by Alyssa Andrews
As a young adult in the last semester of college, what happens with my financial life matters a lot. When I open a new checking account or apply for a credit card, I trust the company will do the right thing and treat me with respect. But big banks apparently sometimes cross the line, and that’s what JPMorgan Chase allegedly did when it sold bad credit card debt and illegally signed court documents., according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB),
The CFPB, along with the attorneys general in 47 states and the District of Columbia, found that Chase sold “zombie debts” to third-party debt buyers. And that included accounts already settled, people who didn’t owe money, or where account holders declared bankruptcy.
The CFPB also found that Chase sold debts owed by deceased borrowers and filed over 528,000 misleading debt-collection lawsuits against consumers, using robo-signed and illegally sworn documents to get false judgments for unverified debts.
The order by the CFPB and attorneys general requires Chase to:
- Stop all attempts to collect, enforce in court, or sell consumers’ accounts
- Pay at least $50 million in consumer refunds
- Stop buyers from reselling accounts
- Confirm debts before selling them to buyers
- Notify consumers that their debt was sold.
- Withdraw, dismiss or terminate collections
- Stop robo-signing affidavits
- Verify debts when filing a lawsuit
- Pay $136 million in penalties and payments to the CFPB and states, and a $30 million penalty to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
GOOD NEWS FOR CONSUMERS IF CHASE SOLD YOUR CREDIT CARD INFO
Those affected by the bad practices will get refunds. We don’t know when or how the process will work. But we will continue to follow up.
FIND OUT MORE
A copy of the consent order can be found at: http://content.
