I was wondering why several of my charge cards now come under Synchrony Bank and found this: Justice Department and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Reaches $169 Million Settlement to Resolve Allegations of Credit Card Lending Discrimination by Synchrony Bank Jun 20 14 The Department of Justice and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced a settlement to resolve allegations that GE Capital Retail Bank, known as of this month as Synchrony Bank, engaged in a nationwide pattern or practice of discrimination by excluding Hispanic borrowers from two of its credit card debt-repayment programs. The settlement resolves claims by the department and the CFPB that GE Capital violated the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) by excluding borrowers who indicated that they preferred communications to be in Spanish or had a mailing address in Puerto Rico from two credit card debt-repayment programs. The agreement is a joint fair lending enforcement action by the department and the CFPB and is the federal governments credit card discrimination settlement in history. The settlement provides $169 million in relief to approximately 108,000 borrowers in the form of monetary payments and the reduction, or complete waiver, of borrowers credit card balances. GE Capital itself identified and reported the discrimination to the CFPB, was proactive in taking steps toward providing relief to affected borrowers, and has worked closely with the department and the CFPB to further identify and compensate victims of the discrimination. Specifically, GE Capital has already provided the benefits of the offers or their equivalent value to approximately 84,000 borrowers, totaling $131.8 million in relief. Following the settlement, the bank will provide the remaining $37 million in payments, reductions and waivers to affected borrowers. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Orders GE Capital Retail Bank to Pay $225 Million in Consumer Relief for Deceptive and Discriminatory Credit Card Practices Jun 19 14 The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is ordering GE Capital Retail Bank (GE Capital), now known as Synchrony Bank, to provide an estimated $225 million in relief to consumers harmed by illegal and discriminatory credit card practices. GE Capital must refund $56 million to approximately 638,000 consumers who were subjected to deceptive marketing practices. As part of the joint enforcement action by the CFPB and Department of Justice, GE Capital must also provide an additional $169 million to about 108,000 borrowers excluded from debt relief offers because of their national origin. This order represents the federal governments larger credit card discrimination settlement in history. GE Capital had two different promotions that allowed credit card customers with delinquent accounts to settle their balances by paying off a specific portion of their debt. Statement Credit Offer: Customers with balances greater than $700, a credit score below 670, and whose minimum payment due was more than $150 were offered a credit of between $25 to $100 if they paid off their minimum amount due. This promotion ran from March 2010 to March 2012. Settlement Offer: Customers with balances greater than $200, a credit score within certain thresholds, four or more payments overdue, and no payments in the past 90 days received offers to waive their remaining account balance if they paid between 25% and 55% of what was owed. This promotion ran from January 2009 to March 2012. GE Capital did not extend these offers to any customer who indicated that they preferred to communicate in Spanish or had a mailing address in Puerto Rico, even if the customer met the promotions qualifications. This meant that Hispanic populations were unfairly denied the opportunity to benefit from these promotions. Such discrimination is in direct violation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (EC OA). The ECOA prohibits creditors from discriminating in any aspect of a credit transaction on the basis of characteristics such as race and national origin. In this case, the customers did not receive either offer in any language, including English, and did not know they were being discriminated against. Pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the CFPB has the authority to take action against institutions engaging in unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices. The ECOA authorizes the CFPB and the DOJ to take action against creditors engaging in illegal discrimination. The CFPB is issuing a consent order as an administrative action covering both the deceptive marketing practices and the illegal discrimination. The DOJs settlement on discrimination was filed in the U.S. District Court for District of Utah. The CFPBs order requires GE Capital: End deceptive marketing practices:GE Capital must cease its deceptive marketing practices. GE Capital ended all telephone-based enrollments for all of the add-on products involved in todays action in October 2012. GE Capital is prohibited from marketing or offering these products by telephone until it submits a compliance plan to the Bureau. End illegal discrimination: GE Capital must end all discriminatory credit practices. GE Capital has included qualified customers who prefer to communicate in Spanish and customers with a mailing address in Puerto Rico in the settlement offer since March 2012. GE Capital completely discontinued the statement credit offer in March 2012. Provide $225 million to harmed consumers: GE Capital must refund $56 million to the approximately 638,000 consumers who were affected by its deceptive marketing of the credit card add-on products. GE Capital must also provide $169 million in relief to about 108,000 borrowers excluded from debt relief offers because of their national origin. The $169 million represents the value of the offer that the consumer did not receive plus interest and indirect damages. Conveniently provide consumer relief: Consumers do not need to take action to obtain their relief. If the consumers still have credit cards with GE Capital, they have received or will receive a credit to their accounts or a check. If they no longer have credit cards with GE Capital, they will receive or have received a check in the mail or have charged-off balances reduced by the amount of the relief. If the relief is greater than the consumers existing balance, the consumer will receive a check for the excess. Notify credit reporting agencies of new information: For those consumers who did not receive the debt relief offers, GE Capital will work with credit reporting agencies to ensure that any negative information associated with the consumers GE Capital accounts as a result of these violations will be deleted from their credit history. Forgive debt of accounts that did not receive debt relief offers: For the customers that did not receive debt relief offers because they preferred to communicate in Spanish or had a mailing address in Puerto Rico, if GE Capital had written off or sold their debt, that debt will be forgiven. Pay a $3.5 million penalty: For its deceptive credit card marketing, GE Capital will make a $3.5 million penalty payment to the CFPBs Civil Penalty Fund. With respect to the illegal discrimination, the Bureau is not assessing penalties based on a number of factors, including that the company self-reported the violation, self-initiated remediation for the harm done to affected consumers, and fully cooperated with the Bureaus investigation. GE Capital Retail Bank has Changed its Name to Synchrony Bank Jun 3 14 On June 02, 2014, GE Capital Retail Bank changed its name to Synchrony Bank.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 16:52:43 +0000