Atlantic Union Bank Charges Unlawful Insufficient Funds Fees, Class Action Claims

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Atlantic Union Bank faces a proposed class action lawsuit over its apparent practice of stacking multiple fees on a single transaction that was rejected due to insufficient funds.

The case alleges Atlantic Union has attempted to “maximize[] its already profitable fees” by assessing two or more non-sufficient funds (NSF) fees, or an NSF fee followed by an overdraft fee, on only one electronic payment item, ACH item or check. The suit says that whenever the bank reprocesses an item that was initially rejected for insufficient funds and then reprocessed one or more times and then returned again, the transaction is treated as a new item subject to yet another fee.

The lawsuit alleges, however, that the same transaction “cannot conceivably become a new one” each time it is reprocessed for payment, especially when the customer takes no action to resubmit the item. Indeed, the case says there is “zero indication” anywhere in Atlantic Union’s account documents that one item could incur multiple fees. According to the complaint, the defendant’s terms and conditions and fee schedule for its accounts expressly state instead that only one $38 fee will be charged “per item.”

“In sum,” the complaint states, “Defendant promised that one fee would be assessed per ‘item,’ and this term must mean all iterations of the same instruction for payment. As such, Defendant breached the Contract when it charged more than one fee per item.”

The plaintiff, a Virginia resident, says she has frequently been charged multiple fees by the defendant when an item was rejected for payment and later reprocessed. In October 2021 alone, the plaintiff was allegedly assessed $1,216.00 in NSF fees. Per the case, the plaintiff understood that each of her payments would be treated as a single item as stated in her contract and was thus hit with fees improperly.

The lawsuit looks to cover anyone who, during the applicable statute of limitations period, was assessed multiple fees on one item on an Atlantic Union Bank checking account.

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