Understanding The Concept Of Overdraft: The concept of overdraft is almost like a financial product introduced by a bank. Let’s assume that one has $50 in their account and they need to withdraw $100 from their account for any purpose, which can be anywhere from shopping or medical emergencies. The bank will allow them to withdraw enough $100 from their account and this will set their account’s default amount to ‘-50′ dollars since they have withdrawn more than what their account holds. Now, the bank is going to levy additional charges to individuals because it let them overdraw money which was not in their account. These are the origins of the illegal overdraft fees lawsuit.
How Does Overdraft Fee Affect Individuals?
Overdraft is usually used by people in times of emergency such as medical payments or for paying children’s fees. Also, it is mostly people living from week to week wages were the ones who were using overdraft services of their banks. The overdraft fees were already too high, to begin with, which affected the financial health of these individuals, thus causing them to spiral further in the pit of poverty. The illegal overdraft fees lawsuit aims to minimize this damage by making overdraft fees above a certain level illegal.
Competent attorney services like Shamis & Gentile, P.A understands the critical nature of this bill.
Overdraft Fees Challenged By Rep. Carolyn Maloney
Rep. Carolyn Maloney who is a member of House Financial Services Committee is going to reintroduce a bill, which will make a certain amount of overdraft fees illegal, which will limit the fees to individuals who overdraw from their accounts.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who is also a senior Democrat from New York had previously tried to bring up the bill, titled as the ‘Overdraft Protection Act’, which was shot down by the Republicans, as a result of which the bill couldn’t make an impact. The illegal overdraft fees lawsuit is expected to gain more momentum with passing time.
Another Effort Towards Pushing The Bill
Recently, Rep. Carolyn Maloney had introduced the overdraft fees bill in the House. And further, she wants Maxine Waters, the Chairwoman of House Financial Services to hold hearings for debating the bill. This time, it seems that the reintroduction of the bill is going to make a serious impact in the House of Representatives and thus strengthen the case for illegal overdraft fees lawsuit.
One reason the bill could not make it in the House was the anti-social welfare stance of the Republicans. However, as awareness regarding the harm done by hefty overdraft fees spreads, it is most likely to get passed in the House.
Precedents To The Bill: How Did It Catch Momentum?
This bill is a response to the numerous complaints against deceptive overdraft fee-related malpractices. One of the most common examples of this is the time when an institution will deliberately reorder those transactions in chronological order. This order is created such that it will maximize the number of overdraft fees that the consumer will have to pay.
Information Not Shared
Apart from that, people have also complained about the rising overdraft fees across America as well as banks not allowing people to opt-out of their programs and even not sharing complete information about what an overdraft protection program is and what does it include. As a result, many would not even be aware of how high the individual overdraft fees are.
What Do We Get When Summed Up?
In the end, it is undeniable that the overdraft practices carried out by banks in America are not only unfair but also illegal. As a result, many attorneys have shown support to the bill, going beyond the Democrat-Republic schism. Many are hopeful that this bill will see the light of the day.
Will Politics Intefere?
There are possibilities that Republicans may disagree and not let the bill pass. This might be because this stance may be considered socialist in nature. Shamis & Gentile, P.A believes politics needn’t be a part of such crucial decision making.
Effects Of Introducing The Illegal Overdraft Fees Lawsuit
Currently, many financial institutions are under investigation for deceptive as well as unfair overdraft practices. It is expected that these investigations will result in many financial institutions opening the proverbial closet full of skeletons.
If you are one of the individuals who have been affected by the unfair overdraft practices of their banks, you can certainly contact a good attorney such as Shamis & Gentile, P.A and pursue compensation. A good overdraft attorney will study the case and find out the intricacies of the litigation and then help you successfully file a case.
To know more about the illegal overdraft fees lawsuit and related-topics contact us on our website.
