Banks and financial institutions have increasingly turned to the practice of charging fees as a way to make money. Some of these come in the form of monthly maintenance fees or overdraft fees, but companies like CIT Bank and others might be involved in questionable practices when it comes to how these fees are assessed.

CIT Bank highlights their money market accounts on their websites due to numerous features such as earning more than the national average, enabling customers to have quick and simple access to their money, and no monthly service fees.

However, the CIT Bank could be involved in charging excessive overdraft fees, a practice that has earned headlines in recent months due to the high volume of fees consumers face across the country. According to CIT Bank’s website, it appears as though the overdraft fees charged by the institution only apply to the money market accounts.

Issues with Improper Overdraft Fees Affect People All Over the Country

Plenty of consumers with different banks and credit unions have lodged complaints about overdraft practices in recent years. The use of overdraft fees is not new, but consumers say that many companies are going above and beyond by charging multiple overdraft fees or even reordering transactions in an effort to get more out of overdraft fees.

Although banks can and do sometimes charge overdraft fees in an ethical and legal manner, certain banks have been accused of shady practices that leave consumers in the red. For example, one practice known as reordering transactions means that the bank could be putting higher transactions first for processing, such that the person’s account is taken into the negative more quickly.

Since plenty of banks charge overdraft fees for each transaction for which there are not enough funds in the account to cover, this could lead to hundreds of dollars in overdraft fees if a big purchase were processed first.

Some believe that charges should if they are being applied fairly, be easily avoidable. With mobile banking, for example, consumers should be able to check their accounts quickly. Theoretically, this should increase the chances that a person spots a low account balance and can avoid accumulating additional charges. However, if the bank is indeed reordering transactions, even mobile banking might not help to avoid this problem.

It can be hard for a consumer to know when and how banks decide to reorder transactions. According to an article in Forbes, this can make it very challenging for a consumer to deal with overdraft fees until after the fact. A consumer who hasn’t checked their mobile banking constantly might not see a series of fees add up.

Some say they have even been charged for fees when they did check their balance online or on their phone and did not see that their account balance was close to $0. Those consumers who find out that they have paid excessive fees or had their bank transactions reordered to favor the fee-charging system of the bank could be eligible to speak with an attorney about pursuing legal action against the bank.

If you were charged overdraft fees or NSF fees by your bank or credit union that you believe are improper for any reason, the attorneys who work with Top Class Actions are ready to investigate these fees on your behalf.

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.