are very easily compared. The bank will les the trans-action be made as a "loan" to the customer and then charge a charge for it. Fees vary by institution, though fees between $25 and $35 are common. Some consumers cannot possibly afford overdraft fees. That is why customer advocates don't like them. Banks can no longer enroll consumers into an overdraft protection program automatically; custom-ers have to elect to enroll.

Pilot B of A program

Soon a pilot program at Bank of America will begin. The Los Angeles Times states this will be for mobile banking. The customer is sent a text message if a transaction is declined asking if the customer wants to use the bank's overdraft protection on that transaction. The consumer can then keep away from the $35 overdraft charge if they are able to deposit the funds before 8 p.m. that even-ing. The choice would only apply to that transaction. 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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