Customers of Bank of America are claiming the bank charges $8.99 a month for identity-theft protection and credit monitoring without authorization. Lead plaintiff Steven Chavez says in his class action lawsuit that BofA hit him with monthly costs for “Privacy Assist” without asking him first, and when he complained, the bank denied any affiliation with the services for credit monitoring and free access to online credit reports. But Chavez insists Privacy Assist is owned by BofA. Other plaintiffs say they have endured bank overdrafts as a result of Privacy Assist charges being applied to their accounts.