CFPB Settles Suit With American Express, $85M Of Refunds Going To Customers

By Cornelius Nunev


The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has gone on a bit of a tear with cases against credit card companies, nailing Discover and Capital One a few months ago. American Express has joined the ranks, settling a suit with the CFPB and other organizations and agreeing to refund $85 million to customers.

Card corporations dealing with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

The main goal of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is to protect customers from financial services, but that does not just contain making new legislation. In fact, a lot of financial service providers are dealing with lawsuits for breaking regulations associated with other companies.

The first Consumer Financial Protection Bureau targets have surely been credit scar companies. Over $200 million in settlements, mostly cash going to consumers have been made in suits with Discover and Capital One already, according to NBC News.

American Express has just settled a comparable lawsuit, brought by the CFPB, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Company, the Federal Reserve, and, according to CBS, regulators from the state of Utah.

Customers get quick cash

There were a lot of regulations broken by American Express, including discrimination of those over the age of 35, charging late fees over legal limits, violating laws for debt collection and reporting, not reporting billing disputes as mandated by law and making false claims about rewards.

The credit card business is ordered to pay $27.5 million in fines and $85 million back to consumers in a refund.

The brouhaha over late charges, according to CBS, was due to charging late charges depending on a percentage but, according to CNN, subsidiaries American Express Centurian Bank and American Express Bank set the rate in excess of already established limits. American Express Centurian Bank also offered $300 to qualified customers who were approved for an American Express "Blue Sky" card, which some consumers never received.

American Express Centurian Bank also instituted a credit scoring system depending on age, which is contrary to anti-discrimination laws.

Also issue of debt practices

At American Express and its subsidiaries, there were lies being told from 2003 until now, according to CBS. The lie was that consumers could increase their credit ratings if they paid off debts older than 7 years. These debts do not even show up on a credit rating after that period of time.

There are about 250,000 people who will obtain part of the $85 million allocated to concessions. They should, according to NBC News, obtain it in March 2013.




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