SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A customer who says Zions Bank makes it difficult -- if not impossible -- to avoid overdraft fees has filed a lawsuit in federal court, making the Utah bank one of dozens whose extra charges have triggered lawsuits from angry consumers.
The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, was filed this week by three law firms on behalf of Melinda Barlow, of Sandy, and other customers who were charged overdraft fees under policies that were in place between 2005 and 2010.
It comes more than a year after federal regulators slapped limits on bank overdraft practices and the resulting fees. U.S. banks reportedly raked in nearly $40 billion a year from the charges before regulations took effect in July 2010 requiring banks to get customers’ permission to enroll them in overdraft programs and limiting how many fees could be charged in one day.
Court papers say Zions’ policies allowed it to manipulate and alter the order in which debit transactions were posted so it could maximize the number of overdrafts, increasing the fees collected from customers.
The lawsuit also contends the bank does not routinely decline debit transactions when it’s clear that doing so will overdraft a customer’s account, which also results in additional charges to consumers.
For Barlow, a Zions customer since 1990, the practices resulted in about $100 in overdraft charges on a single day in 2009, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit also claims Zions doesn’t routinely post deposits ahead of debit transactions, which could prevent accounts from becoming overdrawn.
“As a result of those acts and practices, Zions Bank’s customers have been charged excessive overdraft fees,” the lawsuit states. “Zions Bank’s collections of those excessive fees is patently unconscionable and unfair.”
The lawsuit’s allegations are specific to Zions’ roughly 130 bank branches in Utah and Idaho. Parent company Zions Bancorp also operates financial institutions in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, and Washington.
Zions Executive Vice President Rob Brough said the company can’t comment on the details of pending litigation. However, Brough said he believed this was the first litigation brought against Zions related to the issue of overdraft fees or policies.
