TD Bank will pay almost $100 million to more than 1.4 million customers as part of a settlement for violating several federal regulations with its overdraft protection services.

In announcing the settlement on Thursday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said TD Bank’s overdraft enrollment practices violated the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and Regulation E by charging consumers overdraft fees for ATM and one-time debit card transactions without obtaining their affirmative consent.

The CFPB also said TD Bank violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 by engaging in “deceptive and abusive acts or practices.” The bank engaged in practices prohibited by the Fair Credit Reporting Act as well, the CFPB said.

Under a consent order with the CFPB, TD Bank will pay restitution of approximately $97 million to 1.42 million customers and a civil money penalty of $25 million.

The EFTA and Regulation E violations occurred after new customers opened checking accounts at both TD Bank branches and events held outside of bank branches, according to the CFPB.

When presenting its Debit Card Advance service to new customers, the CFPB said, TD Bank claimed DCA was a free service or benefit or that it was a feature or package with new consumer-checking accounts. But TD Bank charges customers $35 for each overdraft transaction paid through DCA, which is an optional service.

When TD Bank enrolled some consumers in DCA over the phone, TD Bank deceptively described DCA as covering transactions unlikely to be covered by the overdraft service, the CFPB said. The bank also engaged in “abusive acts or practices by materially interfering with consumers’ ability to understand DCA’s terms and conditions.”

In some cases, TD Bank required new customers to sign its overdraft notice with the “enrolled” option pre-checked without mentioning the DCA service, enrolled new customers in DCA without requesting the customer’s oral enrollment decision, and deliberately obscured, or attempted to obscure, the overdraft notice to prevent a new customer’s review of their pre-marked “enrolled” status in DCA.

The CFPB also said TD Bank did not establish and implement reasonable written policies and procedures concerning the accuracy and integrity of consumer-account information furnished to two nationwide specialty consumer reporting agencies, violations of FCRA and Regulation V. The CFPB also found that TD Bank failed to conduct timely investigations of indirect consumer disputes concerning its furnishing to one of those specialty agencies.

As part of the consent order, TD Bank must correct its DCA enrollment practices, stop using pre-marked overdraft notices to obtain a consumer’s affirmative consent to enroll in DCA and adopt policies and procedures to ensure TD Bank’s furnishing practices concerning nationwide specialty consumer reporting agencies comply with all applicable Federal consumer financial laws.

TD Bank Customers to Receive $100M in Overdraft Settlement

by Banker & Tradesman time to read: 2 min
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