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.
Sunflower Bank has been charging “crippling” overdraft fees to customer accounts when the accounts were never overdrawn, a new nationwide class action lawsuit alleges.
Kansas Plaintiff Karen McCollam filed the class action complaint against Sunflower Wednesday in a Colorado federal court, alleging breach of contract in the bank’s alleged practice of unfairly collecting overdraft fees on accounts that weren’t overdrawn.
“Sunflower’s customers have been injured by Sunflower’s improper practices to the tune of millions of dollars taken from their accounts in violation of their agreements with Sunflower,” she says.
The class action lawsuit alleges that Sunflower has a practice of charging overdraft fees when a transaction is made on someone’s account, but the money doesn’t come out until days later. The lawsuit calls these transactions “Authorize Positive, Purportedly Settle Negative Transactions” (APPSN transactions).
It says, when debit card transactions are authorized on an account with positive funds to cover the transaction, Sunflower immediately reduces account holders’ checking accounts for the amount of the purchase, and sets aside funds in an account to cover that transaction.
As a result, the account holder’s displayed “available balance” reflects that subtracted amount, and customers’ accounts will always have sufficient available funds to cover these transactions.
However, despite putting aside sufficient available funds for the transactions at the time, Sunflower later assesses OD fees on those same transactions when they “purportedly” settle days later into a negative balance, even though the bank has set aside funds already.
“There is no justification for these practices, other than to maximize Sunflower’s OD Fee revenue,” the class action states.
It says the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has expressed concern with the issue, “flatly calling the practice ‘unfair’ and ‘deceptive.’”
McCollam is seeking to represent all Sunflower Bank account holders who were charged overdraft fees on APPSN Transactions on a Sunflower checking account. Sunflower operates banking branches in Colorado, New Mexico, Washington, Texas, Arizona, Missouri, and Kansas.
She’s suing for breach of contract and violation of Colorado consumer laws, and seeking certification of the class action, restitution of all fees charged improperly, damages, costs and fees.
Meanwhile, if you believe you were unfairly charged non-sufficient funds (NSF) fees by your bank or credit union, you may qualify to join this NSF fee charge class action lawsuit investigation.
Banks charge account holders an NSF fee when there are non-sufficient funds or insufficient funds, to pay a transaction or check and it rejects the charge. An NSF fee charge can range between $27 and $39.
In some cases, customers claim that multiple NSF fees are charged on the same items if the customer attempts to reprocess payment after the initial payment is denied. Click here to see if you might qualify to join a class action investigation.
Do you think you were unfairly charged an overdraft fee by your bank? Let us know in the comments!
The plaintiff is represented by Jeffrey D. Kaliel and Sophia G. Gold of Kaliel Gold PLLC and Taras Kick of The Kick Law Firm, APC.
The Sunflower Bank Overdraft Fees Class Action Lawsuit is Karen McCollam v. Sunflower Bank, N.A., Case No. 1:21-cv-01484-SKC, in the U.S. District Court District of Colorado.
Don’t Miss Out!
Check out our list of Class Action Lawsuits and Class Action Settlements you may qualify to join!
Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:
- Fees at Axos Bank: What You Need to Know
- WesBanco Unfairly Charges Customers Overdraft, Insufficient Fund Fees, Class Action Lawsuit Claims
- Klarna’s ‘Free’ Buy Now Pay Later Service Burdens Cash-Strapped Consumers With Fees, Class Action Claims
- Afterpay Dupes Consumers Into Multiple Fees, Claims Class Action Lawsuit
One thought on Sunflower Bank Slammed With Class Action for ‘Improper’ Overdraft Fees
I was a sunflower customer until
April 2022. I was charged Transaction fees ,ATM fees and other additional fees all the time.