Yes, customers have sued Bank of America over pandemic overdraft fees. Truck driver Anthony Ramirez and retiree Masako Williams sought class status after the bank denied their hardship refund requests.
An overdraft fee applies when the bank covers a payment that exceeds your balance. An NSF fee applies when it rejects that payment for lack of funds. Their case centers on pandemic-hardship refunds worth several hundred dollars per person.
Table of Contents
- What did customers allege?
- Who falls inside the certified classes?
- What about repeat $35 NSF charges?
- What limits a new lawsuit?
- What can you do now?
What did customers allege?
Tycko & Zavareei LLP described the claims in its case filing report on Feb. 10, 2022. Ramirez and Williams said the bank publicly promised pandemic relief from overdraft and NSF fees. They said it then denied their requests.
Tycko & Zavareei LLP later said the amended case survived dismissal. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California held that customers plausibly alleged misleading website and app statements about fee relief. That ruling kept the fraud-based claims alive.
Who falls inside the certified classes?
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers later certified two classes for California holders. Tycko & Zavareei LLP reported the order in its class-certification announcement.
The classes focus on denied pandemic refunds coded as hardship. The certified group has narrow time and conduct limits. It does not cover every fee paid during the pandemic.
- California consumer checking account holder
- Charged an overdraft or NSF fee from Sept. 1, 2020 through June 30, 2022
- Sought a pandemic refund coded as hardship and was denied
What about repeat $35 NSF charges?
A second path involves repeat fees on the same transaction. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau detailed the repeat-fee order in its July 2023 enforcement action. Merchants sometimes resubmitted a declined payment. The bank then charged another $35 NSF fee.
The Bureau called that double charge unfair. It ordered refunds of unrefunded repeat fees back to Sept. 2018, about $80.4 million. The American Bankers Association Banking Journal reported related penalties of $90 million to the CFPB plus $60 million to the OCC, with total customer restitution exceeding $100 million.
What limits a new lawsuit?
Bank of America deposit agreements contain binding arbitration and class-waiver clauses. The ABA Banking Journal reported that the Ninth Circuit ruled May 15, 2026 that business customers must arbitrate overdraft-fee class claims rather than pursue them as a court class. That defense can move a dispute out of court. The fee landscape also changed.
Bank of America Newsroom announced elimination of NSF fees in Feb. 2022 and a cut in overdraft fees from $35 to $10 in May 2022. It also added limits on overdrafts and Balance Connect protection. New claims still face filing deadlines and proof of a denied hardship request.
What can you do now?
Start by separating pandemic refunds from repeat NSF refunds. Pull statements for Sept. 2020 through June 2022 and flag each denied hardship request.
Then pull older statements for multiple $35 charges tied to one resubmitted transaction. Consumer Action listed those contact options in its August 2023 insider update. Consumers charged repeat NSF fees can ask about refunds at [email protected] or 855-729-1764 and file a CFPB complaint.
- Identify California consumer checking fees in the class dates
- Save denial messages, call notes, and hardship codes
- Ask Bank of America about repeat NSF refunds
- File a CFPB complaint if the bank does not resolve it
- Get prompt legal review for a private pandemic-fee claim