WASHINGTON (CNN) - Federal regulators have said That they found that Bank of America harmed customers by double-dipping on fees, withholding credit card rewards and opening fake accounts, all of which are violations of various consumer financial protection laws.
As a result, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered Bank of America (BAC) to pay more than $100 million to customers and $90 million in penalties. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency also ordered Bank of America (BAC) to pay $60 million in fines.
The bank is the second largest in the United States, serving 68 million individuals and small businesses.
Some of the charges are reminiscent of the Wells Fargo scandal last decade that involved opening millions of bank accounts without customer authorization.
“Bank of America wrongfully withheld credit card rewards, double-dipped on fees, and opened accounts without consent,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a statement. “These practices are illegal and undermine customer trust. The CFPB will be putting an end to these practices across the banking system.”
The CFPB said that Bank of America “harmed hundreds of thousands of consumers over a period of several years and across multiple product lines and services.”
Among them, the CFPB and OCC found that the bank, which normally charged customers $35 if their transaction was declined due to insufficient funds, allowed those fees to be “repeatedly charged” for the same transaction, resulting in customers being charged “tens of millions of dollars in fees on resubmitted transactions,” according to the OCC.