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This settlement is closed!
Please see what other class action settlements you might qualify to claim cash from in our Open Settlements directory!
UPDATE 2:
- An appeal was filed in this case on June 24, 2021.
UPDATE:
- A judge granted final approval to this settlement May 24, 2021.
- Let Top Class Actions know when you receive a check in the comments section below or on our Facebook page.
Chime digital bank has agreed to pay $1.5 million to resolve allegations that a 2019 service disruption caused its users financial damages. The settlement deal provides payments of up to $750 as compensation for resulting losses.
The settlement benefits individuals who were unable to access their Chime deposit accounts between Oct. 16 and Oct. 19, 2019, due to a service disruption.
Chime’s website says the company was built with a goal of “protecting” its members and “helping them get ahead.”
“That means we don’t profit off of you,” the site says. “We profit with you: every time you use your Chime debit card, we earn a small amount from Visa (paid by the merchant).”
The company is largely fee-free, charging only a $2.50 when a member takes out cash at an out-of-network ATM or makes “an over-the-counter withdrawal.”
Chime also says its customers can get paid “up to 2 days early” when using direct deposit and can help people grow their savings “automatically.”
The recent settlement resolves claims from plaintiffs Ryan Richards, Ruba Ayoub, Brandy Terbay and Tracy Cummings in their Chime class action lawsuit.
According to plaintiffs, their deposit accounts experienced intermittent disruptions between Oct. 16 and Oct. 19, 2019.
As a result of these outages, the plaintiffs and 5 million other Chime customers were allegedly prevented from accessing their accounts for several days. In some situations, users were reportedly denied their only source of money.
“During the Service Disruption, Plaintiffs and Class members were unable to spend or withdraw their funds from their accounts needed for the basic necessities of life, such as food, clothing, shelter, and medicine,” the Chime digital bank class action lawsuit contends.
The plaintiffs argued these service disruptions caused financial injuries in the form of late fees on bills and other charges.
Around 4,000 customer tweets were reportedly found on Twitter following the disruption, detailing the ways in which the customers were affected by the outages. One consumer was reportedly forced to leave groceries at the store because they lacked access to their funds.
Despite the widespread outage, Chime allegedly failed to warn its users of the issue. Instead of contacting its consumers through email, telephone or even the Chime digital bank app, the company reportedly communicated solely through Twitter.
Plaintiffs in the Chime digital bank class action lawsuit argued the bank violated the law with its negligent actions. Chime has not admitted any wrongdoing but has agreed to resolve the claims against it in a settlement deal worth at least $1.5 million.
The settlement provides reimbursement for Class Members in two tiers, depending on the losses they sustained and the proof they may have.
Tier One compensation provides cash payments of up to $25 for Class Members who suffered a loss as a result of the disruption but do not have proof of these losses. Tier Two provides higher payments of up to $750 for consumers who can provide documentation of their losses.
In order to benefit from the Chime digital bank settlement, Class Members must file a valid claim form by Feb. 15, 2021. In order to submit a claim for reimbursement, Class Members must include documentation of their losses with their claim form.
The deadline for exclusion and objection is Feb. 1, 2021. The final approval hearing for the Chime digital bank class action settlement is April 1, 2021.
Who’s Eligible
Individuals who were unable to access their Chime deposit accounts between Oct. 16, 2019, and Oct. 19, 2019, due to a service disruption.
Potential Award
Up to $750 based on provided documentation.
Tier One compensation provides cash payments of up to $25 for Class Members who suffered a loss as a result of the disruption but do not have proof of these losses. Tier Two provides higher payments of up to $750 for consumers who can provide documentation of their losses.
Cash payments will reduced by any money Class Members have already received from Chime in connection with the service outage.
Proof of Purchase
Documentation of losses (receipts, voided checks, bank statements, detailed narrative description, etc.)
Claim Form
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
02/15/2021
Case Name
Richards, et al. v. Chime Financial Inc., Case No. 4:19-cv-06864, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
Final Hearing
04/29/2021 UPDATED
Settlement Website
Claims Administrator
Richards v. Chime Financial
c/o Epiq
P.O. Box 6006
Portland, OR 97208-6006
1-855-917-3581
Class Counsel
John A. Yanchunis
Patrick Barthle
MORGAN & MORGAN COMPLEX LITIGATION GROUP
Joshua H. Watson
CLAYEO C. ARNOLD PLC
Defense Counsel
Abigail Heather Wald
Thomas Patrick Brown
Sean David Unger
PAUL HASTINGS LLP
Frederick B. Burnside
DAVIS WRIGHT TREMAINE LLP
Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:
96 thoughts onChime Digital Bank Outage Class Action Settlement
I remember the outage cause it happened right when I received my first deposit and got my referral fee and I remember having problems getting the app to load and couldn’t see my account info but when I look at my bank statement for Oct 2019 it appears my card was still working during the outage so I’m not sure how much I was really affected but I remember not being able to access my account info.
Well they still do the thing and I I’ve never got payed on time and won’t cash none of my checks so worthless.
It’s true,every time you turn around their system is down,interruptions left and right,I had to argue with my manager about my deposits being short,I guess I owe them an apology,I don’t want to give up on chime,but please get it together
I have had Chime will be 4 years in January…I never had a problem with them..well these past 3 months its like every Thursday (my pay day) something is wrong with my app!! And I can not access my money or my deposit from my employer!!!
Me as well
This happened to me this year back in July and August of 2020, I took out a loan for $1500.00 and had it deposited in my chime account, however I was told that it was sent to them and they said they needed to verify the money, I waited for a response, finally, they answered through customer service, saying they sent the check back to lender, after talking with the lender he responded with they never received it back, and I was stuck with a loan payment I never received, after paying on the loan for 2 months, the lender finally got the payment, and reissued me a loan through Cash app, chime put me further in debt due to lack of neglegence, that loan would have benefited my family and I due to income losses from loss of job due to covid-19, sad way to do business as a bank that is FIDC insured by the federal government and the trust of millions of people who relied on them to manage and care for their funds that they have made millions off of with investments, that’s what I call selfish, greedy and lack of responsibility, I am dealing with PayPal now and I they never missed a beat
This happened to me JUST LAST WEEK!!! I dont know whats going on with them…I had them for 3 years now , and all of a sudden its like every other week this same thing keeps happening
Chime has always notify you when the system is down, people please stop lying on this company, they are great to deal with
Not once have I received notification when chime has been down.
Chime first priority is Chime not the customers based on the banking behavior. There has been several questionable handling of disputes not truly being investigated and documentation. The outage which have happened several times in Oct, Nov and continues weekly basis. The outage recently for 2 consecutive days I could not get gas, pay for food and when I called Chime all the rep said is Well its over and no type of goodwill would be offered. They are Heartless and not transparent with policies, procedures they hate it when customer is right and holds them accountable now they turned off spot me feature who cares chime that os retalitory unprofessional behavior as stated earlier. Chime is blowing up too fast without oversight.
This happened last year and this year. Recently, this outage or maintainence or whatever left my money not getting to the proper people for a bill in time and caused my insurance to be cancelled. Last year I tried to use my bus card to get to work and it showed that it went through, took money from my account, but when I went to use my card it said i had a negative balance…. I had to LITERALLY ask bus drivers to let me pass. Then money popped up in my account again, enough for like, a snack, and Im starving. So I go to mcdonalds, same weird issue. Then my account goes negative. Im like, wtf. I had no idea there was an outage until the chime president apologized to everyone and gave us like… what was it 10 bucks? Pffft.
At least you got something back from them. I never got anything back from them and I’ve been with them for like 3-4yrs now.
They’ve literally done this to me. Not to mention my overdraft was only $45 . Somehow a company I payed outta pocket was able to charge $80+ something dollars to my account and guess what! Chime let it happen. Even in the dispute they gave me a dam headache ?.. run my money ????
They continue to have issues. It’s embarrassing when you KNOW you have money and your card declined at the store, or gas station and your telling them you have money to try the card again and everyone is looking at you like they are thinking “yeah right , I hear that all the time! Broke ass”!! But you really do have money it’s just Chime and their issues that caused you to look stupid at the check out. This is happening way too often lately. I actually had that same thing happen during that same period of time. I was without my money for 4 days. No food, gas, couldn’t pay bills, nothing! I missed work due to this outage because I had no gas and no way to get to work. Couldn’t use an Uber I had no way to pay them. My boss was pissed !!!! Thanks Chime !!! Could of lost my job bc of that BS!!!
Same exact thing haooened to me twice just the pass 2 months i only have an over draft of 20$ and my account was Negative 70something the first time and 60something the second and I had to get it all caught back up they never gave me my money back
I was fortunate to have not been impacted by this outage but have had other issues with Chime.
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They would not deposit my legitimate payroll check in Jan 2020 after I already endorsed it to them and then was told I could not redeposit it. They claimed it was an invalid check with no further explanation. I had to go back to my employer and have them reissue the check on a pay card with outrageous fees and charges. I had bills to pay and had no other choice.
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Then just this month they settled a charge on my account for a cancelled order that sat as pending for several days. It should have just dropped off my account as is the usual protocol.
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The merchant verified the cancellation of the order 5 minutes after it was created and also verified they did not process the payment on the order and said they do not have my money. So where did my money go and why didn’t this PENDING transaction drop off since it was not completed by the merchant?
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Now they are making me wait weeks maybe months to get this money refunded back into my account. The agent helping me read me a statement saying that if Chime bank issued a temporary payment and then decided it was not a valid claim they would close my account. I have been banking with Chime since 2018 and my account had always been in good standing.
All they have to do is contact the merchant to verify the cancelled order and that they did not process the payment. But no….they leave me hanging on wondering if I will ever get my money back.
Their computer system has some serious flaws or maybe someone is siphoning funds from accounts on the down low.
Either way, this is not legal or an ethical way to do business. If they do not resolve this last issue, I will contact WA AG, FTC & FDIC.
I have chime and they are great. I had fraudulent activities from wish and they declined them everytime. Also someone signed up for some membership in my name took $107 in 2 months. I had the money back in 2 days and 4 emails detailing the progress. No joke, that is cool.
I didn’t experience any interruptions in October and they sent out a warning for maintenance I think.
About time. Sad it took this long I’ve left them after that debacle. Hopefully my arbitration case brings more than this.
Wow they need to file this year chime has left me with no access to money 5 different times in 2020
That happened to me three times this year. Ran out of gas once, tried paying my bills the second time and had to leave the groceries store embarrassed once.
Yes and they took over 5,500 of my money this year of my unemployment
They now send out notifications to all users though, presumably because of this class action lawsuit.
Ive had chime for almost 3 years. It seems every month they go dark for a day or two and cant use the app.
Cant do anything.
But their website will sometimes let u transfer funds when the app is down .
I try to stayed prepared for it.by leaving money on the credit card they gave me. Other than that they are a great Bank