CIBC NSF Fee Settlement: 6 Key Facts Before the Oct 19 Hearing

The CIBC NSF fee settlement — a proposed $10 million resolution of a class action over duplicate non-sufficient-funds charges — now has a date. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice will consider whether to approve it on October 19, 2026. Until that hearing takes place, no money moves, which is worth stating plainly given how many posts already describe the payout as though it were arriving.

Published August 4, 2026. General information, not legal advice. Eligibility is determined by the court and class counsel.

What the CIBC NSF fee settlement claim alleged

The case behind the CIBC NSF fee settlement turns on a specific and easily overlooked billing sequence.

A company presents a pre-authorized debit. The account is short, the payment fails, and an NSF fee is charged. The company's system automatically presents the same payment again a few days later. It fails again — and a second fee lands.

The claim argued that charging repeatedly for one failed payment breached CIBC's account contracts and consumer protection legislation. The pleading illustrated it starkly: a customer charged $90 in NSF fees — two charges of $45 — over a single $7.90 transaction that failed twice.

CIBC denies liability. The settlement contains no admission of wrongdoing.

6 key facts about the CIBC NSF fee settlement

1. The amount is $10 million, agreed on June 24, 2026.
2. The class period is September 21, 2020 to May 31, 2024. Fees outside those dates are not covered.
3. The approval hearing is October 19, 2026, at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
4. Payment is automatic. If approved, CIBC deposits refunds directly into affected customers' accounts from its own records — no claim form, no application.
5. Opt-outs are excluded. Anyone who formally opted out of the class action does not receive a payment.
6. The per-person amount has not been published. It depends on how many accounts qualify and how the fund is allocated after fees and administration costs.

Timeline of the CIBC NSF fee settlement

How it compares to the other banks

The CIBC NSF fee settlement is one of five near-identical actions brought by Toronto firm Koskie Minsky LLP against Canada's largest banks. Seeing them together gives a sense of the range.

Per-person outcomes have varied widely — roughly $25 at RBC against about $88 at TD — because the funds, class sizes and class periods differ. CIBC's class period is one of the longest at three years and eight months, which tends to increase the number of eligible accounts and therefore reduce the individual amount.

Why this matters to customers

For anyone who lived through a tight stretch between 2020 and 2024, this is one of the few instances where money flows back without any effort on their part.

The wider context is what makes the sums notable. NSF fees at the Big Six sat between $45 and $48 — a weighted average of about $46.85 — during the entire class period. A $7.90 debit failing twice could therefore cost more than eleven times the payment itself. More than one in three Canadians incurs an NSF fee in a given year.

That is also why federal policy moved. Since March 12, 2026, amendments to the Financial Consumer Protection Framework Regulations cap NSF fees at $10 at federally regulated banks, prohibit more than one NSF fee within two business days on the same account, and bar any fee where the overdraft is under $10. That second rule targets the precise re-presentment sequence at issue in this case.

The litigation refunds the past. The cap constrains the future.

What to do about the CIBC NSF fee settlement before October 19

• Do nothing that costs money. There is no claim form and no fee. Anyone charging you to "file" or "claim" this settlement is running a scam.
• Keep the account open if you can. These settlements pay by direct deposit into an account at the bank; a closed account is the most common reason an eligible person receives nothing.
• Check your address and contact details with CIBC so any notice reaches you.
• Look back at 2020–2024 statements if you want to know whether you were affected — you are looking for two NSF charges within roughly a month for the same biller and amount.
• Contact class counsel, not the branch, with eligibility questions. Koskie Minsky LLP administers these actions.

Key takeaways

• The CIBC NSF fee settlement is $10 million, agreed June 24, 2026, and not yet approved.
• The decisive date for the CIBC NSF fee settlement is October 19, 2026.
• Class period: September 21, 2020 to May 31, 2024.
• Payment would be automatic by direct deposit; no application exists.
• CIBC denies liability.
• Since March 2026, NSF fees are capped at $10, with one fee maximum per two business days.

The bottom line

Nothing about the CIBC NSF fee settlement is settled until a judge says so on October 19. The realistic expectation for eligible customers is a modest automatic deposit some time after that, not a windfall and not a cheque in October.

The more durable change already happened in March, when the federal cap took the cost of a bounced payment from roughly $48 down to $10 — and made the double-charge at the heart of this case unlawful going forward.

Sources: BNN Bloomberg; Global News; Koskie Minsky LLP; Financial Consumer Agency of Canada.