A $240 million settlement over overdraft fees is paying eligible bank customers up to $1,000 each, but the claim window closes September 14, 2026. The case dates back to fees charged by SunTrust Bank, which merged into what is now Truist, and the money is real — but it goes only to people who file a claim in time. If you or a family member banked with SunTrust during the covered years, this is a deadline worth putting on the calendar this week rather than next month.
Who qualifies and how much you can get
The settlement resolves a long-running case alleging that SunTrust’s overdraft fees functioned like illegal interest under Georgia’s usury law. As CNBC Select reported on the settlement, the covered class is Georgia residents who paid certain overdraft fees on ATM or debit-card transactions to SunTrust between July 12, 2006 and April 15, 2014. Eligible account holders can receive between $5 and $1,000, with the exact amount depending on how much you were charged in fees and how many valid claims are filed against the fund.
The $1,000 figure in the headline is the ceiling, not the typical payout — most people will land somewhere below it — but for a household that paid a stack of overdraft fees during those years, even a mid-range check is found money. Roughly 464,000 account holders were notified directly, according to reporting on the case, and those notices carry the unique ID and PIN needed to file.
Free retirement updates: A quiet rule change can shrink your Social Security or Medicare check, and no one warns you. The free Retirement Shield newsletter catches these early and tells you what to do. Get it free.
How to file before September 14
Filing is straightforward and free. You can submit a claim online through the official settlement administrator or download a paper claim form and mail it in. If you received a notice by mail or email, it contains a Class Member ID and PIN that speed the process; if you believe you qualify but never got a notice, the administrator’s site has a way to look up or request your information. Payments are set to go out by check or electronic transfer after the claims period closes and the court finalizes the distribution.
Be careful about where you file. Legitimate class-action settlements never charge a fee to submit a claim and never ask for money up front. If a call, text, or email pressures you to pay something to “release” your settlement money, that is a scam riding on the news of the real case. The genuine process asks only for identifying information to match you to the covered accounts.
Why overdraft fees drew this kind of case
The lawsuit centered on how the bank ordered transactions and assessed fees, a practice that regulators and courts have scrutinized for years. Overdraft fees have since drawn national attention from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which explains how overdraft programs work and your rights around them. The Truist case is one of several in which banks have paid large sums to resolve claims that their fee practices crossed a legal line, and it is a reminder that fees you paid years ago can still be recoverable when a settlement reaches back that far.
The broader lesson for a household budget is that overdraft coverage is optional. Federal rules let you decide whether your bank can approve one-time debit and ATM transactions that overdraw your account; declining that coverage means a transaction is simply denied rather than approved with a fee attached. Reviewing that setting on your current accounts can stop the next round of fees before they start.
The bottom-line deadline
The single most important fact here is the date. The claim period ends September 14, 2026, and a claim not filed by then is a payout forfeited — the money stays in the fund and is redistributed among those who did file. Check whether you banked with SunTrust in Georgia between 2006 and 2014, find any notice you received, and file the claim now rather than trusting yourself to remember in early September. It takes a few minutes and costs nothing, and the only way to get zero is to miss the window.
What to do if you think you qualify but got no notice
Not everyone who is eligible received a mailed or emailed notice, often because the bank’s records point to an old address. If you were a SunTrust customer in Georgia during the covered years and believe you paid the kinds of overdraft fees at issue, you do not have to wait for a notice to file — the settlement administrator’s website lets you look up your status or submit a claim with identifying information. Digging up an old statement showing a SunTrust overdraft charge can help establish that you fall within the class, though the administrator matches most claims through the bank’s own records.
Timing still governs everything. Because the payout per person depends partly on how many valid claims come in, filing does not reduce anyone else’s share to zero, but missing the September 14 deadline forfeits your own. Once claims close, the administrator calculates payments and distributes them by check or electronic transfer, a process that typically takes some weeks after the deadline and any final court approval. If your address or banking details change between filing and payment, notify the administrator so the money does not bounce — a recovered settlement is only useful if the check actually reaches you.
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by a human editor. Figures are linked to their primary sources; where a claim could not be verified from the public record, we say so.
More Financial Reading
