First Community Credit Union Slams Consumers With Multiple "Insufficient Funds" Fees, Lawsuit Says

ST. LOUIS, April 3, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A class-action lawsuit accuses a Missouri credit union of socking its customers with two or three "insufficient funds" fees on a single transaction, a practice the lawsuit claims is contrary to the credit union's account agreements.

According to the lawsuit, First Community charges a $27.50 "NSF" fee when customers have insufficient funds to complete a transaction. In many cases, The Credit Union then attempts to process the same transaction days later, classifying the transaction as a retry payment. By resubmitting an electronic transaction for processing after it has already been rejected for insufficient funds, the complaint argues, First Community can impose multiple fees that overwhelmingly exceed the original amount of the transaction, as is the case of named plaintiff Leassa Kellerman, who was allegedly charged $55 in fees over six days to only be left with the same failed payment of $10.99.

The lawsuit was filed on March 25, 2019 in St. Louis District Court against First Community Credit Union by Paul LLP, Kaliel PLLC and co-counsel. First Community Credit Union is the largest credit union in Missouri, with more than $2.5 billion in assets and hundreds of thousands of members throughout the state. The lawsuit seeks to be certified as a class action.

The complaint alleges: "First Community Credit Union makes millions of dollars each year through the imposition of NSFs. These fees are by definition often assessed on consumers struggling to make ends meet...and often fall disproportionately on racial and ethnic minorities, the elderly and the young."

Paul LLP has secured more than $2.5 billion in compensation for its clients.

For more information about this case, please contact Ashlea Schwarz at (816) 984-8100.

SOURCE Kaliel PLLC