$20.5M Settlement Reached Over RushCard Service Disruption

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The makers of the RushCard have reportedly agreed to settle a class action lawsuit filed over a botched upgrade of the pre-paid debit card that allegedly left RushCard holders without access to their money for multiple days.

On Tuesday, plaintiffs Stephanie Fuentes, Jetaime Howard, Mianika Smith, Shari Goodman, Jermain Hayes and 10 other plaintiffs filed a memorandum supporting preliminary approval of the RushCard class action settlement and certification of the Settlement Class.

The defendants named in the RushCard class action lawsuit, which was initially filed on Oct. 23, 2015, include UniRush LLC d/b/a UniRush Financial Services, Rush Communications LLC, Rush Communications of NYC Inc., Meta Financial Group, MetaBank and MasterCard Inc.

According to the RushCard class action lawsuit, the RushCard was established to help Americans who did not have access to traditional banking services such as checking accounts and bank cards. RushCard holders were informed that there would be a brief service disruption on Oct. 12, 2015 to allow a MasterCard subsidiary to become the new processing company for RushCard services.

The plaintiffs assert that they were RushCard holders and were subjected to a longer than anticipated disruption of service between Oct. 12, 2015 and Oct. 31, 2015, which left them unable to access their RushCard accounts and their funds. As a result, they suffered economic harm due to missed bill payments and the inability to pay for their daily necessities such as food, rent, electricity and gas during the service disruption.

The RushCard class action lawsuit alleges that, even after cardholders regained access to their accounts, they noticed discrepancies in their account balances. Some cardholders were reportedly charged for balance inquiry fees for the times they attempted to draw money from ATMs while the system was down.

Class Members of the proposed RushCard settlement include: “All cardholders with an open RushCard account as of October 12, 2015 and who had authorized use of that account at least once during the period of July 14, 2015 through and including October 12, 2015.”

Under the terms of the proposed RushCard settlement, Class Members will be reimbursed for all RushCard fees assessed between Oct. 12, 2015 through Oct. 31, 2015 (except for fees that were previously reimbursed or credited to the Class Member’s account).

In addition, Class Members who claim they suffered a financial loss during the service disruption because they couldn’t access their funds will be eligible for a payment of $100. Class Members will not be required to submit documentation for this benefit. Class Members who provide documentation of losses they suffered due to the RushCard service disruption will be eligible for a payment of up to $500.

More information about the RushCard class action settlement was not immediately available. Keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter for the latest updates. You can also mark this article as a “Favorite” using your free Top Class Actions account to receive notifications when this article is updated.

The plaintiffs are represented by John A. Yanchunis of Morgan & Morgan Complex Litigation Group, Jean Sutton Martin of Law Office of Jean Sutton Martin PLLC, Charles J. LaDuca of Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca LLP, Michael McShane of Audet & Partners LLP, Hunter J. Shkolnik of Napoli Shkolnik PLLC, Lewis Eidson of Colson Hicks Eidson and Joseph G. Sauder of McCuneWright LLP.

The RushCard Service Disruption Class Action Lawsuit is Stephanie Fuentes, et al. v. UniRush LLC, et al., Case No. 1:15-cv-08372, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

UPDATE: The RushCard Prepaid Debit Card Class Action Settlement is now open! Click here to file a Claim Form! 

UPDATE 2: On Dec. 27, 2016, Top Class Actions readers who filed valid claims for the RushCard class action settlement began receiving checks worth as much as $100! Congratulations to all our viewers who got PAID!