M&T Bank Overdraft Fee Class Action Settlement Gets Preliminary OK

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On Monday, a Florida federal judge preliminarily approved a class action settlement over allegations Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company (also known as M&T Bank) charged excessive overdraft fees by processing transactions of higher value first instead of processing the transactions in chronological order.

M&T agreed to pay $4 million to escape the overdraft fee class action lawsuit in exchange for the plaintiff dropping all charges against it. The parties filed an unopposed motion for preliminary approval of the overdraft fee class action settlement on Friday. U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King today granted preliminary approval to the overdraft fee settlement, finding its terms were “fair, reasonable and adequate.”

In approving the M&T Bank overdraft fee class action settlement, Judge King noted that the deal “was reached in absence of collusion, and is the product of informed, good-faith, arm’s-length negotiations between the parties and their capable and experienced counsel.”

Under the terms of the overdraft fee class action settlement, M&T Bank agreed to put $4 million into an escrow account within 14 days after the deal received preliminary approval. If the class action settlement gets final approval, eligible Class Members will be entitled to receive a pro rata share of the overdraft fee settlement fund. Class Members who do not opt out of the M&T Bank settlement will automatically receive compensation and will not need to submit a Claim Form.

Class Members of the M&T Bank class action settlement include all U.S. M&T Bank customers who had at least one bank account and incurred one or more overdraft fees due to M&T Banks’ high to low posting policy.

A final fairness hearing has been scheduled for March 4, 2015.

M&T Bank was just one of a group of lenders that were hit with class action lawsuits alleging they charged overdraft fees in such a way as to maximize the fees imposed on accountholders. The overdraft fee lawsuits were consolidated into multidistrict litigation (MDL), which is titled In re: Checking Account Overdraft Litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

More information about the M&T Bank overdraft fee 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 Bruce S. Rogow of Bruce S. Rogow PA, and Aaron S. Podhurst, Robert C. Josefsberg, Steven C. Marks, Peter Prieto, Stephen F. Rosenthal and John Gravante III of Podhurst Orseck PA.

The M&T Overdraft Fee Class Action Lawsuit is Given v. Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company a/k/a M&T Bank, Case No. 1:10-cv-20478-JLK, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The Overdraft Fee MDL is In re: Checking Account Overdraft Litigation, Case No. 1:09-md-02036, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

UPDATE: A website with details about the M&T overdraft fee class action settlement has been established. Click here or visit www.MTOverdraftSettlement.com to learn more.