Bank ATM Fees Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit
In July 2004, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, filed suit against several of the nation's largest banks and automatic teller machine (ATM) network companies based on allegations that the banks conspired to double-charge ATM customers when they withdraw funds from ATMs not owned by the users' bank.
Plaintiffs allege that defendants have fixed the interchange fee ("Interchange Fee"), the fee that a bank agrees to pay when one of its depositors withdraws cash from an automatic teller machine ("ATM") that the bank does not own. The bank pays the fixed Interchange Fee to the owner of the ATM. The bank then charges its own depositor a "Foreign ATM Fee," which consists of the fixed Interchange Fee and a mark-up. In addition, the depositor pays another fee, called a "Surcharge," directly to the ATM owner.
As a result, the depositor pays for the same transaction twice–a Surcharge set at competitive rates to the ATM owner and a Foreign ATM Fee to its bank, which is artificially inflated by the fixed -- and unnecessary -- Interchange Fee.
"Foreign ATM fees have become a lucrative source of income for banks, particularly for large banks that tend to charge significantly higher foreign ATM fees than smaller banks," stated Lieff Cabraser partner Joseph Saveri. "The banks have engaged in price fixing to create for themselves an illegitimate flow of revenue from foreign ATM fees based on unnecessary interchange fees."
Plaintiffs contend that the fixing of the Interchange Fee is a per se violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. The defendants in the case include Concord EFS, Inc., the owner of the Star ATM Network, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, SunTrust Banks, Wachovia Corporation and Wells Fargo & Co.
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Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP is a sixty-plus
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We represent businesses, governments and individuals as plaintiffs in class
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litigated antitrust claims against Microsoft Corporation for monopolistic
practices, and achieved record recoveries against El Paso Gas Co. and wholesale
electric companies for allegedly manipulating the price of energy in California. Learn
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