CINCINNATI (WCMH) — A Cincinnati-based bank will pay $15 million to settle a federal investigation, but it could owe even more money on behalf of its customers.
A U.S. District Court judge for the Southern District of Ohio on Tuesday assessed Fifth Third Bank a $15 million civil penalty. The money will be given to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which filed a lawsuit against the bank in 2020.
The initial civil complaint accused Fifth Third Bank of using sales targets and employee incentives to violate multiple consumer protection laws through at least 2016. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said employees at all levels of the bank’s branches were required to meet quotas to sign up customers for new services and products, sometimes as a condition of continued employment.
To meet their sales targets, Fifth Third employees began enrolling account holders in these products without their knowledge, including new deposit accounts, credit cards, online banking services and overdraft protection, according to the CFPB. In some cases, Fifth Third employees also reportedly transferred funds from customers’ existing accounts to new accounts they did not know about.
The company is based in Ohio, but its website says it has operations in 11 states. The CFPB’s lawsuit doesn’t say whether the affected customers were in one state or multiple states, or which states they were in. But it does detail the company’s inaction and allege it was aware of its employees’ behavior.
“Despite knowing since at least 2008 that its employees were opening unauthorized consumer financial products and services, Fifth Third failed to take sufficient steps to properly implement and monitor the program, detect and stop the fraudulent activity, or identify and remedy victimized consumers,” FBI lawyers wrote. “As expected, Fifth Third employees opened deposit accounts in consumers’ names, transferred funds from consumers’ existing accounts to the fraudulently opened new accounts, issued credit cards, enrolled consumers in online banking services, and opened lines of credit on consumers’ accounts without the consumers’ knowledge or consent.”
Fifth Third Bank has neither admitted nor denied the FBI’s allegations, according to final judgment documents in the case. But in addition to the multimillion-dollar civil penalty, the judge ordered the bank to develop a plan to provide relief to all customers harmed by the fraudulently opened accounts, including by refunding “all fees and expenses” incurred by account holders.
Please see the Final Judgment and Order documents in the case below.
