Sovereign Bank Overdraft Fees Litigation

Chimicles & Tikellis has filed a putative class action lawsuit against Sovereign Bank in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. The complaint alleges that Sovereign Bank has a systematic practice of re-ordering electronic debit transactions from the highest dollar amount to the lowest dollar amount for the purpose of maximizing the amount of overdraft charges assessed by the bank. According to the complaint, this systematic re-ordering of these debit transactions has no relation to the date or time that the transactions were actually initiated by the customer. The complaint further alleges that this practice is deceptive in light of the statement contained in the Sovereign Bank account agreement that debit purchases are “automatically” deducted from consumers’ checking accounts. As a result of this practice, Sovereign Bank is able to charge overdraft fees for multiple transactions even though the customer has sufficient funds to cover one or more of the transactions, according to the complaint.

The complaint filed by Chimicles & Tikellis seeks to represent a class of consumers who have been charged multiple overdraft fees as a result of Sovereign Bank’s alleged practice of re-ordering the debit transactions in a non-chronological order from the highest amounts to the lowest amounts. The complaint asserts claims for violations of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, breach of contract, and unjust enrichment. A copy of the complaint can be accessed by clicking below.

If you have been charged overdraft fees by Sovereign Bank for debit transactions in this manner, please contact the attorneys below: