A Bank of America customer has recently initiated a class-action lawsuit against the financial institution, claiming that it unlawfully refused to reimburse legitimate victims of fraud.
Plaintiff Kimberley Dennie alleges that she misplaced her BofA debit card in February and subsequently noticed unauthorized transactions being made on her account. Dennie promptly reported the lost or stolen card and filed a claim, accompanied by a police report detailing the incident, to recover the $3,000 that had gone missing from her account.
However, according to the lawsuit, Bank of America swiftly dismissed Dennie’s claim and accused her of authorizing the transactions without providing any evidence as required by law.
“Despite Plaintiff’s request for an explanation and further review, and the submission of a police report regarding the stolen card and fraudulent transactions, Bank of America mechanically rejected Plaintiff’s claim without conducting a reasonable investigation. Instead, it issued generic denial notices devoid of any factual findings or documentation from its alleged investigation… It was Bank of America’s responsibility to prove that these disputed transactions were authorized, not Plaintiff’s. Its failure to do so is both unlawful and unfair to Plaintiff and the countless other consumers who have to suffer the consequences of stolen funds in unlimited amounts.”
The lawsuit accuses the banking behemoth of routinely and audaciously rejecting valid claims from customers while issuing ambiguous, boilerplate denial letters.
“Bank of America fails to fulfill its legal obligations by neglecting to provide written explanations for its denials. Instead, Bank of America habitually denies claims without any explanation whatsoever, simply stating its conclusion that a claim has been denied. Bank of America’s generic denial letters shift the burden of proof onto consumers to disprove the alleged reasonableness of the bank’s investigation. However, the Electronic Funds Transfer Act places the burden of proof on financial institutions to demonstrate that disputed charges were authorized.”
The lawsuit has been filed in federal court in North Carolina, with the plaintiff seeking “actual damages, punitive damages, and an injunction on behalf of the general public to prevent the Bank from continuing to engage in its illegal and/or unfair practices.”
