Close Loophole To Slow Debit Card Class Actions

The Uniform Law Commission wrote this in 1989 to support the inclusion of Article 4A in the Uniform Commercial Code, which was ultimately adopted with little revision in all fifty states. At that time, debit cards were little used, did not play a serious role in the article's creation and, as such, unfortunately, were not included in it.   

Since 1989, the use of debit cards has grown exponentially. In retail transactions, debit cards have eclipsed physical checks as the payment method of choice for individual consumers and merchants alike. Debit cards have also become popular with class action trial lawyers who have made a cottage industry out of suing banks over debit-card- related issues, such as ATM fee notices, overdraft charges and transaction posting.