CFPB Fine Prompts Senators to Demand More Info From US Bank

Several Democratic senators fired off a letter to US Bank CEO Andrew Cecere demanding additional information after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) fined the financial institution (FI) $37.5 million in a customer accounts scandal.

The CFBP said its investigation found evidence that the bank knew employees were opening accounts without customers’ authorization and paid incentives for selling bank products, PYMNTS reported last month. 

The senators want to know if any employees who took part in the scheme are still working at the bank and how data was used when unauthorized accounts were opened. They also want to know how many consumers were affected, how many accounts were opened, what type, the amount of revenue generated, and a state-by-state breakdown. 

The letter was signed by U.S. senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusettes), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nevada), and Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey). 

“It is unacceptable that U.S. Bank provided incentives to and pressured its employees to take advantage of their unique access to a veritable treasure trove of sensitive, personal information to sign up unsuspecting customers for fee-generating financial products and services,” according to the letter. 

The letter maintains that the CFPB’s consent order “tells a problematic story” of the nation’s fifth largest bank incentivizing its employees to increase profits “to the detriment of its own customers.”