Did You Pay Brookline Bank NSF Fees?

By Sage Datko | December 16, 2020

Category: Fees

Brookline Bank fees may be avoidable.

Have you been charged an NSF fee by Brookline Bank? Class action attorneys are investigating whether Brookline and other banks are engaging in deceptive NSF fee practices.

What Are NSF Fees?

NSF fees, or non-sufficient funds fees, are fees that are assessed by a bank or credit union when a customer attempts to make a purchase and doesn’t have enough money in their account to cover the cost. If the customer has opted in to overdraft protection, their purchase will be automatically covered by their bank through an immediate loan, and an overdraft fee will be assessed. For customers who have not opted in to overdraft protection, the transaction will be denied and an NSF fee will be charged.

NSF fees and overdraft fees are often similarly priced, with most NSF fees in the U.S. costing between $27 and $35. When multiple fees are assessed, the cost may quickly add up into an unpleasant surprise for customers.

Does Brookline Bank Charge NSF Fees?

Brookline Bank is a financial institution based out of Massachusetts. It was founded in 1871 and offers services including personal banking, business, and commercial banking, and investment services. The bank holds approximately $8.5 billion in assets and operates 30 locations across the Boston area.

According to Brookline Bank’s fee schedule, the bank does assess NSF fees. The bank refers to these fees as “returned item fees,” and lists the cost as $35 per denied transaction.

However, some banks have been accused of charging more than one NSF fee on denied transactions.

Brookline Bank has not faced a class action lawsuit or other legal action over its NSF fees, but it is being investigated by attorneys for possible violations.

Are NSF Fees Legal?

Although NSF fees are legal for banks to charge, if these fees are being assessed in unethical ways, they may be violating consumer rights. According to some banking customers, they have been assessed multiple NSF fees for a single denied transaction.

The way that this may happen is due to how banks process these transactions. When a customer attempts to make a purchase without having enough money, the purchase will be denied and the fee will be assessed.

Although customers may think that this is the end of the transaction, some banks may be attempting to reprocess these purchases days later, without customer knowledge or approval. Some consumers have reported being unaware that their bank attempted to process these transactions multiple times until they saw several NSF fee charges on their bank statements.

As banks bring in billions each year from NSF and overdraft fees, they may be incentivized to continue engaging in these allegedly deceptive practices. One way to potentially persuade banks to cease charging multiple, perhaps unethical, NSF fees for transactions may be to file a class action lawsuit.

NSF Fee Lawsuits

Several NSF fee class action lawsuits have been filed against banks and credit unions by customers seeking reimbursement for deceptively charged fees. One lawsuit against Navy Federal Credit Union was resolved in November 2020 after a $16 million settlement was reached.

Under the terms of the settlement, the named plaintiff will receive an award of $5,000, and all other class members will receive sums for reimbursement of NSF fees. Approximately 700,000 members of the credit union are expected to receive compensation for NSF fees stemming from re-processed transactions.

If you have been assessed multiple NSF fees for single purchases, you may be eligible to speak with an experienced attorney about the legal options available to you. Some victims of predatory NSF fees may be able to open or join a class action lawsuit and pursue reimbursement.