By Ryan Tracy
WASHINGTON--Federal regulators fined U.S. Bancorp $9 million and
required it return $48 million to customers over "illegal billing
practices" related to the bank's identity-theft products.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau said U.S. Bank customers were unfairly
charged for certain products, including identity theft and
credit-monitoring, whose full benefits they didn't receive.
The customers were signed up without their consent and in many
cases didn't actually receive the promised service, according to
the OCC and the CFPB.
U.S. Bank, in a statement, said "we regret that errors occurred"
and that the problems were related to a vendor, Affinion Group. The
bank terminated its relationship with the vendor when it learned of
the issues, the statement said.
A spokesman for Affinion Group wasn't immediately available for
comment.
Write to Ryan Tracy at ryan.tracy@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires