Bank of America agrees to pay $783mln in fines, refundsApril 10, 2014 - 15:54 AMT 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. Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | Ucom equips four bus stops in Ijevan with free Wi-Fi Ucom now provides free Wi-Fi coverage in smart bus stops in four communities of Ijevan. Armenians stage more campaigns against territorial concessions to Azerbaijan Protesters blocked more roads across Armenia on Friday, April 26 in continuing attempts to scuttle territorial concessions to Azerbaijan. Czech-Armenian military cooperation discussed in Yerevan A delegation led by the Director General for the Industrial Cooperation Division of the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic visited Armenia. U.S. welcomes efforts to define Armenia-Azerbaijan border The United States welcomes efforts to define the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, says Vedant Patel. |