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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
his is not the place to spout off about. Or to give personal details of your current issues with them. An yall wander why hackers hack yall and stuff..
FYI – YOU ARE COMMITTING PERJURY IF YOU RECEIVED THE $25.00 GIFT A COUPLE DAYS AFTER BLACKOUT IF YOU CLAIM HERE. THE ATTORNEYS WILL CROSS REFERENCE YOUR NAME TO THOSE PAID 25.00 ALREADY
I SUGGEST THINK IS A $5,000 FINE AND UP TO 2 YEARS IN JAIL AND HAVING A FELONY CHARGE ADDED TO YOU FOR TRYING TO STEAL OR LIE OVER 25.00 MOST PEOPLE HAVE ALREADY GOTTEN
Shu+ your Fing mouth….your threatenging $h\t posts are getting old buddy!
Chime randomly froze my account and then after doing everything they asked they continued to froze my account and to this they still have my account frozen with around 700 bucks of mine and will not alow me to get it. I lost my trailer because of.
You lost your trailer because of your owe issues not chime. This is not the place to spout off about. Or to give personal details of your current issues with them
they wont reimburse unauthorized charges to the sum of $5700 that was deposited for unemployment. Their reasoning for denying me isn’t valid and makes no sense. I doubt they actually investigated and they have picked and pulled things from what I have stated instead of my acual words. I was not even inn town. I have it all documented including all of their violations of my consumer rights.
This is not the place to spout off about. Or to give personal details of your current issues with them
I get social security sent my chime I get 42 dollar check every three months but chime sent back one in December last year and March this year and June this year 2020 they said the name didn’t match so the money couldn’t go through I guess but clearly if my account is clearly getting a deposit into it it’s for me I had didn’t suppose to have a e in my name from dhs so I called them had them change it but still didn’t so I missed the next one but name just have a y at the end but 42 dollar check from dhs has a e before my y ending but clearly I chime just still wouldn’t let it go thru I don’t like em a lot of times I couldn’t pay my bills cause chime was shut down or something so she look at me like wtf an we really needed to pay it or shutoff services…chime is f.ing. garbage.
They closed my account in November and are holding my balances, I still haven’t seen my money (literally a registered banking service stealing people’s life savings and no government entity does nothing), over 40 thousand stolen. They offer a higher yeld (1%) on savings account, everything is fine when you are still depositing, but when you start withdrawing they close your account and steal your money.
Same thing has happened to me to
My husband and I been with Chime for awhile. Idk exact length of time. I remember the outage bc my husband was trying to get gas or something and calls me upset bc it declined his card and we had money. He used cash for gas but couldn’t goto grocery or do anything else til outage was over. I do not have proof of this as it was over a year ago. Lately we have had 2 times in past wk including today I couldn’t access my transactions. Showed some issue and my husband could not use his card.
On a plus side my mom recently started getting her SSI checks thru Chime. She had ordered off some site that popped up during her game. My mom can be naieve about technology and who to trust. Anyway, she made one purchase less then $30. Then a wk later she gets an email from Chime saying that she this company was trying to take purchase for $207 was she ok with it. Of course she wasnt as she didn’t ask for that to be done. So they canceled her card and sent a new one. Had they not reached out it would of been worse for her bc she lives off a small amount each month. I was grateful that Chime I guess had previously had issues with this company maybe idk but they didn’t just take the money til they ask her.
So some good some bad. I am hoping that the issue with these outages gets fixed. Makes me nervous that its happened 2x in the last wk
My husband had a company trying to charge his card 700 and some dollars and when I notified chime I had no response back at all about it.
‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️ Please stay away from this company‼️‼️ Chime can’t get another DIME from me. What bank goes offline in the process of a atm withdrawal. A bunch of rip offs, I knew it!! This company is the worst to bank with , they will literally go a month or more without giving you your money back, first you have to call and complain, after the “pending transaction “ falls off which takes up to 7 days, then here comes the “file a claim “ then wait for almost 20 days to get a response or a “provisional credit “ when technically it’s your money! I really hope and pray that this company gets closed down for ripping people off!!
Agree
I had opened an account with Chime and had setup a direct deposit. I’m 100% Disabled Veteran so I set my monthly VA check to start going into this account. Well, my first deposit went in on a Friday since the first fell on the weekend. Come Tuesday i get an email that my account was being closed due to the fact that they flagged my deposit and said it was suspicious. Well the deposit states right in the description VA Benefit compensation. It took me 3 months to get my money from them. First check was lost, second check was flagged by my current bank as fraudulent, third check is on hold till it clears. The customer service is piss poor, something like this I should be able to pick up a phone and talk to someone, not just email back and forth. Especially since it took them days to answer sometimes. The whole thing caused me sooo many problems with my bills. I’m still trying to get everything back on track.
I’ve been a chime customer for like3-4 yrs now and I’ve had several issues with my card not working at the checkouts saying declined when I know there’s money in there its quiet embarrassing. I’ve had several charges on my account as well for things I didnt order or been charged double on a single transaction. I just did a couple of disputes that totaled up to a little over $600 & let me tell you that when your already living from pay check to pay check already it really hurts the families they’re doing this too.
I have just one question for them though. How can they sleep at night knowing that they are taking food, gas, housing, electricity and whatever else was effected by there acts out of houses if people that have children and elderly under their roofs and not even give a shit about it? They are no better than Wells Fargo or Bank of America for their actions.
They always have an issue I am pissed because after 4 years they froze my account now all my money is missing I hate chime because they won’t explain why I think it’s because money up and disappeared and I said something now when I call all they say is your money coming but i still don’t see it and since when chime do checks for 9,000 dollars it’s ok because I will see them in court because That my money and that not fare at all that chime can do that