Truist Bank to pay $240M to customers hit with illegal ATM fees

Some former SunTrust customers hit with illegal ATM fees may finally be getting some of that money back. Truist Bank, which was created after SunTrust and BB&T merged, has agreed to pay up to $240 million to settle a long-running class-action lawsuit over certain overdraft fees charged on ATM and debit-card transactions. The bank did not admit wrongdoing.

And if you are one of the people covered by the settlement, your payout could be anywhere from $5 to $1,000. Here is all you need to know about the case.

This lawsuit has been sitting in the background since 2010

The case, Bickerstaff v. SunTrust Bank, dates back to 2010. The plaintiffs argued that certain overdraft fees charged by SunTrust effectively amounted to interest and violated Georgia's usury laws. They also alleged that the bank failed to refund qualifying fees. 

Note that SunTrust has denied the allegations and maintains that its overdraft fees weren't illegal interest.

Rather than keep fighting the case through more rounds of litigation, Truist agreed in January 2026 to contribute up to $240 million to settle it, without admitting liability or wrongdoing. A Georgia court granted final approval of the settlement on May 26.

Who can claim the money

If you're thinking, “Wait, I had a Truist account last year and got hit with an overdraft fee…” Unfortunately, this isn't your settlement. We're talking about SunTrust-era transactions from roughly 12 to 20 years ago.

You may qualify for the settlement if you were a Georgia resident during the specific period required by the settlement and had at least one SunTrust Bank account that wasn't closed before June 1, 2010. You must have incurred at least one overdraft of $500 or less caused by an ATM or debit-card transaction between July 12, 2006, and April 15, 2014. You must have paid an overdraft fee as a result. If you received a refund for that fee, you can’t get a share of this settlement.

Your payout depends on how much you paid

Eligible customers won't all get the same amount. The settlement says payments will be based on the qualifying overdraft fees each class member paid, with the final amount affected by the number of valid claims submitted.

The advertised range is $5 to $1,000, but don't start mentally spending that $1,000 yet. The settlement fund has other expenses to cover, including attorneys' fees, administration costs, and a $200,000 incentive payment awarded to the class representative, before the remaining money is distributed among qualifying claimants.

Yes, there's a deadline

If you are eligible, you have until September 14, 2026, to submit a claim. The settlement administrator says claim forms were mailed and emailed to eligible class members beginning July 14. Claims can be submitted online or by mail.

Convinced you qualify? Use the official settlement website rather than clicking a random social-media post promising to "check your eligibility."

Sources: The U.S. Sun, SunTrust Overdraft Class Action