Judge OK's Bank Of America's $410M Settlement

Bank of America Corp., the largest debit card issuer, won court approval of a $410 million settlement with customers who claimed the bank illegally charged excessive overdraft fees in electronic transactions.

U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King in Miami today approved the accord between the bank and about 1 million account holders, who may receive as much as 45 cents on the dollar on their claims, their lawyers said.

“This a marvelous result for the members of the class,” King said at a hearing.

The accord was the first of a number of settlements of claims that banks such as Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. processed account transactions in a way to make it more likely to incur overdraft fees. Union Bank NA, based in San Francisco, agreed to settle the same claims with its customers.

Anne Pace, a spokeswoman for Bank of America, declined to immediately comment on the judge’s final approval.

The case is In Re Checking Account Overdraft Litigation, 1:09-md-02036, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida (Miami).