A federal judge has given final certification to a $23.5 million class settlement with HSBC in a case in which the plaintiffs alleged that the bank acted deceptively in administering its “debt cancellation” and “debt suspension” plans.
Over the objections from three states’ attorneys general, U.S. District Senior Judge Berle Schiller of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania approved the settlement, finding nearly all of the factors that courts are required to consider weighed in favor of the settlement. The attorneys general for Hawaii, Mississippi and West Virginia aren’t members of the class, so they don’t have standing to object, Schiller said.
