- An appeal was filed in this case on .
- A judge granted final approval to this settlement .
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Chime digital bank has agreed to pay $1.5 million to resolve allegations that a 2019 service disruption caused its users financial damages. The settlement deal provides payments of up to $750 as compensation for resulting losses.
“That means we don’t profit off of you,” the site says. “We profit with you: every time you use your Chime debit card, we earn a small amount from Visa (paid by the merchant).”
The company is largely fee-free, charging only a $2.50 when a member takes out cash at an out-of-network ATM or makes “an over-the-counter withdrawal.”
Chime also says its customers can get paid “up to 2 days early” when using direct deposit and can help people grow their savings “automatically.”
The recent settlement resolves claims from plaintiffs Ryan Richards, Ruba Ayoub, Brandy Terbay and Tracy Cummings in their Chime class action lawsuit.
As a result of these outages, the plaintiffs and 5 million other Chime customers were allegedly prevented from accessing their accounts for several days. In some situations, users were reportedly denied their only source of money.
“During the Service Disruption, Plaintiffs and Class members were unable to spend or withdraw their funds from their accounts needed for the basic necessities of life, such as food, clothing, shelter, and medicine,” the Chime digital bank class action lawsuit contends.
The plaintiffs argued these service disruptions caused financial injuries in the form of late fees on bills and other charges.
Around 4,000 customer tweets were reportedly found on Twitter following the disruption, detailing the ways in which the customers were affected by the outages. One consumer was reportedly forced to leave groceries at the store because they lacked access to their funds.
Despite the widespread outage, Chime allegedly failed to warn its users of the issue. Instead of contacting its consumers through email, telephone or even the Chime digital bank app, the company reportedly communicated solely through Twitter.
Plaintiffs in the Chime digital bank class action lawsuit argued the bank violated the law with its negligent actions. Chime has not admitted any wrongdoing but has agreed to resolve the claims against it in a settlement deal worth at least $1.5 million.
The settlement provides reimbursement for Class Members in two tiers, depending on the losses they sustained and the proof they may have.
Tier One compensation provides cash payments of up to $25 for Class Members who suffered a loss as a result of the disruption but do not have proof of these losses. Tier Two provides higher payments of up to $750 for consumers who can provide documentation of their losses.
In order to benefit from the Chime digital bank settlement, Class Members must file a valid claim form by . In order to submit a claim for reimbursement, Class NY payday loans Members must include documentation of their losses with their claim form.
Who’s Eligible
The deadline for exclusion and objection is . The final approval hearing for the Chime digital bank class action settlement is .
Potential Award
Tier One compensation provides cash payments of up to $25 for Class Members who suffered a loss as a result of the disruption but do not have proof of these losses. Tier Two provides higher payments of up to $750 for consumers who can provide documentation of their losses.
Cash payments will reduced by any money Class Members have already received from Chime in connection with the service outage.