“We voluntarily reduced overdraft fees and eliminated all non-sufficient fund fees in the first half of 2022. Additionally, customers had no ability to know when or if a merchant would resubmit a transaction to the bank for payment and therefore could not reasonably avoid the assessment of multiple fees for the same transaction,” the OCC said in its statement.īank of America noted in an email to CNN that those fees were eliminated last year. “The bank’s disclosures did not clearly explain that multiple fees could result from the same transaction. At that point the customer would again be hit with either a $35 insufficient funds fee or $35 overdraft fee. That would happen after a first transaction was declined if a third-party merchant resubmitted the charge to the customer’s account, which may still have had insufficient funds to cover that expense.

The CFPB said that Bank of America “harmed hundreds of thousands of consumers over a period of several years and across multiple product lines and services.”Īmong them, the CFPB and OCC found that the bank, which normally charged customers $35 if their transaction was declined due to insufficient funds, allowed those fees to be “repeatedly charged” for the same transaction, resulting in customers being charged “tens of millions of dollars in fees on resubmitted transactions,” according to the OCC. The CFPB will be putting an end to these practices across the banking system.” “These practices are illegal and undermine customer trust. “Bank of America wrongfully withheld credit card rewards, double-dipped on fees, and opened accounts without consent,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a statement. Some of the charges are reminiscent of the Wells Fargo scandal last decade that involved opening millions of bank accounts without customer authorization. The bank is the second largest in the United States, serving 68 million individuals and small businesses. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency also ordered Bank of America (BAC) to pay more than $100 million to customers and $90 million in penalties. Federal regulators said Tuesday they found that Bank of America harmed customers by double-dipping on fees, withholding credit card rewards and opening fake accounts, all of which are violations of various consumer financial protection laws.Īs a result, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered Bank of America

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