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Senate passes Fair Access to Financial Services Act after extended floor debate

2826466 · March 31, 2025
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

The West Virginia Senate passed legislation creating a private cause of action for people who say they were denied banking services for protected characteristics; the bill applies to very large financial institutions and includes caps on damages and a remedy for frivolous suits.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Senate on March 29 passed legislation titled the Fair Access to Financial Services Act that allows individuals to sue very large financial institutions that decline to provide accounts or services for reasons the law bars.

The bill applies only to financial institutions with $100,000,000,000 or more in total assets and creates a private cause of action capped at "actual damages or $10,000, whichever is greater," with treble damages (three times actual damages) if intentional harm is proven, a two-year statute of limitations and a mechanism for…

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