U.S. Regulators fined credit card company American Express $27.5 million on Monday. Regulators also ordered AmEx to refund $85 million to consumers for deceiving and overcharging card users.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said AmEx violated consumer protections "at all stages of the game--from the moment a consumer shopped for a card to the moment the consumer got a phone call about long overdue debt."
The Bureau found American Express charged illegal late fees, misled cardholders about benefits they'd receive and discriminated against applicants due to their age in violation of fair lending laws. The Bureau required Capital One to refund $140 million to consumers in July for similar reasons.
Consumers promised $300 for signing up for a Blue Sky Credit Card will receive the $300.
Customers who paid a late fee levied illegally will be repaid, with interest.
Consumers who paid off old debt in response to deceptive promises to improve credit scores and report payment to credit bureaus will be refunded the money they paid plus interest.
Customers who were promised debt forgiveness but were denied American Express cards because the debt wasn't really forgiven will be paid $100 and be given a pre-approved offer for a new card. If the consumer already paid the waived or forgiven amount in order to get a new card, they will be refunded that amount plus interest.
Consumers are not required to take any action to receive their credit or check.
The investigation arose after a routine bank examination in February of 2011 by the Utah Department of Financial Institutions and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The regulators first reviewed American Express Centurion Bank, a subsidiary to American Express and a state-charted industrial bank.
"Several American Express companies violated consumer protection laws and those laws were violated at all stages of the game - from the moment a consumer shopped for a card to the moment the consumer got a phone call about long overdue debt," said Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in a statement.
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