First Circuit Rules That National Bank’s Overdraft Fees Are Not “Interest” For Purposes Of Federal Usury Law

LexisNexis (May 14, 2019, 11:48 AM EDT) -- On March 26, 2019, a 2-1 split panel of the First Circuit affirmed a lower court decision that dismissed a putative class action brought against Citizens Bank NA, a national bank. Fawcett v. Citizens Bank N.A, 919 F.3d133, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 8983 (1st Cir. 2019). The First Circuit panel concluded that the “flat excess overdraft fees” charged by the bank did not qualify as usurious “interest”, but were in the nature of deposit account service charges....