Minneapolis-based Bank of America, which has more than $559 billion in assets, pressured employees to meet sales goals based on their job requirements and gave them incentives to sell banking products, the regulator said. To achieve those goals, the investigation found that bank employees could illegally access customers’ credit reports and personal information to open accounts without permission.
The CFBP announced Thursday that it has fined Bank of America $37.5 million after a five-year investigation.
“For more than a decade, US Bank has known that its employees misused consumer information to create fake accounts to take advantage of its customers,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a press release.
U.S. Bank said in a statement to CNN Business that since 2016, it has “made process and regulatory improvements” to the sales process. Employees now receive incentives only for accounts where the customer uses the service.
U.S. Bank said in a statement on Saturday: It has to do with old sales practices involving small percentage accounts since 2010,” he said. “We are glad to put this matter behind us.”
US Bank has more than 2,800 branches throughout the United States.
CFBP said its investigation found evidence that the bank knew. That employees were opening accounts without customers’ consent, and that they had no measures in place to prevent and identify them. The agency added that the bank’s sales campaigns and compensation programs rewarded employees for selling bank products.
Supervisors Employees opened deposit accounts, credit cards and revolving lines of credit. High interest rates and expensive fees passed on to the customer.
“US Bank’s actions have harmed its customers with unwanted accounts, a negative impact on their credit profile, and a loss of control over their personal identification information,” CFBP said, adding that customers were forced to close unauthorized accounts. Search for names and refunds themselves.
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