Recently, a settlement was announced in the case of Carter et al v. The City National Bank and Trust Company of Lawton, Oklahoma.
At issue in the dispute was City National’s contract which stated that it would only charge customers a single NSF feel on an unpaid, returned item. The plaintiffs alleged that, in practice, City National charged multiple NSF fees or an NSF fee followed by an overdraft fee on the same item.
The case is of importance to IBAT members as a reminder that, while the FDIC has pulled back on its scrutiny of represented items, plaintiffs’ attorneys are likely to continue pursuit of cases against banks in which the bank acted in a manner inconsistent with customer contracts.
IBAT has been paying close attention to this issue over the past year. We hope that, by now, your bank has taken time to revisit its contracts and ensure that they are consistent with your bank’s practices. Late last year, IBAT published language to consider or adopt in your contracts on a go forward basis. If you need additional guidance on this issue, please do not hesitate to reach out to the IBAT team at [email protected].
