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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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148 thoughts onBank of America overdraft fee class action settled for $8M
I’ve paid what I thought was outrageous amount of fees and the fees were priced extremely high also it’s definitely not ethical
Please help me! Boa closed my acct has 900 and unemployment checks and missing 1500, atm charges doubled and when atm declined they still deducted from acct. I have documentation of it. My heat has been shut off I haven’t eaten in 2 days I still haven’t paid December rent and my credit is no shot. This happened November 11th. I even contacted corporate. They claim I put fraud on acct and they have a right to close account. I have rights too! Sign me up!
Everytime I get my direct deposit BOA holds it until the third of the month at 9am when every other bank had it available on the first.
Then everytime I use my debit card the next transaction is declined because they claim I had suspicious fraudulent activity so they froze my funds. Sometimes it takes 30 to 40 minutes on hold before I can clear the matter up and resume using my card. I have had to call them up to four times in one day to get my money released for use. What is the deal breaker for me with BOA was when I deposited a $1500 check into my checking account to purchase Christmas gifts on Dec 13th and was told the funds would be available the next day. The next day the funds were not available and was told that processing put a 10 (working day)hold on my funds. So I asked them why would it take that long for an ordinary business check from my investment acct have such a long hold? They told me it was confidential but with repeated trips to the bank and calls to customer service they said the funds would be available on Dec. 19th. Of course on Dec 19tg they still have a hold on it and tell me the funds will now not be available on Dec 22nd at 9 am. Because of problems with the issuer of the check. This check is written on US Bank and I call them and they deny any issues with the check at all and BOA had not even processed it yet (on Dec 20th) All my ach payments have been declined, my out of town family will not receive their gifts on time and the late charges and nsf fees will encompass close to a third of this check.
I plea to the branch manager to please expedite and then the tell me it is because of my history with the bank I have never had as much as an NSF fee no checks that were not honored and I am totally repulsed with this shady dishonest inconsistent financial institution. Please include me in this class action. My name is Karla Cain and my phone number is 405-835-1244. Thank you for your consideration
I discovered the class action bank of america suit last year and it said that if you were and are an account holder that was taken advantage of, then you will not have sign up etc because you will automatically be included..
However though, I have not heard nor received anything.. COURIOUS ACCOUNT HOLDER!!!
Bank of America added a negative balance to my account of $1000. I immediately called and was told that my accounts was negative for several months. False statements ! I made a purchase $95 five minutes before I received an alert on my phone regarding my negative balance. Two days prior I made a ATM deposit. My printed confided the deposit. If my account was in negative status why didn’t Bank Of America notified me. When has any bank allowed any customer to continue using a debit card with a negative balance at all. B.S
THEY HUNG UP ON ME. I moved to a different bank but my issues never got resolved It remains negative status.
Yes add me too.
I want to be added to the BOA class action law suit. Paid many overdraft fees through the 40 plus years I was with them.
Add me
Please add me
Please include me on this with BofA. I was with them for about 20 years, was barely living paycheck to paycheck with them bc they were charging me blindly with ODF and NSF with their greedy character personality of scheming from the hard working class to put money simply in their pockets. I need help with Chase too on lawsuit. Please contact me so I know info to provide so we can get this settled up. You can add State of Missouri Unemployment to that list too to help me with.
I financed my 2016 Hyn through BOA. During the 2020 pandemic I had called and ask for help deferring my payments. I was granted 3 months, which I was told would extend my loan.
When I went to make my pay on the 4th month. I found myself in the collections department.
I wasn’t contacted by mail, phone or email.
I had my tax return money and paid it off.
I asked for a detailed receipt, that has been ignored.
I asked for my title and was told I need to pay $ 250.00.
Please add me. I’ve had hundreds in fees. And their fraud department is a joke. I was hacked and the hackers put in several false claims for transactions I had made, they were now denying. So we get credits galore and they transfer all that plus a ssi check to a Paypal account and I end up getting charged for all of it. I had the hackers on the phone, was willing to fill out an application for a loan just so they could catch them. Hell no, they said they can’t do that. What kind of bullshit is that?
How do I get added to this class action lawsuit against Bank of America?
Please add me! They charged me numerous fees and years later, I still have an unpaid balance because I didn’t agree with their business practices, at the time.