Re FIFTH THIRD BANK OVERDRAFT FEE CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT
..this is awesome ! finally, consumers are getting some justice re outrageous & unfair & unethical and now determined to be ILLEGAL overdraft fee practices ...! I received a notice of a class action settlement. .. from counsel for us as a class group ..the attorney is ben barnow in chicago ..for the case entitled Schulte et.al v Fifth Third bank (cs no1:09-cv-06655) ...I went back and looked at some activity from 2007 when I was traveling across the USA ...and was juggling the use of credit & debit cards ...5th/3rd hit me with some hefty fees during that period, sometimes repeatedly ..and apparently in a self-serving manner to make more money off me in fees.. they reversed a few, but not all & I still ended up paying $100 in fees..despite trying to explain to them that I was traveling at the moment & could not make a deposit... plus by that time I was returning west where 5th/third has no banks or atm machines..they could have been more accomodating given my situation, but I ended up hit with at least $100 in fees...outrageous to say the least .. and here's another thing.. not related to the class action matter or overdraft, but I stopped using the account after 2008 ...even though I left it open with a small balance.. figuring I would use it again when I returned to the midwest (which I do periodically)..so just this month (jan 2011) I called to check my balance & I found out they had closed my account because of "dormancy" after FIRST using up my available balance with monthly "dormancy fees" ($5 per month) ..they never attempted to contact me at my new address ..they say they didn't get my address change ...somehow I think they would have quickly found me if I had owed them money ..ha ha, but they allege they didn't have my new address ...so they couldn't notify me they were hitting me with dormancy fees & closing my account ..umm hmm. ...anyways, at least we get some satisfaction re the overdraft fee settlement. Now if only somebody would go after WAMU (Washington Mutual, which is now Chase Bank). They did some unethical if not illegal things re overdraft fees as well which hit me hard .
