Great Western Bank Reaches Overdraft Fee Class Action Settlement

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

Great Western Bank Reaches Overdraft Fee Class Action Settlement

By Matt O’Donnell

UPDATE: Details on how to file a claim for the Great Western Bank Overdraft Class Action Lawsuit Settlement are up!

Great Western Bank has agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging it manipulated customers’ debit charges in order to generate additional overdraft fee revenue. The case is part of a massive multidistrict litigation accusing more than 30 different banks of posting debit card transactions out of chronological order to increase the number of overdraft fees charged to account holders.

Great Western Bank is accused in the overdraft fee class action lawsuit of posting debit card transactions from highest dollar amount to lowest dollar amount in order to trigger overdraft fees and generate more profit. In addition to paying customers $2.2 million in refunds as part of the class action settlement, Great Western Bank agreed to change its debit transaction policies for at least two years, including: limiting the number of overdraft fees it can charge on a single day; not charging overdraft fees unless the account has a negative balance of more than $10; and posting transactions from low-to-high or in chronological order.

“Posting order will ensure that members of the settlement class who are current account holders, as well as all other GWB account holders, will no longer incur overdraft fees as a result of the bank’s former practice of debit resequencing,” said the Plaintiffs’ attorneys in their motion for the Great West Bank overdraft fee class action settlement.

Several banks involved in the case, entitled In re Checking Account Overdraft Litigation, have already agreed to class action lawsuit settlements. So far Bank of America has agreed to the largest overdraft fee class action settlement at $410 million. JPMorgan Chase ($110 million), Citizens Bank ($137.5 million), PNC Bank ($90 million), U.S. Bank ($55 million) and TD Bank ($62 million) all reached class action settlements in the overdraft fee lawsuit.

Multiple class action lawsuits have also been filed against numerous credit unions alleging the same deceptive overdraft fee practices.