Kansas City, MO: A Missouri resident has filed a class action lawsuit against UMB Bank NA, alleging that the bank's practices concerning its overdraft fees are unfair and deceptive business practices.
The lawsuit claims that UMB: (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 UMB 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.
By way of example, David Johnson who filed the suit, claims that UMB charged him 17 overdraft fees, each in the amount of $36, over a single weekend. This included a $36 overdraft fee on a eighty-five cent purchase. UMB then charged Johnson additional overdraft fees and negative balance fees after these 17 fees depleted the hundreds of dollars of available funds in his account.
The suit alleges that these practices violate Missouri's consumer protection law as well as the bank's own contracts with its customer.
