US federal officials fined Bank of America $250 million this week for allegedly harming customers by double-dipping on fees, withholding credit card benefits, and opening bogus accounts. One hundred million dollars of the fines will go directly to individuals who were touched by the bank’s alleged malfeasance. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, one of the two regulatory agencies that reviewed Bank of America’s conduct, some customers have already been reimbursed. Others, on the other hand, may have to wait a while before receiving their share of the money.
How to determine If you owe money from Bank of America?
The CFPB informed CNN that if an account was opened falsely in your name, it would appear on your bank bills or credit report. Both documents should include a list of the bank accounts and credit cards you’ve opened. If you notice one from Bank of America that you don’t recognize and have no record of opening, it could be bogus. According to the CFPB, Bank of America’s alleged violation extends back to at least 2012. Customers could have had an unlawful account open for more than a decade.
According to Harvey Rosenfield, founder of Consumer Watchdog, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group, people are often lousy at retaining or knowing how to access relatively recent bank information. The average client is unlikely to have saved copies of their bank records or credit reports for over a decade, he said. Some of these records may be accessed online, but this becomes risky if you switched from Bank of America to another bank during the last decade or if the client affected has since died, according to Rosenfield.
As a result, he advises phoning Bank of America’s customer care line and asking if you were a victim. The CFPB also told CNN that Bank of America will identify a point of contact for these inquiries later this month, which will be publicized on the CFPB website.
Bank of America must identify harmed consumers, no timeline is given
As part of the settlement agreement reached with the CFPB, Bank of America is also compelled to identify consumers who were harmed. The CFPB, however, did not give a timeline for when the bank will be forced to do so. The nation’s second-largest bank, Bank of America, did not answer BreezyScroll’s request for information on how its clients might find out if they were a victim of its alleged malfeasance.
Some consumers have already been reimbursed
People who reportedly did not get credit card incentive bonuses were reimbursed, according to the CFPB, without stating an amount. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Bank of America will automatically pay about $80.4 million in restitution to customers who were double-charged the $35 non-sufficient funds or overdraft penalties since September 2018. The bank will either deposit monies into their accounts or mail cheques.
When will you receive the money?
The CFPB did not specify when all affected customers or former customers will be paid. So it might be a while. However, the CFPB stated that it will monitor the bank’s progress and would require audits and other documentation from Bank of America to demonstrate that the needed money was paid out.