Bank of America is planning to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing the financial giant of charging hidden fees for wire transfers, according to court filings by lawyers involved in the North Carolina federal court case.

Plaintiffs claimed they were unaware of a $15 fee to have money sent to their accounts through the Charlotte-based bank.

Lawyers for the account holders and the bank filed a pending joint notice for a settlement and stipulation with the U.S. District Court of Western North Carolina on April 11. A judge told the parties to file a motion for preliminary approval of the settlement by May 24.

The details of the proposed settlement were not detailed in public court filings yet.

The complaint was originally filed in Mecklenburg County Superior Court in March 2023 by California resident Aaron Aseltine before it was transferred to federal court in April 2023 for jurisdiction reasons.

About the case

Lawyers working for Aseltine and other plaintiffs said Bank of America misled customers and hid charges for incoming wire transfers for personal account holders by tacking on “junk” fees, which were unavoidable.

Account holders like Aseltine were surprised to see hefty fees for money wired into their accounts, the attorneys claim. They also said the plaintiffs did not have a chance to review and avoid the fee.

The complaint also cited that account documents said “fee varies” for incoming or outgoing wire transfers and that it may change at any time. But a customer contract document does not list the $15 for incoming wire transfer fees, according to the attorneys.

Lawyers also said Bank of America is an outlier in the industry for the complaint. A disclosure document from Wells Fargo was used an example of a bank letting customers know about the exact fees for wire transfer.

The complaint said the fees are also problems because an account holder does not take action or request a service for an inbound wire. “That is why many financial institutions refuse to charge such fees at all, at least for domestic transfers,” the lawyers said in the complaint. Some of those financial companies are Ally Bank, Capital One, Discover, Fidelity and Village Bank.

Bank of America submitted an answer last year to the court and denied unfair, deceptive and unlawful practice of misleading customers. The bank’s attorneys said the bank did not breach account agreements with consumers.

The bank declined to comment to The Charlotte Observer, but referred to recent court filings regarding its position in the case.

Bank of America has 213,000 workers companywide. As of June, it had $2.4 trillion in assets, and was the second-largest bank in the United States.

©2024 The Charlotte Observer. Visit at charlotteobserver.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.