BancorpSouth Settles Overdraft Litigation

BancorpSouth (BXS) of Tupelo, Miss., has agreed to pay customers $1.75 million to settle a class-action lawsuit related to its overdraft fees.

A judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas gave preliminary approval to the settlement on Monday.

As part of the deal, the $13 billion-asset company also agreed to cap the number of overdraft fees a customer can incur in a day and said transactions that fall below a minimum value will not be charged overdraft fees, according to a court document.

The class, which includes 350,000 current and former customers, alleged that BancorpSouth changed the order of transactions to increase overdraft fees. The company has asked that the proceedings against it in Florida be terminated. Numerous similar cases against banks have been consolidated in that state.

A hearing will be held at the end of July to determine whether the settlement should be granted final approval.

A number of other banks, including JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC) and Associated Banc-Corp (ASBC) in Green Bay, Wis., have already reached settlements over similar claims.

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