Chase Bank USA, N.A. and Chase Bankcard Services Inc. will pay $136 million and significantly reform its credit card debt collection practices through a joint state-federal settlement, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today. Massachusetts will receive more than $2.8 million from the agreement.

Chase will pay $106 million to the 47 participating states and the District of Columbia, and $30 million to the CFPB. Today’s agreement also ensures that Chase will fulfill its obligation to provide $50 million in consumer restitution by July 1, 2016, as provided under a separate 2013 agreement with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Chase estimates that so far it has provided $325,000 in restitution to 275 Massachusetts consumers through the separate settlement.

The agreement requires Chase to cease all collection efforts on more than 528,000 consumers, including an estimated 9,000 in Massachusetts. Chase will notify affected borrowers of the required changes and will request all three major credit reporting agencies to not report any judgments obtained relating to these accounts.

Offenses uncovered by the investigation include attempting to collect debts from and seeking judgments against consumers for accounts that did not belong to the consumers, selling certain accounts to debt buyers that contained inaccurate information, using false and deceptive affidavits that were prepared without following required procedures and making calculation errors when filing debt collection lawsuits that sometimes resulted in judgments against consumers for incorrect amounts.

Chase Bank To Pay $136M, Reform Debt Collection Practices

by Banker & Tradesman time to read: 1 min
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