Bank of America Fake Account & Illegal Fee Investigation
The Lyon Firm is investigating recent Bank of America fines related to allegations of illegal junk fees and fake bank accounts. The firm offers free consults to current Bank of America customers.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has ordered Bank of America to pay over $250 million due to allegations of opening fake bank accounts, withholding credit card rewards and illegally charging clients multiple overdraft fees.
This may sound like a familiar story. Well history often repeats itself in the banking world. In the past Bank of America has paid millions in fines for illegal credit card practices. BofA allegedly conducted illegal practices and ordered to pay $727 million several years ago.
More recently, in May 2022, Bank of America was ordered to pay $10 million after federal regulators said the bank unlawfully garnished the bank accounts of thousands of customers.
The CFPB has now ordered Bank of America to pay more than $100 million to customers for a series of violations including misappropriating sensitive personal information to open accounts without customer knowledge, the agency announced.
In the particular scheme highlighted by the bureau, BofA customers who did not have enough funds in their account were charged a $35 fee if the bank declined a transaction according to bank policy. However, an investigation found the bank allowed those fees to be repeatedly charged for the same transaction, churning profits for the company and hobbling those customers banking with BofA.
The CFPB also found that thousands of customers were denied promised promotional offers of cash and points when they signed up for Bank of America credit cards. For several years, BofA employees may have also illegally enrolled consumers in credit card accounts without consumers’ knowledge or authorization. The employees were motivated to act on such brazen behavior by sales-based incentive goals.
Bank of America noted in an email to reporters that the dubious fees in question were eliminated sometime last year. “We voluntarily reduced overdraft fees and eliminated all non-sufficient fund fees in the first half of 2022,” a spokesman said.
Bank of America is not the only bank that has been embroiled in illegal banking schemes. Wells Fargo has also been fined after violating U.S. consumer protection laws. Wells paid $3 billion in 2020 to settle a civil suit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department.
If you or a loved one has been charged excessive fees, been signed up for a credit card without your knowledge, or lost cash or reward points that were never honored, contact The Lyon Firm.