Plaid might owe you money if you use any of these banking or financial apps

By Connie Lin

January 21, 2022

Plaid is ubiquitous—and not just in winter.

We’re talking about the fintech—not a shirt pattern—and the Silicon Valley company recently settled a class action suit accusing it of collecting excessive data from users. As a result, it will pay $58 million to all those consumers who have linked a bank account to any of Plaid’s 5,500-plus client apps, which include popular services like American Express, Venmo, Robinhood, Coinbase, and Betterment.

Plaid, a middleman connecting bank accounts to other fintech services, says it’s been used by tens of millions in North America.

According to the settlement website, Plaid allegedly obtained “more financial data than was needed” and set up log-in pages that deceptively mimicked those of the user’s own bank account, but fed the credentials directly to itself. For its part, Plaid has denied any wrongdoing and argued it was transparent about its practices.

It agreed to the $58 million deal in August, which also required it to change some business practices. Its lead counsel said the lawsuit’s claims “go back to the earliest days of the company—as such, the underlying claims and challenged conduct do not reflect today’s Plaid.”

For those wondering if they’re eligible for a claim, the settlement website offers a searchable list of Plaid’s clients (which also include Acorns, Chime, SoFi, and Upstart, to name a few more). Full terms and filing deadlines are found here.

If you want to cash in, you must do so in the next three months—although given the size of the potential claimant pool, you could expect another Equifax-like frenzy in which your payout becomes a couple of dollars, if anything.

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