Bank of America has been ordered to pay roughly $772 million in refunds to customers and fines to federal regulators to settle allegations that the bank used deceptive marketing and billing practices involving credit card products. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Bank of America ‘illegally charged’ its customers for credit monitoring and credit reporting services that were not received. As part of a consent order with the agency, the bank was ordered to give refunds to more than a million customers who purchased these add-on products for their credit cards. The bank must also pay a $20 million fine to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and $25 million to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
Some of the misleading practices, according to regulators, included the bank’s telemarketers telling customers that the first 30 days of were free when, in fact, customers were charged. The bank also misled customers to believe that they were merely agreeing to receive additional information about the add-on services. But the bank was actually enrolling these consumers in the products during these calls, the consumer protection agency said.
