TD Home Equity Line of Credit / Unilateral and Systematic Change to how Interest is calculated for Variable Interest Rates

Recent developments

The Toronto-Dominion Bank (“TD Bank”) raised the interest rates on its home equity lines of credit (“HELOC”) on November 16, 2009. A class action was authorized against TD Bank to contest the legality of this increase and to request compensation for individuals who held these lines of credit. The class action ended when a settlement agreement with TD Bank was approved by the Court on October 17, 2019.

You can review the full settlement agreement and compensation protocol and the the judgment approving the settlement agreement.

The claim period is now over, the class action is completed.

The Case

On October 9, 2012, Ms. Marilena Masella filed a motion seeking authorization to institute a class action against Toronto Dominion Financial Group (“TD”).

Ms. Masella alleges that TD breached its contract with class members in the fall of 2009 when it unilaterally and systematically changed how it calculated the interest owed by borrowers on its Home Equity Lines of Credit with a variable annual interest rate.

The class action seeks compensatory damages resulting from the illegal increase in the interest charged by TD, as well as punitive damages for TD’s violation of the Quebec Consumer Protection Act.

On January 15, 2016, the Court of Appeal of Quebec authorized the class action and named Ms. Masella the representative of the following group:

All persons who signed an agreement for a home equity line of credit (“HELOC”) with TD Bank or one of its subsidiaries, and who, over the course of fall 2009, received a notice of modification of the agreement that gave rise to an adverse change in the percentage of interest that is added to or subtracted from the TD prime rate in order to calculate the variable annual interest rate.