The CFPB is forcing Citibank to pay $700,000,000 for adding bogus charges to customers’ credit card bills.  Think about that number:  $700 million dollars that they stole from their own customers.  I bet there is not a single criminal in federal prison today that stole $700 million from anyone,  yet the banksters at Citibank are still not going to jail.

These charges appear to be related to “affinity marketing” scams.   Chase added on reoccurring charges for “AccountCare” and “PrivacyGuard” (With all those billions, you’d think they’d have a keyboard with a space bar.)  The thing is, this is not a new problem. Banks have been doing this, getting in trouble for it, and doing it again and again.  Here’s a link to a post I wrote in my Union blog in 2007 about Chase getting in trouble for products it sold with the evil company TLG GreatFun.   The scam wasn’t new then.  It appears that at least some of the programs that Citibank was selling came from Affinion, the parent company of  Trilegiant (which did business as TLG GreatFun).  Affinion is the 321st largest private company in the United States according to Forbes magazine, with revenues of $1.2 billion.  Earlier this month, the CFPB entered into a multimillion dollar consent agreement with Affinion and another affinity marketing company.


If you have charges on your credit card that you don’t understand, don’t know what they are for, and don’t remember agreeing to, it it is likely that you never really agreed to the charges at all, at least not in a conscious way.  If you have mystery charges on your account, (usually $9.99 to 19.99), contact my office (www.hoferlawindy.com).

The CFPB’s action once again proves that there is a new sheriff in town.  Affinion and its conspirators got away with this scam for years because the Federal Trade Commission took no significant action against Affinion, and the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulated the banks, turned a blind eye to almost everything.  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is now the regulator, and that agency is doing a vastly better job at going after bad behavior.  Most of the time, the CFPB’s enforcement actions come after receiving a number of consumer complaints. So if you see bogus charges on your credit card statements, file a complaint with the CFPB at this web address: http://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/

Here are just some of the tradenames that have been associated with Trilegiant/Affinion.  If you see any of these on your bill – or even anything that kind-of sounds like one of these, you will need to go back to your previous statements and find out when the charges started.  In many cases, if you cause a stink you will get reimbursed completely.

AOL AutoVantage
AOL Credit Alert
AOL Netmarket
AOL Travelers
Advantage
AutoVantage
Buyers Advantage
Citishopper
Clever
Clubhouse
CompleteHome
Credentials Services
Dental Plus Group Plan
Digital ProtectionPlus
Dinner On Us Club
Family FunSaver Club
Great Fun
Great Options
Health Saver
Homeowners Savings Network
Hot-Line
Identity Secure
Just For Me
Macy’s Hot-Line
National Card Registry
Netmarket
OurCompleteHome.com
Pet
Privileges
PrivacyGuard
Sears Discount Travel Club
Shoppers
Advantage
Small
Business Central
Today’s Homeowner Values
Travel ER
Travelers
Advantage