Bank of America overdraft fee class action settled for $8M

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Update: 

• Bank of America agreed to pay $8 million to end class action claims it hit customers with multiple fees on the same checks in violation of their account agreements.
• Plaintiff Steven Checchia filed a motion June 9 in a Pennsylvania federal court, asking a judge to grant approval to the deal.
• The settlement terms also include a promise from the bank that it will stop charging the fees at issue for five years.
• “The total value of the settlement is outstanding when considering the common fund and the intangible benefit of [Bank of America’s] five-year cessation of the practice of charging the fees,” Checchia told U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick. 
• The class includes all Bank of America account holders in the United States who paid and were not refunded a non-sufficient funds and/or overdraft fee in connection with an ACH entry on their account that was submitted by the merchant with a “REDEP CHECK” indicator or who had a physical check that was re-presented for payment after having initially been returned for non-sufficient funds and was charged an NSF fee within the previous 28 calendar days.

Bank of America fees class action lawsuit overview:

• Who: A Pennsylvania man lodged a class action lawsuit on behalf of other Bank of America account holders.
• Why: He claims that Bank of America unfairly assessed multiple overdraft and non-sufficient fund (NSF) fees on single transactions. 
• Where: The complaint was filed in Pennsylvania state court and recently transferred to federal court.

(08/13/2021)

A Pennsylvania man says that he and other customers were assessed multiple Bank of America fees on the same checks in violation of their account agreements in a class action lawsuit transferred to federal court Wednesday.  

Lead plaintiff, Steven Checchia, wants to represent those who paid multiple Bank of America fees on a single transaction. He accuses the bank of maximizing its “profitable fee practice” by unlawfully double dipping on overdraft and NSF fees.  

Checchia says that in 2017 he wrote a check for $75 — admittedly more than he had in his Bank of America account at the time. He says he was charged a $35 “non-sufficient funds” or NSF fee at the time. The plaintiff says he does not dispute the NSF fee; however, he alleges he was hit with a second $35 overdraft fee on the same bad check in the days following.  

“In sum, [Bank of America] charged Plaintiff $70 in fees to process a single check for barely more than that amount,” states the class action lawsuit. 

Bank of America fees ‘unlawfully maximizes’ profit 

Checchia claims that the multiple Bank of America fees he and other consumers face violate their account agreement.  

The plaintiff says that account holders are misled by the bank into believing that a transaction which overdraws their account will only result in a single $35 overdraft or NSF fee.  

“Unbeknownst to consumers, each time [Bank of America] reprocesses a check for payment after it was initially rejected for insufficient funds, [Bank of America] chooses to treat it as a new and unique item that is subject to yet another NSF Fee or [overdraft] Fee,” states the class action lawsuit.  

“But [Bank of America’s] Account Documents never disclose that this counterintuitive and deceptive result could be possible and, in fact, suggests the opposite.” 

The plaintiff says that the multiple Bank of America fees violate consumer protection laws and are a breach of contract with the customers he wants to represent. Checchia is seeking restitution for the allegedly unlawful Bank of America fees on behalf of a nationwide Class of customers, as well as damages and a court order stopping the practice.  

Class actions filed over Bank of America fees 

Bank of America fees have resulted in multiple class action lawsuits. In July, a business owner lodged a legal complaint over merchant fees. Earlier that month, a class action lawsuit accusing Bank of America of charging illegal foreign transaction fees to maximize its profits at their cardholders’ expense was filed in North Carolina federal court. Bank of America also recently agreed to pay $5.95 million to end an eBill AutoPay class action lawsuit.  

Bank of America fees are not the only legal trouble facing the financial institution. Multiple class actions were filed after Bank of America shut off debit cards and froze the accounts of unemployment recipients in California after an uptick in fraud. 

Have you paid Bank of America fees? Do you think you were charged unfairly? Tell us about your experience in the comment section below.  

The plaintiff is represented by Jeff Ostrow and Jonathan Streisfeld of Kopelowitz Ostrow Ferguson Weiselberg Gilbert, and Kenneth Grunfeld of Golomb & Honik PC. 

The Bank of America Fees Class Action Lawsuit is Checchia v. Bank of America NA, Case No. 2:21-cv-03585 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.  

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