CFPB, OCC fine Bank of America $225 M for botching pandemic response to consumers

Today the CFPB and OCC fined Bank of America a combined $225 million for "Botched Disbursement of State Unemployment Benefits at Height of Pandemic." As the release notes, it's not the first time the big bank has been penalized for consumer law violations. We've noted the bank's previous violations, too.

Today the CFPB and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) fined Bank of America a combined $225 million for its “botched disbursement of state unemployment benefits at height of pandemic.” As the release notes, it’s not the first time the nation’s second biggest bank has been penalized for consumer law violations. In 2014, we noted that “CFPB ordered Bank of America to refund $727 million to consumers for deceptive marketing of credit card add-on products…”.

Today, the CFPB said Bank of America “left distressed consumers in the lurch” and, instead of conducting reasonable investigations, used a “faulty fraud filter” then froze the pandemic “unemployment insurance benefits of many people…who were “left on hold for hours every day for weeks trying to talk to someone at the bank.”

The CFPB’s order includes a requirement to refund money “wrongly denied” and also give each consumer a “lump sum consequential harm payment.” 

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