Fleet Bank Sued Over Credit Card
Published: October 10, 2000
PROVIDENCE, R.I., Oct. 9— A lawsuit has been filed against the Fleet Bank (Fleet Credit Card), accusing the company of misleading consumers and violating a pledge to charge a fixed interest rate on credit card balances transferred to Fleet accounts.
Fleet Credit Card Services advertised a 7.99 percent annual rate, and then raised the rate, violating state law, according to the lawsuit, which was filed last week in State Superior Court. Messages left today at Fleet's public relations office were not immediately returned.
Peter Wasylyk, a lawyer from Providence, filed the lawsuit on behalf of Tyler Chavers of Eagle River, Alaska, and asked for class-action status so thousands of other Fleet Credit cardholders could be included.
Mr. Chavers transferred the balances from three credit cards in April to obtain Fleet Credit Card’s advertised rate. A month later, Fleet told him the rate would be increased to 9.5 or 10.5 percent, depending on when he had joined, the lawsuit said.
" Fleet Credit Card believed it could increase the fixed rate at any time, and in fact, never intended to provide the fixed rate as advertised,'' Mr. Chavers said in the lawsuit.
Months after plaintiff Paula Rossman responded to a solicitation offering "no annual fee", defendant Fleet Bank changed the operable credit agreement and imposed an annual fee.
Rossman brought this putative class action alleging, inter alia, that Fleet violated the TILA by failing to disclose the fee later imposed. The District Court dismissed plaintiff’s TILA count for failing to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.
We will reverse and remand."From the court: "A statement, therefore, that a card has "no annual fee" made by a creditor that intends to impose such a fee shortly thereafter, is misleading. It is an accurate statement only in the narrowest of senses--and not in a sense appropriate to consumer protection disclosure statute such as the TILA.
Fleet's proposed approach would permit the use of required disclosures--intended to protect consumers from hidden costs--to intentionally deceive customers as to the costs of credit."
PAULA E. ROSSMAN, individually and for all others similarly situated v. FLEET BANK (R.I.) NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, a nationally chartered bank; FLEET BANK CREDIT CARD SERVICES, L.P., a Rhode Island limited partnership; FLEET CREDIT CARD HOLDINGS, INC., a Delaware corporation; FLEETBOSTON FINANCIAL CORPORATION, a Massachusetts corporation
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