U.S. Bank Lawsuit: The Sham-Accounts CFPB Penalty

What Regulators Found

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that U.S. Bank, one of the country’s largest banks, had for years pressured and incentivized employees to hit aggressive sales goals by cross-selling products. In response, employees illegally accessed customers’ credit reports and sensitive personal information to apply for and open accounts — checking and savings accounts, credit cards and lines of credit — that those customers never requested or authorized. The bureau said the bank had inadequate procedures from 2010 through 2016 to prevent and catch these unauthorized openings.

It is the same sales-pressure pattern seen in other bank scandals: employees squeezed to hit quotas, and customers signed up for things they never wanted.

The Penalty

In July 2022, the CFPB ordered U.S. Bank to pay a $37.5 million penalty and to make harmed customers whole — including refunding fees and costs and addressing any harm to customers’ credit from the unauthorized accounts. The penalty went into the bureau’s civil-penalty fund, which is used to compensate consumers harmed by financial-law violations. The action required the bank to fix the practices that allowed the misconduct.

Much of the customer relief in cases like this is handled by the bank directly, rather than through an individual claims website.

What Customers Should Know

Check your credit reports (you are entitled to free copies) for any account you did not open, and dispute unauthorized accounts — they can affect your credit score. If a bank opened something in your name without consent, you can report it to the CFPB. Because relief is usually provided directly, be wary of anyone charging a fee to “recover” money for you from a bank settlement.