Midland States Bank Overdraft Fees Settlement: $3.1M

Illinois personal checking account holders in one or more of the following categories:

• Alpine APSN Fee Class: Charged APSN fees between April 8, 2012, and Feb. 28, 2018

• Alpine Retry Fee Class: Charged retry NSF fees between April 8, 2012, and Feb. 28, 2018

• Centrue APSN Fee Class: Charged APSN fees between April 8, 2012, and June 12, 2017

• Midland APSN Fee Class: Charged APSN fees between April 8, 2012, and April 30, 2022

• Midland Fees-On-Fees Class: Charged overdraft fees that followed other fees between April 8, 2012, and April 30, 2022

None required. Payments will be calculated automatically based on bank records.

Midland States Bank has agreed to pay $3.1 million to resolve allegations that it and its predecessors, Alpine Bank & Trust Co. and Centrue Bank, improperly assessed overdraft and nonsufficient funds (NSF) fees on personal checking accounts. The lawsuit claims that customers were charged fees even when their accounts showed sufficient funds at the time transactions were authorized, and that they were later charged additional fees when the same transactions were reprocessed or followed by new fees.

Plaintiffs also objected to “fees-on-fees,” a practice in which customers incurred additional overdraft charges due to earlier fees, and to multiple NSF fees for the same transaction attempt.

Though Midland denies the allegations, it agreed to the settlement to avoid further litigation.

Under the Terms of the Settlement

Eligible class members will automatically receive a proportional share of the $3.1 million based on how much they were charged in improper fees. No claim form is required. Payment amounts will depend on the number of class members and the fees they paid.

The settlement also includes subclasses based on which bank issued the charges and the specific type of fee, such as APSN fees, retry NSF fees, or compounded fees. Each eligible group is clearly defined and will be paid out according to the fees they incurred.

Account holders are not required to take any action unless they wish to exclude themselves from the settlement.