Tuesday, 30 July 2013

Bank Of America Settles For $410 Million In Overdraft Fee Suit

By Cornelius Nunev


Bank of America recently came to a settlement in a huge class action suit over overdraft fees.

To settle the suit, B of A has agreed to pay $410 million. The case is part of a large number of related suits against a bunch of differ-ent banks. Do not worry; you'll still be able to get your installment loans from these banks.

Suits become more common after fees go up

Some of the largest U.S. and Canadian financial institutions are the target of huge class action lawsuits because of the account fees and overdraft fees that have made customers an-gry. Bank of America has one class action suit with about 1 million people in it along with other banks with comparable suits for instance JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo, reports Bloomberg. Bank of America is able to settle now. A $410 million settlement has already been approved. Reuters explained that over 2 dozen banks in the U.S. Europe and Canada are be-ing sued for fees like these, all of which were changed to be class action suits. In Re: Checking Account Overdraft Litigation is the name of the case.

Bank of America's overdraft fee issue

Bank of America is alleged to have processed transactions from largest to smallest rather than by when the transactions were made, thus making it more probable that accounts would fall into overdraft and the sum recovered by the banks would be greater. Short term credit and overdraft fees are effortlessly compared. The bank will les the trans-action be made as a "loan" to the consumer and then charge a fee for it. Usually between $25 and $35 is typically charged. That's an average area for fees. Some customer supports don't like overdraft fees since they think it is cruel to customers that can't afford them. Banks cannot automatically put customers in overdraft programs anymore. Customers have to pick that choice.

Pilot B of A program

The LA Times reports there is a pilot program at Bank of America starting. The consumer is sent a text message if a transaction is declined asking if the customer wants to use the bank's overdraft protection on that transaction. If the customer elects to do so, the consumer can deposit the required funds by 8 p.m. that evening to avoid the overdraft charge of $35. Only that transaction would have the choice. One thing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will be working on is the overdraft charge problem. This is after it begins operations soon, reports the New York Times. There has been a fight over the director and powers of the bureau in Congress which may stop the CFPB from start-ing in the near future.




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