Atlantic Union Bank ‘Bilked’ Millions From Customers in Overdraft Fees, Class Action Lawsuit Claims

Atlantic Union Bank is one of the largest banks based in Virginia, and like many other banks all around the country, it is facing litigation for charging allegedly excessive and unfair overdraft fees.

A Virginia man filed a class action lawsuit against Atlantic Union Bank over the bank’s practices regarding overdraft fees, which he alleges “bilked” millions of dollars from customer accounts in “violation of their agreements with Atlantic Union.”

The plaintiff, Marty H., alleges that Atlantic Union Bank’s overdraft policy leads it to charge overdraft fees on transactions that do not actually overdraw the account in question.

According to the Atlantic Union Bank overdraft fee class action lawsuit, the moment a debit card transaction is authorized on an account with enough funds to cover the transaction, Atlantic Union immediately reduces the consumer’s checking account and the funds are set aside to cover the transaction, thereby reducing the “available balance” of the account.

This means that the account in question would always have sufficient funds to cover the transaction because Atlantic Union Bank has already set the funds aside for payment, the lawsuit argues.

However, many of these transactions still unfairly get hit by $36 overdraft fees, the lawsuit explains. When customers end up in a negative balance days later, Atlantic Union allegedly assesses overdraft fees on the same debit card transactions it had already set aside funds for.

In Marty’s case, he was charged a $36 overdraft fee on Dec. 16, 2019, on a debit card transaction that settled on that day, even though Atlantic Union Bank had already set aside the money for the transaction when it was initiated prior to that day.  

This is a practice that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has expressed concern over with another institution, calling it both “unfair” and “deceptive.”

On top of this, these practices breach promises made in the bank’s contracts, the Atlantic Union lawsuit alleges, which fail to inform consumers about this aspect of the bank’s processes and practices.

Moreover, the lawsuit claims, the bank misrepresents its practices in its account documents.

The Atlantic Union Bank “Overdraft Services” page now says that its overdraft fees are $38. Atlantic Union caps its fees at a maximum of six overdraft fees or NSF fees per day, per its website.

The Atlantic Union Bank customer filed the class action lawsuit on behalf of himself and all other Atlantic Union Bank customers in a similar situation. Eligible class members are anyone with an Atlantic Union checking account who was charged overdraft fees on debit card transactions that did not overdraw their account.

The class action lawsuit was filed on counts of breach of contract and violation of the Electronic Fund Transfers Act.

The Atlantic Union Bank Overdraft Fees Lawsuit is Case No. 3:20-cv-00651, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division.