Citi to pay $700M for deceptive credit card marketing - USA TODAY
Citibank and its subsidiaries Tuesday were ordered to pay $700 million in consumer relief for illegal practices related to credit card add-on products and services. A consent order issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said about 7 million consumer accounts were affected between 2003 and 2012 by the bank's deceptive marketing of five debt protection products and additional add-ons that offered... Instead, the monitoring only provided alerts to changes in customer credit files maintained by major credit-reporting firms. Enrolling customers in the programs and charging them for the services even though the customers were ineligible for coverage. "We continue to uncover illegal credit card add-on practices that are costing unknowing consumers millions of dollars," said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. Citibank (C) said it cooperated with investigations by the CFPB and the U. S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and began taking corrective actions to reimburse customers in 2013. "Citi will continue to notify and refund affected... "Affected customers will automatically receive a statement credit or check, and those no longer with Citi who are eligible will be mailed a check. Source: www.usatoday.com
