Feds order Bank of America to pay $250 million for opening fake accounts and other allegations

CHARLOTTE — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is ordering Bank of America to pay consumers more than $100 million and the government $150 million.

The CFPB says the bank broke the law in three ways:

1. The CFPB says the bank charged some customers penalties twice for not having enough money in their accounts.

2. The CFPB claims the bank promised cash and bonus points to tens of thousands of people who signed up for Bank of America credit cards but didn’t deliver.

3. The CFPB accuses the bank of using people’s personal information to open accounts without their permission. The agency says consumers ended up with fees, blemishes on their credit reports, and headaches undoing the damage.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says this is not the first time the feds have taken action against Bank of America.

In 2014, they ordered the bank to pay $727 million for unlawful credit card practices.

Last year, they ordered Bank of America to pay $10 million over illegal garnishments.

That same year, they ordered the bank to pay more than $225 million for “botched disbursement of state unemployment benefits at the height” of the pandemic.

Action 9′s Jason Stoogenke asked Bank of America for a statement. It responded quickly, but the statement appeared to be about an entirely different issue, so he asked for another one. The bank did not respond in time for this report.

If you qualify for the money, investigators know who you are, so you don’t have to do anything. Stoogenke is still trying to find out when people will receive payment.

Bank of America isn’t alone. The CFPB ordered Wells Fargo to pay more than $2 billion for the company’s bank account, car loan, and mortgage scandals in recent years.

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