Judge gives final OK to $8M BoA settlement over ACH fees

Update:

• A North Carolina federal judge granted final approval to an $8 million settlement in a class action that accused Bank of America of charging unfair Automated Clearing House (ACH) fees.
• Bank of America also agreed to stop assessing certain ACH fees, estimated to save customers $21 million, according to settlement documents.
• The class action lawsuit alleged Bank of America misled customers into believing they needed to pay $3 or $10 fees to transfer funds despite the fact that other banks don’t charge similar fees. 
• The settlement applies to Bank of America ACH fees that were not refunded between April 4, 2018, and Nov. 17, 2023.

(March 16, 2021)

A pair of consumers accuse Bank of America of making a “dishonest dollar” off of account holders by charging deceptive transfer fees.  

In a nationwide class action lawsuit filed in New York federal court today, lead plaintiffs Tami Bruin and Eline Barokas claim that Bank of America’s money transfer service is “valueless” and should be free for consumers. Bank of America preys on consumers’ lack of knowledge about how money transfers work and hits them with deceptive fees amounting to as much as $10 each, according to the class action lawsuit. 

Bruin, a North Carolina resident and Bank of America account holder, claims that she transferred money from her account to accounts at other financial institutions on several occasions, racking up fees each time.  

Similarly, Barokas, formerly from New York and currently a New Jersey resident, says she has a Bank of America account and incurred fees for transfers between her accounts as well.  

Both plaintiffs say that Bank of America duped them into paying the transfer fees. They claim that had they initiated the transfer from the other financial institution, they wouldn’t have been charged a fee.  

The lawsuit alleges that Bank of America money transfers concern the National Automated Clearinghouse (NACHA) system. NACHA is “a complex electronic payments system operating invisibly in the background of much of the nation’s economic activity,” explains the class action lawsuit.  

Bank of America “is engaged in a multi-prong effort to deceive its accountholders about the workings of the NACHA system, so that it may use its superior knowledge about the system to extract fee income from its accountholders,” assert the plaintiffs.  

Most consumers, including the plaintiffs and their proposed nationwide Class, do not understand the NACHA system, points out the lawsuit. The class action lawsuit accuses Bank of America of exploiting this understandable lack of comprehension to issue deceptive transfer fees that occur through the NACHA system.  

The truth, claim the plaintiffs, is that money transfers that occur through NACHA can be made free for Bank of America customers. The class action lawsuit points out that many of Bank of America’s competitors do not charge a fee for such transfers.  

In addition to a nationwide Class of Bank of America account holders, the plaintiffs seek to represent New York, New Jersey, or North Carolina subclasses. The class action lawsuit is seeking damages and restitution for the allegedly deceptive transfer fees for alleged violations of state consumer protection law and unjust enrichment.  

Have you been hit with deceptive transfer fees from your bank? Do you have a Bank of America account? Tell us about your experience in the comment section below.  

Lead plaintiffs Tami Bruin and Eline Barokas are represented by Andrew Shamis of Shamis & Gentile, P.A., and Scott Edelsberg and Christopher Gold of Edelsberg Law, P.A. 

The Bank of America deceptive transfer fees class action lawsuit is Bruin, et al. V. Bank of America, N.A., Case No. 1:21-cv-02272, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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