Bank of America is getting fined for charging customers with added fees.
Bank of America (BACXL) -) must pay $150 million in penalties for double charging customers, failing to give reward bonuses on cards, and opening accounts without customer knowledge, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced on Tuesday, July 11.
BoA will have to pay $90 million to its organization and $60 million to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
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“Bank of America wrongfully withheld credit card rewards, double-dipped on fees, and opened accounts without consent,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a statement.
Bank of America, which is the second biggest bank in the country, would charge customers $35 after a declined transaction if the customers did not have enough funds in their account. But the CFPB said that the bank would allow fees to be repeatedly charged for the same transaction.
The CFPB said that BoA would illegally withhold credit card account bonuses like cash back or bonus points which are promised upon signing up.
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Additionally, CFPB said that BoA employees have illegally been applying for and enrolling customers into credit card accounts with their knowledge since 2012.
Prior to these penalties, the CFPB had fined BoA nearly $1 billion in the last decade for illegal credit card practices and in 2014 and for failed state unemployment disbursement during the pandemic in 2022.
Some have taken to Twitter to express their reactions to BoA's penalties.
Aaron Black, a democratic political strategist, said he has a problem with the idea that "nobody is going to jail" for BoA opening unauthorized credit card accounts for customers.
Let this sink in for a minute:
— Aaron Black (@ABlackPolitical) July 11, 2023
Bank of America got caught opening credit card accounts for customers who did not authorize them to open these accounts and nobody is going to jail.
Who else has a problem with this?
Glenn Craven, who said he worked for BoA decades ago due to a similar scandal said he's "utterly unsurprised" by the massive bank's misconduct.
As someone who left BoA decades ago after a different scandal and class action involving fee abuse against customers, I am utterly unsurprised. https://t.co/EehA0MGKj4
— Glenn Craven 🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦🌻 (@GlennCraven) July 11, 2023
