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This settlement is closed!
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Bank of America NA has agreed pay nearly $42 million to settle a class action lawsuit over allegations it has charged thousands of military service members’ families excessive interest on certain accounts since Sept. 11, 2001, and that it has attempted to conceal these excess interest charges.
If you received or were eligible to receive additional compensation related to military reduced interest rates from Bank of America at any time on or after Sept. 11, 2001, you may be entitled to compensation from the military member fee class action settlement.
According to the BofA class action lawsuit, Bank of America charged thousands of military servicemember family customers excessive interest on mortgage accounts, credit card accounts, and other interest-bearing obligations. The plaintiffs further allege that Bank of America tried to conceal these excess interest charges and in doing so violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, the Truth in Lending Act and North Carolina’s Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
The Bank of America class action lawsuit also asserts claims for breach of contract, negligence and negligent misrepresentation.
“Since our country’s founding, members of our military services have been asked to make many sacrifices for our nation,” the Bank of America class action lawsuit says. “One of these sacrifices is financial; leaving family, friends and the comforts of civilian life to answer our country’s call to duty also requires leaving behind employment, a career, and financial security.”
The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act was enacted to address these sacrifices, and it guarantees that all debts incurred by a service member before being called to active duty are reduced to an interest rate of no more than six percent. Bank of America reportedly implemented a program that promised benefits that were more generous than those required by the SCRA in order to attract servicemembers.
“Bank of America, however, has failed to honor the active duty status of America’s fighting forces by: (1) charging an unlawfully high interest rate on the debts of servicemembers while they were abroad serving our nation, in violation of the SCRA and the Bank’s own contractual duties; (2) temporarily ‘subsidizing’ interest charges on servicemembers’ mortgages rather than re-amortizing their loans as necessary to permanently forgive interest above 6%; (3) allowing these unlawful interest charges to improperly inflate servicemembers principal balances and deprive plaintiffs of equity in their homes, equity to which they are legally entitled; and (4) charging compound interest on those inflated balances.”
Bank of America denies the allegations but agreed to settle the military member service fee class action lawsuit to avoid the costs and uncertainty of trial. The Bank of America class action settlement was preliminarily approved on Sept. 13, 2017.
Class Members who would like to opt out of or object to the Bank of America military member service fee settlement must do so no later than Dec. 12, 2017.
Who’s Eligible
Class Members of the Bank of America settlement include: “All persons identified in Bank of America’s records as obligors or guarantors of an obligation or account that, at any time on or after September 11, 2001, received and/or may have been eligible to receive additional compensation related to military reduced interest rate benefits from Defendant, but excluding persons who have executed a release of rights claimed in this action.”
Potential Award
Varies, depending on the type of account, amount of time the accountholder was eligible for a refund related to military reduced interest rate benefits, whether the accountholder received a prior refund from Bank of America related to the military reduced interest rate benefits, whether the accountholder received an additional payment of three times the refund or $500 (whichever is greater), and (for mortgage accounts) the method by which Bank of America applied military reduced interest rate benefits to the account.
According to the BofA settlement website, it is not currently possible to calculate Class Members’ individual payments. Detailed information about how the settlement payments will be calculated for each group is available in the distribution section of the Bank of America settlement agreement.
Proof of Purchase
N/A
Frequently Asked Questions
NOTE: If you do not qualify for this settlement do NOT file a claim.
Remember: you are submitting your claim under penalty of perjury. You are also harming other eligible Class Members by submitting a fraudulent claim. If you’re unsure if you qualify, please read the FAQ section of the Settlement Administrator’s website to ensure you meet all standards (Top Class Actions is not a Settlement Administrator). If you don’t qualify for this settlement, check out our database of other open class action settlements you may be eligible for.
Claim Form Deadline
N/A. If you have been identified as a Class Member, you will automatically be mailed a check if the Bank of America settlement becomes final.
Case Name
Childress v. Bank of America NA, Case No. 5:15-cv-00231, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina
Final Hearing
2/5/2018
UPDATE: The Bank of America Military Member Fee Class Action Settlement was granted final approval on February 5, 2018. Let Top Class Actions know when you receive a check in the comments section below or on our Facebook page.
Settlement Website
Claims Administrator
Bank of America Military Settlement
c/o Kurtzman Carson Consultants
P.O. Box 404036
Louisville, KY 40233-4036
1-877-468-0425
info@BankofAmericaMilitarySettlement.com
Class Counsel
Steve W. Berman
Shayne C. Stevenson
HAGENS BERMAN SOBOL SHAPIRO LLP
Knoll D. Lowney
SMITH & LOWNEY PLLC
Kieran J. Shanahan
Brendon S. Neuman
Christopher S. Battles
SHANAHAN LAW GROUP PLLC
Defense Counsel
Bryan A. Fratkin
MCGUIRE WOODS LLP
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332 thoughts onBank of America Military Member Fee Class Action Settlement
Just called KCC, no updates yet. Go figure. @OLN, I hope you’re right!
ACA you need to take a chill pill, lol Everyone is annoyed at this situation but coming on here daily telling others to reach out is kind of annoying when you can do it yourself. I think that is the point USMC was trying to make. It will happen when it happens and I wouldn’t expect much when it does. Maybe enough to get a couple of cups of coffee and see a matinee. I received over $9K 4 or 5 years ago, that is why I do not expect to receive much this round.
@Douglas, I have not asked anyone to contact anyone. If you look @ my entries you will see that. I only asked if anyone contacted them or heard anything. and if you also look at my entries I have posted what was said to me when I contacted them. I have contacted Chris Battles and KCC several times. And at no point have I been rude or disrespectful or came @ anyone on here so I expect the same respect. So for you and others who think I have not contacted anyone please go read before coming @ me in a negative way. I am an adult human being just like you all are.
Are you a troll? Like that dude said, chill out.
@JB, What did I say to anyone out of the way including you? That is very disrespectful for you to call me a troll when I have not did anything to anyone except merely comment like everyone else. If you feel the need to be disrespectful to any adult on here then that speaks volumes of you. I do not name call or disrespect anyone on here so for you to call me a troll and to tell me to chill out is beyond me. Chill out from what? I am not threatening or disrespecting anyone. So please do not address me in that matter. I would appreciate if anyone is directing negativity to me when I am not doing so to them to not come @ me with it. This is very unnecessary,
Thank you!
@JB, I don’t think s/he is gonna chill out with the long-winded comments taking up space on the board. Wouldn’t it be great if people would only post “useful” info and not bicker back and forth?!!!
@ Jolie, if you read all the comments then you would know I didn’t start anything with anyone on here. Just like you and everyone else with the name calling and disrespect and immature comments. I’m not taking up anyone’s space with bicker. That is the people who are coming @ me doing the bickering. Everyone else let it be but you just had to chime in @ me & throw unnecessary shade. Have I said anything to you out of the way? Or anyone? No so please keep me out of your mess. Be mature I thought this was an adult forum. All this come @ me for no reason in unnecessary when I haven’t once came @ you!
Btw I’m a marine! Not a he/she! That’s all you need to know!
Thank you!
I’m hoping you get three times the $9K per what the settlement categories describe. Unless I’m reading that incorrectly.
This is what Knoll Lowney said on 4/22. Not that I believe anything he says anymore lol
“I agree about the frustration. While I don’t know your award, for most families it will be in the several hundred dollar range. It depends upon which settlement groups you belong to. “
Has anyone contacted any of the other lawyers on the firm or KCC or heard anything else? The last that was posted is that Chris Battles was looking into the discrepancy of what he stated for checks this month (May) versus KCC (early June check back etc)…
Go for it:
KCC 1-866-381-9100
Chris Battles 1-919-856-9494 cbattles@shanahanlawgroup.com
Steve Berman 1-206-623-7292 ashleyk@hbsslaw.com
Knoll Lowney 1-206-860-2883 knoll@smithandlowney.com
And please let us know what YOU find out!!!!!
According to Knoll Lowney this morning, the hold up was BOA not providing appropriate documentation, whatever that means. And according to him, they are still shooting for a May distribution date.
So basically another new excuse as to why the distribution hasn’t happened yet!
@ Kbb in ct. So now its BOA documentation is the hold up. Then it was the uncashed checks. Then it was the tax issues. What will be the next excuse? This has been going on for months now. I am waiting on a competent professional individual to give the correct information and update the website for the distribution dates because today is May 20 and still no word. All this I am looking into it, check back and different excuses let’s me know that they blowing smoke.
@1USMC I will let others contact them. I have called and emailed and it did not sit well with me. Maybe some others who have not contacted them will get some correct and accurate information instead of lies and or excuses.
Well, you come on here every day asking others to do the dirty work. I thought you might like to pitch in and get your hands dirty too. It appears NONE of us are going to find anything else out until a check arrives in our mailbox, IF it ever does.
@1USMC I have contacted them also. Read my previous entries. I have more than once. I also called KCC several times & emailed Chris Battles. Read my previous entries and I state what he sent back to me so I have got my hands dirty just like everyone else.
Hi ACA, I write Chris Battles again today. Unlike last week when I got an immediate response, I haven’t heard anything. I think he’s a decent guy but he is not in charge of the payout at all. He just did legal work on the case. I don’t think he’s lying as some have suggested, I just think he has no power over any of this.
@ Em ok. I think that they should have put somebody else in charge of answering questions that is directly involved.
I want my damn 27 dollars.. geez.. what does it take to get my money!?!?!
@ Curtis Best post of the day.
I haven’t heard back from Chris Battles after he said he’d get back ASAP with an update. A month ago I said the firm was in no hurry since they have their cut. I’m excited about my 4th of July update. Quite patriotic.
@ Em have you heard back from Chris Battles with the ASAP update?
“Shortly” hahahahahahaha
We should all contact our local media to report this. Maybe then, they will move it along. I sent a message to my local news.
We should do a class action lawsuit against them.
the money will come… just not on our timeline
Who has the current and correct information? Because it is obvious the law firm, KCC and BOA are not communicating with each other. So you mean tell me that they can not all have a meeting and get on the same page about dates, uncashed checks and tax issues? All these different excuses and different dates as to why the checks have not been sent out is very unprofessional. How can you refer or respect somebody who can not even give you accurate information? It makes class members feel like that they all got there cut and money so they slow poking around to get the class members their money. That shows me that they don’t care. They will just keep giving different responses, copying and pasting and changing the dates. This is by far the most incompetent mess I have seen in a long time. Nobody knows anything. It is always check back. We been checking back for months.
From Chris when I asked about early June:
Thanks for reaching out. I am looking into the discrepancy as we speak, and will update as soon as I have updated information.