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All About PNC Lawsuits

Learn what PNC lawsuits are out there, and how to take action…

PNC has millions of customers in the United States.

While some may know the bank as the namesake of Pittsburgh’s baseball stadium, its reputation isn’t entirely favorable.

Like most big banks, PNC has been the target of its share of legal actions. As a customer, some of them might be relevant to your own issues.

If you’re thinking about your legal options vs. PNC, here are some things to know about PNC and lawsuits.

1

ARE LAWSUITS ALLOWED AGAINST PNC?

It’s likely your PNC contract says you can’t sue PNC in any court except small claims court, thanks to an arbitration clause.

Because suing through cmall claims court can be time consuming and complicated, we suggest consumer arbitration as a better solution.

2

WHAT IS A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT? CAN I FILE A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST PNC?

Class action lawsuits are designed to bring together a group of individuals with the same complaint.

However, if you see an arbitration clause in your contract, you may not be able to file or join an existing class action lawsuit.

Sometimes you’ll see lawsuits against banks that are brought by government agencies or other financial institutions, which unfortunately may have more legal options available than what the average consumer enjoys.

3

AS A PNC BANK CUSTOMER, WHAT ARE MY OPTIONS FOR A LAWSUIT?

One option you have is to sue PNC in small claims court. If your claim qualifies for small claims court, you will be asked to attend a court hearing and pay legal fees to make your case.

You also can do everything from your home. Consumer arbitration is the process laid out by PNC terms of service contract. It lets you argue your case before an independent arbitrator who can force PNC Bank to fix the problem and compensate you. At FairShake, help make this process easy and convenient.

4

TOP 5 PNC BANK LAWSUITS:

PNC Bank Lawsuit over Unnoticed Ponzi Scheme 

This 2016 lawsuit reported by the Dayton Daily News shows just how much deception PNC has been accused of in the past. The lawsuit involved the bank completely missing a Ponzi scheme that was happening under their noses, and affecting other investors:

DAYTON — A family of victims of William Apostelos’ alleged Ponzi scheme filed a federal lawsuit against PNC Bank, stating that it missed red flags that Apostelos used his accounts in a suspicious manner.

The class action lawsuit filed by Dr. Rafael M. Cruz, Dr. Gloria Cruz and Dr. Rafael F. Cruz in Dayton’s U.S. District Court seeks at least $30 million in damages.The suit involving Ohio’s Securities Act ultimately could include 100 to 300 plaintiffs and that the Cruz family lost “north of $5 million” in the scheme, according to their attorney.

[…]

The suit lists 18 items of information PNC had about Apostelos’ businesses. Those included multiple business and personal accounts being opened in a short period of time out of the same office, millions of dollars being transferred to related accounts for no apparent legitimate reason, payments being made in implausible whole-dollar amounts and multiple cash withdrawals in amounts just under what would trigger mandatory reporting requirements. 

PNC Bank Lawsuit for Unjust Mortgage Fees

Sometimes, big banks like PNC have been known to unfairly penalize customers that fall behind on their mortgage, by charging them unreasonably high fees. This case, shown by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, shows one such class action from 2017:

Pittsburgh-based PNC Bank has been hit with a lawsuit accusing its mortgage servicing unit of unfair and deceptive practices involving delinquent loans.

The suit, filed in federal court in Pittsburgh last week, contends PNC employs a scheme to maximize fees when borrowers fall behind in their mortgage payments.

Specifically, the suit claims PNC repeatedly charges delinquent mortgage customers for “unreasonable and inappropriate” drive-by property inspections.

The suit, which seeks class-action status on behalf of “hundreds of thousands or millions of borrowers,” was filed by Rosemary Marsh of Bremerton, Wash.

According to the complaint, Ms. Marsh was charged for six inspections, at $12 each, over a span of 17 months after she fell behind on her mortgage in 2013.

[…]

In Ms. Marsh’s case, the bank ordered and assessed inspection fees even after verifying she was occupying the home, and after she had resumed making monthly payments on her loan, according to the suit.

PNC Bank Lawsuit over Racial Profiling

In other occasions, PNC Bank is held responsible for the misconduct of their employees, like in this incident of racial profiling filed this year, as per the Grio:

Tatiana Denson thought carefully about what she would wear the morning she walked into PNC Bank in Tampa, FL last August to meet with a bank manager. Sporting a skirt and a collared shirt, Denson purposefully pulled her hair back into a ponytail.

[…]

“He just kept doing everything to discredit the presentation of my business,” said Denson. “I already know again the prejudice that exists, but it seemed like I wasn’t good enough to open a business checking account when I had everything I needed?“

After the manager began to ask what “kind of people” Denson’s talent agency managed and what genre of music they would explore, she expressed her dissatisfaction and requested to speak with a different representative.

[…]

Rodal is using the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1866, Section 1981, meant to ensure citizens of African descent have “the same right that a white citizen has to make and enforce contracts” and prohibits discrimination based on race. It’s considered by experts to be America’s first civil rights law to provide equal protection under the law for Black people.

PNC Bank Lawsuit after Aiding in Fraud Scheme

The South Florida Sun Sentinel has this 2019 story of a PNC Bank lawsuit involving the bank aiding a scammer to carry out his debt-relief fraud scheme worth $85 million.

PNC Bank helped an accused scammer carry out “numerous suspicious and unlawful activities” connected to a Pompano Beach-based debt relief fraud scheme that extracted $85 million from victims, according to a federal lawsuit filed this week.

The bank allowed Jeremy Lee Marcus, accused by the Federal Trade Commission in May 2017 of masterminding the operation, to kite checks, defraud customers, use accounts that were chronically overdrawn, and send excessive numbers of wire transfers, says the suit by Jonathan E. Perlman, court appointed receiver in the FTC case.

[…]

Marcus’ relationship with PNC Bank began in early 2014, when he launched the debt relief business, the suit states. That July, bank officials grew suspicious that Marcus was engaging in “fraud, money laundering or something similar,” and shut down Marcus’ accounts, the suit states.

PNC Bank Lawsuit about Improper Overtime Pay

This 2017 PNC lawsuit comes to us from TribLive, and details an instance where the bank improperly calculated employees’ overtime pay, and discouraged them from reporting overtime hours.

PNC has agreed to pay $16 million to settle a federal overtime lawsuit filed by current and former mortgage loan officers, according to court documents.

U.S. District Judge Arthur Schwab approved the class-action settlement Tuesday.

The settlement covers 3,431 people who worked for the bank nationwide since Aug. 7, 2012. It also covers mortgage loan officers who worked for PNC in California since Aug. 7, 2011, and in New York since April 4, 2011, according to court documents.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs couldn’t be reached for comment. PNC declined to comment.

The plaintiffs claimed the company discouraged them from reporting overtime and improperly calculated their pay when they turned in overtime. PNC denies liability in the settlement but agreed to issue a new overtime policy for mortgage loan officers, according to court documents.








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