Five Third Bank, Chase Bank, and American Express are three large financial institutions who have all recently been sued for deceptive their clients. The Fifth Third Bank lawsuit, originally filed in May, charges Fifth Third Bank of fraudulently violating the Truth in Lending Act when it comes to loans.
In the suit, the plaintiffs claim that the bank’s direct and deceptive advertising and its catalogs were designed to misinform and mis-guide borrowers into purchasing an inappropriate product, which ultimately led to high interest and fees.
Fifth Third Bank Lawsuit
The original complaint filed against Fifth Third Bank charges that the bank misstated the annual percentage rate (APR) of a loan in advertisements and catalogs. APRs, which represent the interest rate of a loan, can vary greatly from lender to lender.
The bank’s direct and deceptive advertisements and catalogs conveyed that the annual percentage rate on a certain line of credit would be overwhelmingly high if you bought a lot of credit. The lawsuit also charges that the bank’s advertised class action plan was designed to coerce people into a risky mortgage or lines of credit when they do not need them.
The Fifth Third Bank has counters to the claims in the lawsuit.
In a Class Action suit, the bank has maintained that the class action aspect of the lawsuit is intended to compel banks to provide a lawsuit loan that allows individuals to file suits against other individual defendants for breach of contract and predatory lending. Furthermore, the bank maintains that the lawsuit loans provided to the plaintiffs do not violate the Truth in Lending Act.
The bank contends that the class action lawsuit only allows for individual attorneys to be paid if they are successful in individual cases and that any monies received are based on the actual monetary loss incurred and not on the number of class members. Finally, the bank maintains that the lawsuit loans provide borrowers with an early access to cash before the lawsuit is filed.
Another aspect of this lawsuit involves an alleged scheme by several defendants to falsely charge their consumers with an “involuntary bankruptcy” in an effort to conceal their real financial situation.
The complaint refers to this scheme as a “fraudulent warranty of bankruptcy.” According to the complaint, the defendants falsely represented that they were no longer in business, did not have sufficient assets to service debts, failed to file the proper paperwork with the state court, failed to instruct their attorneys to properly represent the consumer, failed to notify the state court that the company was insolvent, and failed to disclose their plans to file for bankruptcy. The complaint further alleges that the creditors were improperly informed that the company was insolvent.
In addition, another aspect of this lawsuit revolves around a claim of fraud under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). According to the complaint, the Fifth Third Bank routinely fails to obtain the necessary approval from the state court before charging consumers for debt collections under the FDCPA. This alleged fraud was the basis for the second lawsuit a wrongful death action against the Bank, which resulted in a judgment in favor of the deceased plaintiff.
On a more general level, another issue with which the parties are involved revolves around the alleged failure to provide proper notice of its pending foreclosure actions.
According to the complaint, the defendants did not inform the homeowners that it was about to file a foreclosure action against the property at the time when the Notice of Default was received.
Finally, the complaint relates that the defendants did not provide any opportunity for the plaintiffs to avoid the foreclosure even after knowing that the foreclosure would immediately thereafter occur. These are all general allegations, some of which will be discussed below. If you would like more information on either of these cases, please follow the links below.
