Bank of America agrees to pay $783mln in fines, refunds

PanARMENIAN.Net - Bank of America has agreed to pay $783mln in fines and refunds to settle accusations it misled customers about its credit card services, according to BBC News.

The bank will refund $738mln to affected customers and pay $45mln in penalties to U.S. regulators.

The payout relates to the bank's sales and marketing of its payment and identity theft protection add-on services from 2010 to 2012.

Regulators said nearly three million customers were affected.

The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said in a statement that the bank had been "unfairly billing consumers" for the identity theft protection product, and "using deceptive marketing and sales practices" for the credit protection add-ons.

Bank of America neither admitted nor denied the allegations.

Instead, it said in a statement that it had stopped marketing identity theft protection products in Dec 2011 and credit card debt cancellation products in August 2012.

The settlement comes weeks after Bank of America agreed to pay $9.5bn to settle charges it misled U.S. mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac before the housing crisis in 2008.