The CFPB has ordered MasterCard & UniCard to pay $10 million to users of RushCard. Users were left stranded in October of 2015 due to preventable technological breakdowns and were unable to access the money on their cards without customer support. In addition they need to pay a $3 million civil penalty to the CFPB (this goes towards their Civil Penalty Fund).
If you were affected by the RushCard downtime you are not required to do anything to get your share of the $10 million. Originally the RushCard downtime occurred when they switched payment processors to MasterCard. Some interesting states from the CFPB:
- They received 800 complaints regarding this issue
- Delayed processing direct deposits for more than 45,000 consumers
- Did not process/improperly returned deposits of 2,000 consumers
- 1,110 consumers were incorrectly suspended
Always nice to see consumers getting restitution in cases like this and it’s one of the reasons that I love CFPB (they are a lot more pro-active than something like a class action).
Hooray for the CFPB!
We little people out here really need the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It’s the place I turn to when I have a problem with a bank (like I did with Wells Fargo) or a credit card company.
There literally is nobody else out there to help, other than an attorney, who needs to be paid!
I SOOOO agree. I hope the CFPB doesn’t get dissolved. Very concerned about this because the CFPB has personally helped me a lot. The Wells Fargo situation is one example of how great of a champion they are for consumers.
The CFPB is just another government shakedown organization. Notice how they always get their pound of flesh with these so-called enforcement actions. This government agency has far too much power and lacks accountability. Unlike most federal agencies, it is not subject to Congressional appropriations despite being funded by the Federal Reserve. Financial institutions have been regulated for decades by agencies like the FDIC, the OCC and the NCUA. There was no need for another regulator.
FDIC, OCC, NCUA have no power to bring action such as the one above. In circumstances like this, who should protect consumers? I assume you do think that consumers should be able to access funds held by financial institutions?