UMB Bank has recently faced ongoing problems for the way it allegedly has charged customers for overdraft fees.

The UMB Bank overdraft fee practices in question allegedly included not processing debit card transactions in the order they were received, resulting in excess overdraft fees.

UMB Bank Overdraft Fee Practices

Generally, overdraft protection services at a bank or credit union require that customers opt in to the service. What overdraft protection means is that if a customer overdraws their account, or makes a purchase that he or she does not have enough money to cover, the bank will cover the amount of the purchase. 

When this happens, banks and credit unions charge fees to their customers. UMB Bank overdraft fee practices require that that fee can be up to $25 per overdrawn transaction.

UMB Bank has been under fire by customers who claim that overdrawn transactions that are made on a given day are reordered so that the bank can charge more fees.

In essence, the claims allege that UMB Bank would withdraw larger transactions before smaller transactions even if the larger transactions were made later.

This would allow the account to be overdrawn quicker and thus the bank can charge the customer more overdraft protection fees.

UMB Bank settled an overdraft protection class action lawsuit for $7.8 million several years ago. The class action lawsuit claimed that UMB Bank indeed processed debit card transactions in an order that would collect the most in overdraft fees.

This class action settlement affected any person who has paid overdraft fees to UMB Bank several years ago. The settlement does not imply guilt on the part of UMB Bank, however, customers may still be worried that the bank may still be engaging in deceitful practices and UMB Bank overdraft fee practices are still in question.

UMB Bank Overdraft Services

UMB Bank overdraft fee practices and services include TotalCheck Overdraft Protection. This is a $10 fee for overdrafts over $5. Money is placed in the account to cover the amount of transaction and each of these transactions has a fixed APR at 18%.UMB Bank also offers a service called Credit Card OD Protection. This is when the bank links a credit card with your debit account. The minimum advance increment taken from the credit card is $100. The fee is 3% of the advance for overdrafts greater than $5 with a minimum fee of $10 and a maximum fee of $25.Another service that UMB Bank offers is called Account-to-Account Transfer. The bank will take money in $25 increments from one account and place it in the overdrawn account for a $10 fee for overdrafts over $5. A recent study found that people who make less than the national median income of $54,000 a year are the one who most feel the impact of overdraft fees. Nearly 25 percent of those who regularly use overdraft protection paid what was equivalent of a week’s worth of wages in overdraft fees. A report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau states that in 2015, U.S. banking institutions and credit unions, including UMB Bank overdraft fee practices, made $11 billion from overdraft fees.

If you have been charged overdraft fees from UMB Bank, you may have a legal claim.

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