Bank of America has settled a class action lawsuit over its dirty overdraft trick: things like approving transactions that generate overdraft fees, for example, or clearing transactions in high-to-low order to increase the number of overdrafts. If you're a former customer of BoA, Fleet, LaSalle Bank or United Trust Company, you can claim your part of the settlement fund.
Here's a direct link to the lawsuit website where you can register. If the class action lawsuit is approved over the summer, you could receive $78.
Folks, we take too much of the shitty treatment of these institutions for granted. It's bad enough that we're forced to work for the capitalist class in order to acquire the money to purchase the means of subsistence. It's bad enough that they steal wealth from us left and right. And on top of this, they also charge us to use our own money and utilize every sneaky, underhanded practice they can to steal from us in addition to that.
Overdraft fees are not a punishment for irresponsible consumption. They are a hole the finance capitalist class digs for us and toward which they push us. It's not the principal way they make their money. It's just a gratuitous way they can laugh in our faces while they keep their feet on our throats.
We need not only to demand they end these degrading, humiliating practices. We need to demand these people, this class, no longer exist. They produce nothing. They only take. They get bailed out at our expense. They have no right to exist. They should not only not be bailed out. They should be eliminated. They infuriate me. I hate them.
P.S. - If you have an account with them, you get to go to museums for free the first weekend of every month. Milk em for it. But what we really need is a Museum of the Past, a museum where children and adults can go and look at dioramas of bank lobbies, where they can press buttons and hear recordings of frustrating phone conversations between patients and HMOs, and where they can look in glass cases and see greasy samples of the worthless pieces of metal and paper that once stood as a barrier between whole of humanity and the product of its blood and sweat.
Friday, February 13, 2009
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This is a great post for a number of reasons. First if we are going to develop the debtor union one way would be to gather useful and practical information about how to effectively resist financial capital. This is teh kind of information that we should be collecting as we prepare for a launch of a debtors union web site.
ReplyDeleteJim also identifies the class of financial capitalist as the main target in the next round of struggle. I think this is right also, I would expand that to include the whole of what has been called the "FIRE economy" Finance, Insurance, Real Estate... (they are all a part of the financial capitalist class) and they have been dominating urban life for the last 20 years or so and they contribute nothing to the generation of social wealth but manage to take the biggest cut of the pie for themselves none the less.
As Jim pointed out previously there are forces within Obama's administration who are opposed to these people David Axelrod among them, we need to play the divide and conquer game too.
And most importantly we need to take up the tasks posed by X and figure out clearly how to translate this analysis into day to day activity on the local level so that we can start tp build a national movement to end the domination of financial capital.
"It follows from this analysis that the financialization that defines capitalism in its neoliberal form consists in structural transformations that corresponds to a particular conjuncture, not a financial coup or the rebirth of the rentier.20
ReplyDeleteIn the first instance, this is manifest in the doubling of the share of US corporate profits going to the financial sector compared to its share during the 1970s and 1980s. While the proportion of profits going to finance doubled to more than 28 percent by 2004, the share going to the broader financial (interest-bearing) services sector – Finance, Real Estate and Insurance (FIRE) – also doubled to nearly 50 per cent of all US corporate profits."
More here
Jim is that quote from David McNally's essay?
ReplyDeleteThe quote shows that the finnacial sector has become parasitic in the extreme.
There is an short report on NPR's "Morning Editon" about a boom for bankruptcy lawyers. 25 new clients a day for one firm in a town in California. They mention that the new laws around bankruptcy make the process more daunting.
http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=4&islist=true&id=3&d=02-13-2009
This makes collective action all the more compelling.
Yeah, it's from McNally's essay. I put the link at the bottom of the other comment, but maybe it was hard to see.
ReplyDeleteYeah, they've been airing a lot of this stuff on NPR. Of course, they don't offer any possible solutions, just report on how hard it is for people.
Dunno if you saw my comment in X's post, but I sent an e-mail to Left Forum seeing if they'd accept a panel this spring on Debtors' Union. I'll let you know what happens.
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU SOOO MUCH. I got burned real bad on this, twice from Lasalle bank/bank of america. They consistently failed to post transactions to my account, so when I would call to find information on my balance, it would be incorrect, I would overdraw by a dollar and then incur huge overdraft fees as they compounded without me ever knowing.
The second time this happened I told off the banker, made a scene and tore up my debit card and threw it on his desk, drama that still left me owing alot of money and with little satisfaction.
You have made my entire week as I am going to hand out photocopies of my settlement check to everyone at my old bank branch and especially to my old banker who had the arrogance to lecture me about money management, treating me like a naive child who couldn't stop spending (spending on soymilk powder, 5 lb bags of rice and beans is really living large, bank of america should know)
THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU
So Much Love From Chicago,
Nick
Bank of America has not changed this practice of charging overdraft fees on debit charges that they've already approved. It happend to me today! For $35 fees for charges they approved becasue they posted a check I'd forgotten to record two-three days after the debit charges were approved.
ReplyDeleteI had a B of A credit card set up on auto-pay because I traveled frequently (this was a few years ago before I could do it all from my phone). They refused to give me online access to the account once I had closed it, and they stopped sending me paper statements, but I still had a balance due and was paying it monthly 1-2 days before the due date. They changed the billing cycle/due date at some stage so my payments were now 1-2 days late each month. I had no idea until I pulled my credit report and had 6 months of overdue payments. When I finally got B of A to send me the statements, they had charged me each month for a late fee, pushed me slightly over my limit and charged a fee for each month that I went above, increased my interest rate by almost double...it was a complete nightmare. Even though I had been paying a certain amount each month, the changes and charges racked up in such a way that I looked like a total deadbeat. My credit score plummeted and this crap is still on there, even though it paints a totally inaccurate picture of my payment history. After this came to light, I transferred the balance to a zero percent card and resolved never to have a B of A credit card again. They pulled a similar stunt on my checking account recently so I have switched banks. They are jerks. But their stock is up and I own some! WOOHOO! Maybe I will get some of my money back...
ReplyDeleteWish I knew about this class action lawsuit. I just got burned after the May 1st deadline by this exact same crap. Its a no wonder they don't need money. They are raping us left and right with unnecessary transaction fees. Does anyone here know of good sites to go on to chat about this very thing and maybe be able to communicate with, once this lawsuit has been settled on. And maybe get more people involved with this lawsuit.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I just got burned for $210.00 of overdraft fees!! I hate Bank of America. They are so SCREWED up when it comes to their fees! I even have a printout of the fees that were already approved. The same CRAP they pull on everyone else! Is there any way all of us other people who didn't make the lawsuit deadline be able to get another lawsuite going against BOFA?
ReplyDeleteYou don't know the half of it. I paid over $1,000 in overdraft fees last year. Almost all of them went from pending to cleared just hours before my direct deposit went in. Why do the rules of after 2pm - means next day - not apply to checks being cleared? I asked and recieved an answer of 12am to 12pm applies to clearing checks from your account. Did anyone else no this?
ReplyDeleteI'm convinced that failed financial institutions such as BoA should permeanantly nationalized and its board/corporate decision making processes brought under fuller public control (in the sense of all tax paying citizens and not simply holders of its existing private stock) & scrutiny.
ReplyDeleteWe're just robbed about $700 within 1 week, THIS IS SICK!!!Wonder why the government let this practice going on in this hard time. BOA is much worse than PAYDAY Loan!!! I will bring this matter to the attorney general and ask that everybody else does the same. WE NEED TO STOP THIS HEINOUS PRACTICE!!!WE NEED TO STOP BANK OF AMERICA FROM ROBBING HARD EARN MONEY!!
ReplyDeleteShould we form another class action suit?? They're obviously still continuing this heinous practice!!
ReplyDeleteI would love to hear the answer to that question. They are still doing the same. I have been hit with over 2k in fees. Every time i call BOA customer service I am told something different and also told new rules are in the email updates that i supposedly got. I finally figured out that yes they approve transactions that shouldn't. and also they do the high to low thing so all transactions bounce. I have had a terrible two years with medical bills and custody battles that times are tough and BOA has put me in a worse spot. Please let me know if its too late to join a lawsuit or if another will start
ReplyDeleteI have looked and the deadline has expired to join any class action suit against BOA for overdraft fees. I am furious-tried to straighten out, instructed to put money in bank, overdraft fees were extended, you know the story. Lets start a new class action suit
ReplyDeleteOne other thing-on third attempt to straighten out, customer service rep said after 3 deposits and continued overdraft fees, sorry you were given wrong information, that is the way it is done, and said i had no recourse. Anybody want to join in another class action?
ReplyDeleteCheck out http://www.largeparties.com
ReplyDeletean info site on another litigation with BoA. It shows some sleazy tactics by BoA. and proof as well.
Hello, not sure where all of you live, but I live in southern california, and I just got dinged with $900.00 in fees in the last 10 days, same story as all of you, I'm all for a law suit, the customer service supervisor would not even bother giving me her last name nor the name of her manager, so I for once have had it, anyone interested in joining me to fight bof fucking a, feel free to contact me as soon as possible.
ReplyDeleteI just got $596 in fees from this shady practice, let me know when another class action starts up, I'm on that bandwagon
ReplyDeleteok so I have an appt w a lawyer to start a class action for immoral procedures and practices, contact me @ - http://proudrainbow.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteif you would like to join!
Well even though they settle this lawsuit, they are still up to their old tricks. They just did the same thing to me this week. It's a long store, but I made a deposit right around cut off for that days business. I didn't realize they put my deposit on the next days, and I went and used my debit card, and this resulted in an overdraft. The problem was I had 3 small transaction from over the weekend, which would have been covered, but I have since been told they give the larger amount priority, so even though the larger amount was the last transaction I made, they put in first and that resulted in the overdraft, and they charged me for 4 overdraft. I called them and this is my fault, I was treated horribly by customer service, and I when I went to my local bank and tried to speak to them about it, they asked me to leave or they would call the police. I am still seething over this.
ReplyDeleteYesterday I had an argument with the bank over overdrafts fees, and their high to low listing of transactions. I talked to customer service twice and then went to my local bank. I had a heated discussion with the bank's branch manager and she asked me to leave. I was angry but I never made a threat, and I never used profanity, but I didn't bow down and I said my piece. I left and told them I was going to close my account, but when I decided today to withdraw my funds they had closed the account on their end, which forced me to have to go into another branch, and wait in line and waste more of my time. They said the close the account because of my behavior and that it was with in their power to do so. I think it was a petty way to get back at me and a total abuse of power. Anyway, they issued me cashier checks for every dime I had in their bank from my checking to my savings. I will now interview my next bank and find out about their practices or I might use a smaller local bank. This has been a horrifying and exhausting experience.
ReplyDeleteI have a actual screen shot of PENDING transactions that BofA dinged me NSF fees for...no fees are to be charged on PENDING transactions, but they totally did it anyway. I'm ready to sign up for a class action suit against them for sure, just let me know where to sign up.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree I can not tell you how many times I have been charged overdraft fees based on the highest to lowest check amounts. Not only that, but I have also been charged overdraft fees for items that were sitting in pending when I put in the money to cover them at close of business that day. When I called the bank to follow up. I was told that the pending items were actually charged the night before and that even though I had put in my money to cover them before they cleared, the bank addresses the overdraft fee based on the date the item was charged. Technically, I never overdrew my acct. However, I paid $75 in overdraft fees for this situation. I have too many stories to count. I definitely will join any new clasas action lawsuits that apply to Bank of America. This is not the bank I originally started doing business with. Ken Lewis and his crew have ruined a fine financial institution.
ReplyDeletewhere is the link to class actio lawsuit against BOA?
ReplyDeleteI was just charged 3 overdraft fees by BoA at $35.00 each. I set up alerts to notify me of my balance daily, if I have less than $100 in my checking account or if I'm overdrawn. I was sent a text message on Sept 24th, 2009 stating my balance was $21.13, so at work I swiped my debit card for a whopping $1.67 transaction for an ice cream bar and another one for lunch $5.55 confident that the balance information was correct...well, I was wrong. BoA conveniently did not notify me that "oh by the way, there was a check that came through on the 24th that caused the overdraft"..hmmm..so maybe if I had know that, I said to the snobby supervisor, I seriously doubt that I would be so stupid or naive to swipe my debit card for a whole $1.65 because I just love receiving those stupid overdraft fees. The next morning @ 4:57 I received a text message stating that my paycheck had been direct deposited..so I'm thinking everything is just peachy, so I went online just to verify and noticed my balance was $105.00 less than what my paycheck was. Lo and behold, I was charged an overdraft fee of $35.00 for the $1.67 transaction and another $35.00 for my $5.55 lunch transaction and another $35 fee for a check in the amount of $48.00. Of course the transactions were posted from highest to lowest. If BoA had posted them from lowest to highest, I would have only incurred one overdraft fee, but of course they posted just the opposite so they could charge me 3 overdraft fees for a negative balance of less then $30. I called to complain and they "graciously" removed one fee as a COURTESY!! So the next time there is a class action lawsuit against them...I definately want to be included. Because of this garbage, my rent will be late..oh and I'm not able to get my medication from the pharmacy for diabetic supplies....BANK OF AMERICA SUCKS!!!!!!!1
ReplyDeleteI am tired of having my money taken by these crooks. If there are any other lawsuits out there, please contact me, I would be more than willing to provide the evidence I have of erroneous overdraft fees, and on top of that, extended overdraft fees after only 2 days. mdnitesky@gmail.com
ReplyDelete