Charleston, WV: A resident of W. Virginia has filed a class action lawsuit against City National Bank of Charleston W. Virginia, alleging that he was assessed hundreds of dollars in overdraft fees on his checking account, fees which violate W. Virginia's consumer protection law and City National's contracts with its customers.
The suit alleges unfair and deceptive overdradft fees charged because the City National manipulated the way debit card transactions were posted.
According to the lawsuit, national banks charge an estimated $27 billion annually in overdraft fees. The plaintiff alleges, among other things, that City National: (a) engages in a systematic policy of re-ordering debit card transactions from highest dollar amount to lowest dollar amount so as to deplete the customer's available funds as quickly as possible while maximizing the number of overdraft fees; (b) charges overdraft fees even in situations where in fact a customer has not overdrawn his checking account; (c) charges overdraft fees even in situations where City National in fact did not pay out more funds than were in the customer's checking account; and (d) fails to provide accurate account balance information on the bank's website or at the point of sale.
