Bank of America ‘system’ fined $250 million for overcharging and opening unwanted credit cards.

Bank of America will “pay more than $250 million in restitution and penalties.” The Washington Post reported“Federal regulators found the company systematically overcharged customers, deducted promised bonuses and opened accounts without customers’ consent.”

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau [or CFPB] The bank is made.”Significant additional income“For years, charging customers $35 in overpayments on the same transaction. The bank denied promised money to tens of thousands of credit card customers and saved bonuses. Beginning in 2012, Bank of America employees signed up customers for credit cards without their consent, obtaining unauthorized credit reports to fill out the applications,” the bureau said. .

The director of the office emphasized “These actions are illegal The US CFPB says it will “end these practices across the banking system” that undermine consumer confidence.

of Paste Bank of America said it will now pay more than $100 million to customers, $90 million to the CFPB and another $60 million to the Office of the Comptroller. “Bank of America claims customers denied credit card rewards and bonuses, says consumer bureau

But how widespread is the hit problem?

Hundreds of thousands of customers have been affected over the years, according to the consumer agency. Bank of America is the second-largest U.S. bank, with 68 million residential and small business customers… In surcharges alone, the bank charged customers “tens of millions of dollars” between March 2020 and November 2021, federal regulators found. During that time, the regulator hid Bank of America customers from paying $35 if they didn’t have enough money to cover their bills. If the customer is still short on funds when the merchant resubmits the transaction, the company assesses another $35 penalty… and bankers open credit card accounts without customers’ knowledge in order to meet individual sales goals, according to the CFBB…

[T]In recent years, it has given the banking industry a big black eye. Wells Fargo has arrived A $3.7 billion settlement with federal regulators in December over various violations, including the opening of millions of fake accounts. CFB A fine was imposed. U.S. Bank lost $37.5 million in its own fictitious accounts scandal last summer.

This isn’t Bank of America’s first brush with federal regulators over its handling of customers. CFB ordered The company paid $727 million in illegal credit card fraud in 2014. The company paid $225 million last year for mishandling state unemployment benefits during the pandemic and a separate $10 million civil penalty for illegal garnishments.
“The company neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing in its settlement with the agency…” the article said. But the statement given by the Chairman of the US Senate Banking Committee, Bank of America “He clearly broke the law In another case, Wall Street banks are using Americans’ money to cover their already huge profits…

“This type of abuse is the reason we continue to hold big banks accountable, and it’s why we need the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — to help consumers keep their hard-earned money.”