Newsroom

February 23, 2016

CFPB orders Citibank to pay $8M over UDAAP, refund $11M

In one of two actions Tuesday, CFPB ordered Citibank to pay almost $5 million in consumer relief and pay a $3 million penalty over abuses inflicted after the bank allegedly sold credit card debt after altering the documented interest rates.

CFPB alleges Citibank gave inflated annual percentage rates in selling almost 130,000 credit card accounts to buyers between 2010 and 2013. CFPB also says Citibank did not promptly forward $1 million in customer payments to the debt buyers. The action taken by the bureau is under the unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices provision of the Dodd-Frank Act.

"Citibank sent inaccurate information to buyers when it sold off credit card debt and it also used law firms that altered court documents," said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. "Today's action provides redress to consumers who were victimized by slipshod practices as part of our ongoing work to fight abuses in the debt collection market."

In the other action, the bureau ordered Citibank to refund consumers $11 million over the bank's use of law firms that allegedly altered affidavits filed in debt collection lawsuits. The action also names two Citibank affiliates, Department Stores National Bank and CitiFinancial Servicing, LLC, and the two debt collection law firms, which are based in New York and New Jersey.

The second CFPB action is an order to comply with a New Jersey state court order to refund money collected from consumers due to the alleged altering of affidavits, as well as the court's order to stop collecting an additional $34 million in debts. CFPB is ordering the two debt collection law firms involved in the case to pay a total of $80,000 in penalties to the bureau's Civil Penalty Fund.