The 36,000-member LA Financial Credit Union, a federally chartered CU headquartered in Pasadena, Calif., will soon close a complaint that it violated the Electronic Funds Transfer Act.
According to court documents and the counsel involved, the credit union will pay people who had made transactions at its six ATMs between May 5, 2007 and May 28, 2009 at least 50 cents plus interest, per person, per transaction, but no more than $10.
The settlement amount in any case shall not exceed the $33,889 that the CU has placed into a court-administered escrow account, according to Michael Martinez, a lawyer with Martinez & Charles, a Pasadena law firm which represented the plaintiff Dennis Minkler.
Other press reports had placed the settlement account at $10 million.
"If everyone who made a transaction at one of the ATMs comes forward, they will all get 50 cents plus interest. If fewer come forward, they will get more but the amount per person will be capped at $10,” Martinez said.
“We didn't want to give anyone a huge windfall from this. We thought $10 from a 50-cent transaction was enough of a windfall," he said.
According to the settlement documents, the law firm will receive $8,000 and Minkler $1,000 as part of the settlement.
Minkler sued the credit union in 2010, alleging that he had been charged $2.00 for withdrawal at one of the credit union’s six ATMs when the sign on the machine said the cost would be $1.50.
The deadline for filing a claim under the suit is next Thursday, Aug. 11.
