| Release Fees Lead to Class Action Settlement
Bank of Hawaii settlement could cost up to $2.5 million October 4, 2005 By PATRICK CROWLEY |
| The Aloha state’s second largest bank could pay nearly $2.5 million to more than 30,000 mortgage customers who sued the bank over fees charged when their mortgages were paid off.The Bank of Hawaii has agreed to pay between $1.7 million to $2.45 million to settle a class action lawsuit filed by more than 30,000 customers in March of 2003. The bank halted charging the fee a month after the suit was filed in Hawaii’s First Circuit Court.
The suit “challenged a fee charged by the bank to its customers when their residential first mortgages were paid in full and released,” the bank said in a written statement. “The bank stopped charging the fee in April 2003.” Lawyers for the bank and the plaintiffs have not commented, referring to the one page statement issued by the bank. The fees charged for the paperwork were typically $35, $50 or $100, depending on when the mortgage was paid off, the bank said. The suit claimed the fees were illegal. The bank denied that charge but has stopped charging the fee and has agreed to settle the lawsuit. Customers who paid the fee between January 1998 and April of 2003 are eligible for a refund. The amounts, which will be set by the court, will be between $70 and $200, the bank said. Instructions on how top apply for refunds are being sent to borrowers. The bank has also agreed to pay the plaintiffs $600,000 in legal fees. The proposed settlement must still be approved by the court, but that approval is expected to come at a court hearing scheduled Nov. 14. Borrowers who want to opt out of the settlement have until Oct. 14 to do so. Some of the money will go toward consumer education. That amount will be determined by how much money is refunded to borrowers. |
Patrick Crowley is a MortgageDaily.com feature journalist and blogger, and a reporter, blogger and columnist for The Cincinnati Enquirer. e-mail Patrick at: [email protected]
