Banco Popular de Puerto Rico (BPPR) NSF fees $5.5M class action settlement

Banco Popular de Puerto Rico (BPPR), a Puerto Rican bank, agreed to pay $5.5 million as part of a class action lawsuit settlement to resolve claims it assessed illegal overdraft and NSF fees.

The settlement benefits current and former Banco Popular de Puerto Rico customers who were assessed retry/resubmitted overdraft and non-sufficient funds (NSF) fees between Feb. 1, 2016, and April 1, 2022. 

BPPR is a bank that offers a range of financial services to consumers in Puerto Rico, the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America. 

According to a class action lawsuit, BPPR violates U.S. law by charging unfair overdraft and NSF fees.

Plaintiffs in the bank fees class action lawsuit accuse BPPR of assessing multiple fees on single transactions and charging both NSF and overdraft fees on the same transaction. These practices allegedly cause consumers to pay a large sum in fees — on top of whatever their transactions cost.

“BPPR’s customers have been injured by the Bank’s improper practices to the tune of millions of dollars bilked from their accounts in violation of their agreements with BPPR,” the bank fee class action contends.

According to the complaint, BPPR’s practices violate its own account agreements. Account agreements allegedly fail to disclose the excessive fees charged by BPPR. Instead, the agreements promise to charge only a single NSF or overdraft fee per transaction, the plaintiffs claim.

BPPR hasn’t admitted any wrongdoing but agreed to a $5.5 million class action settlement to resolve these allegations over fees.

Under the terms of the BPPR fees settlement, class members can receive a cash payment based on the number of overdraft and NSF fees they were assessed by BPPR. 

Class members who paid the highest number of fees will receive larger proportional shares of the settlement fund. No payment estimates are available. 

Current customers will receive their share of the settlement fund as an account credit. Former customers without active BPPR accounts will receive their settlement payment as a check.

If any funds remain in the settlement after the first round of payments, a second round of payments may be sent to class members who accepted their first payments. Residual funds may instead be distributed to a charitable recipient approved by the court. 

The deadline for exclusion and objection is Feb. 12, 2023. 

The final approval hearing for the Banco Popular class action lawsuit settlement is scheduled for March 14, 2023.

No claim form is required to benefit from the settlement. Class members who do not exclude themselves will automatically receive settlement benefits as described above.

Who’s Eligible

Current and former Banco Popular de Puerto Rico customers who were assessed retry/resubmitted overdraft and non-sufficient funds (NSF) fees between Feb. 1, 2016, and April 1, 2022.

Potential Award

Varies

Proof of Purchase

No proof of purchase applicable

Exclusion Deadline

02/12/2023

Case Name

Soto, et al. v. Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, CaseNo. 3:20-CV-01057, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico

Final Hearing

03/14/2023

Settlement Website

PRBankFeeClassAction.com

Claims Administrator

Kroll Settlement Administration LLC
c/o Kroll Settlement Administration, LLC
PO Box 225391
New York, NY 10150-5391
833-709-0653

Class Counsel

Defense Counsel