Credit card companies are facing the music when it comes to tricking customers into purchasing unnecessary credit “extras.”
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ordered that American Express, Discover and Capital One pay millions of customers as a result of the agency cracking down on years of deceptive credit card practices.
The credit card companies have been called to task because customers have been tricked into buying protection services, promised rewards points and illegal over-the-limit fees.
Most cus
tomers should have received their refunds by now, but the banks have until March to issue refunds. Most of the refunds will be credited to the card account, but if the card has since closed, the refunds will be issued by check by mail.American Express customers were promised monetary awards that didn’t exist from its “Blue Sky†program.
The program advertised that customers would receive a $300 bonus, but they didn’t and will be rewarded the money for the misleading information. In total, the company will pay $85 million to 250,000 customers for this and other grievances.Capital One will be ordered to pay $150 million to two million customers for allowing its third-party vendors to pressure, harass and mislead customers into buying additional products and services when they signed up for the card.
A refund may be heading your way, check out CNN Money for the details.