RAVENSWOOD, W.Va.-As Pennsylvania State Employees CU stood up to and stopped the efforts of one "ATM vigilante," two West Virginia CUs settled with another.
Ravenswood FCU, Ravenswood, W.Va., and Mountain Heritage FCU, Parkersburg, W.Va., agreed last week to settle separate suits on ATM disclosures brought by a Michigan retiree who has gone around the country suing credit unions and banks over their failure to post fee disclosures on the outside of their ATMs.
Apparently the CUs agreed to rectify any shortcomings on their Electronic Funds Transfer Act fee disclosures but escaped paying any class action fees, according to sources in involved in the suits. But additional details will remain confidential under the settlement agreements. The president of Ravenswood, a $30-million credit union, declined to discuss the settlement.
That all happened before I came here, she told the Credit Union Journal last week. The suits were brought by Nancy Kinder, who has filed 37 civil complaints against credit unions and banks from her home state of Michigan to Georgia and south to New Mexico. Kinder and her boyfriend, Ray Harrison, have driven around the country with a camera and taken photos of ATMs that do not have the required placard disclosing the fees to be charged non-customers, as required under the law.
In recent weeks Kinder has settled separate ATM suits with Lenco CU and AAC Community CU in Michigan and First Southern National Bank and Central Bank and Trust, both in Kentucky.She has also struck settlements with Sunrise Family CU, ELGA CU, Michigan Schools and Government CU, Jackson Community CU, Northwood CU, Chino FCU, White Sands FCU and FirstLight FCU, and numerous banks.
