Bank of America engaged in deceptive practices that damaged hundreds of its customers in recent years

July 12, 2023: On Tuesday, Bank of America engaged in deceptive practices that hurt hundreds of thousands of its customers in recent years, the Consumer fiscal Protection Bureau said.

The bank charged multiple $35 overdraft expenses for the same transaction, failed to appropriately issue rewards to credit card users, and marked up customers for card accounts without their consent, the CFPB said in a statement.

Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America was ordered to spend $150 million in penalties to the CFPB and another regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. It also has to pay about $80.4 million to consumers who lived unfairly charged bogus fees, on top of the $23 million it already delivered to customers who were improperly denied card awards.

“These procedures are illegal and undermine customer trust,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in the disclaimer. “The CFPB will be putting an end to these practices across the banking system.”

Bank of America spokesman Bill Halldin said in a response the lender “voluntarily reduced overdraft fees and eliminated all non-sufficient fund fees in the first half of 2022,” resulting in a 90% drop in revenue from those payments.

Tuesday’s report is the latest sign that some practices exposed by the Wells Fargo affected accounts scandal in 2016 weren’t confined to that bank.

Regulators punished Wells Fargo for a sales culture that created 3.5 million fake accounts. But different lenders have had similar lapses, including U.S. Bank, which produced a $37.5 million fine last year for putting clients into unauthorized accounts.