$2.85 Million Bank of America Settlement Resolves Restraint Fees Lawsuit

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Bank of America has agreed to pay a $2,850,000 settlement to resolve a proposed class action lawsuit that alleged the bank improperly charged fees to accountholders whose accounts were subject to attachment or garnishment by creditors.

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The court-approved website for the Bank of America settlement can be found at EIPARestraintSettlement.com.

The settlement covers all individual Bank of America accountholders who, between January 1, 2009 and February 17, 2023, had their accounts restrained and/or levied upon pursuant to the provisions of the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules in violation of New York’s Exempt Income Protection Act (EIPA).

Class members do not need to do anything to receive a Bank of America settlement payout. Checks will be automatically mailed to covered individuals after the deal receives final approval from the court.

According to the settlement website, class members will receive a pro-rated share of the $2,850,000 settlement fund after certain approved costs and fees are deducted. Cash payments are estimated to be around $35 per person.

If an account was held by more than one class member, such as an account jointly held by spouses, then all class members associated with that account will be entitled to only one settlement payment. The check will be made payable to all accountholders, the settlement website says.

The terms of the Bank of America settlement were preliminarily approved by the court on December 17, 2024. The court will hold a hearing on June 18, 2025 to decide whether to grant final approval to the deal. Checks could be issued as early as 45 days after final settlement approval if there are no appeals, the site states.

The initial Bank of America lawsuit accused the defendant of violating the EIPA, a New York law that makes certain minimum amounts in deposit accounts exempt from being frozen or seized by debt collectors. Specifically, the case claimed that instead of calculating exempt amounts on a per-account basis, Bank of America wrongly grouped judgment debtors’ accounts together and calculated exempt amounts based on that combined total.

The case also alleged that Bank of America delayed accountholders’ access to exempt money by sending these funds as a check instead of making them available in customers’ accounts. The plaintiffs further argued that the bank should not have charged restraint fees on these accounts.

Per the settlement site, Bank of America has since updated its policies to address the misconduct alleged in the class action lawsuit.

Did you know that some class action settlements require no proof to submit a claim? Check out the latest class action settlements.