Bank of America Class Action Says Full-Time Students Unfairly Charged Monthly Fees

Bank of America has been hit with a class action lawsuit by two college students who claim that the bank discriminates against them by charging maintenance fees on their accounts just because they are over 24 years of age.

The Bank of America class action lawsuit claims that the company offers bank accounts that include certain offers, such as “Bank of America Advantage SafeBalance Banking,” “Bank of America Advantage Plus Banking,” and “Bank of America Advantage Relationship Banking.” 

Plaintiffs Aleksander Georges and Ida Jelveh allege that in each of these accounts, Bank of America charges a $12 monthly maintenance fee unless the customer meets one of the following requirements: 1) there is at least one direct deposit of $250 or more; 2) there is a daily minimum daily balance of $1,500 or more in the account; 3) enrolls in a Preferred Rewards program; or 4) there is an acceptable student waiver.

The plaintiffs claim that in order to meet the requirements of the student waiver exception, the customers must prove that they are a student in a high school, college, university, or vocational program and that they are under 24 years of age. 

Plaintiff Georges states that he is a 24-year-old student with a Bank of America account. In addition, he alleges that he is enrolled as a full-time student and when he was 23-years-old, he qualified for the student waiver. 

Georges claims that he cannot meet the other requirements to have his maintenance fees waived, only that he is a full-time student. Thus, he now has to pay the $12 maintenance fee because he is 24-years-old. 

The Bank of America class action lawsuit states that plaintiff Jelva has similar circumstances as Georges, as she is a full-time graduate student but must pay the $12 maintenance fee because she is over the age of 24.

“Based on the prerequisites of the maintenance fee, a consumer is only charged the maintenance fee if the consumers’ bank account has a low balance in it. Thus, the only class of students older than are twenty-three years old that this maintenance fee affects are those students that are in economic duress,” the Bank of America class action lawsuit states.

The plaintiffs claim that Bank of America is in violation of California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act, which does not allow discrimination by companies on the basis of certain classifications, which includes age and gender.

Potential Class Members include: “All persons within California who Bank of America charged at least one maintenance fee, were of the age of twenty-four or older and were enrolled in a high school, college, university or vocational program, within the four years prior to the filing of the Complaint.”

Do you have an account with Bank of America and have to pay a maintenance fee? Leave a message in the comments section below.

The plaintiffs are represented by Abbas Kazerounian and Jason A. Ibey of the Kazerouni Law Group APC.

The Bank of America Age Discrimination Class Action Lawsuit is Aleksander Georges, et al., v. Bank of America Corporation, Case No. 8:19-cv-02329, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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