Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) sued Comerica Bank for systematically failing its 3.4 million Direct Express cardholders - primarily unbanked Americans receiving federal benefits. The bank deliberately disconnected 24 million customer service calls, impeding cardholders from exercising their rights under the law, charged illegal ATM fees to over 1 million cardholders, and mishandled fraud complaints while providing federal benefits through the Direct Express prepaid debit card program.
The Federal Trade Commission is sending payments totaling nearly $500,000 to consumers who were harmed by home security company Vivint Smart Homes, Inc., which allegedly misused credit reports to help unqualified customers get financing for the company’s products and services.
Yesterday, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB), Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and state financial regulators issued a joint statement to provide covered financial institutions with strategies and examples of effective risk management and other practices to identify, prevent, and respond to elder financial exploitation.
According to the latest financial performance data released today by the National Credit Union Administration, total loans outstanding in federally insured credit unions increased $41 billion, or 2.6 percent, over the year ending in the third quarter of 2024, to $1.63 trillion. Total assets rose by $82 billion, or 3.7 percent, to $2.31 trillion during the same period.
Credit card fraud is a rising concern for American consumers, with nearly 1 in 3 reporting fraudulent charges in the past year. As incidents of fraud increase, so does consumer anxiety, with 37% of individuals expressing heightened worry. A PYMNTS Intelligence report, “Credit Card Fears Can Drive Consumers to Switch Banks,” in collaboration with i2c, reveals insights about how fraud affects consumer behavior, their expectations of banks, and how financial institutions must act to retain customer trust.