M&T Bank ordered to return 2.9 Million dollars to consumers for deceptive Ads; according to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CPFB)
The CPFB announced it had signed a Consent Order with M&T Bank, based out of Buffalo, New York; for 2.9 million dollars to be returned to consumers. The CPFB stated that M&T Bank lured people to open "free" accounts; that were not free.
In essence, the CPFB said that M&T Bank lured people to open accounts without telling the consumers that if they did not use the account to a certain degree (by depositing and withdrawing a certain amount per month) the accounts would be converted to regular accounts. There was no notice given to the consumers.
Under the regular accounts, the consumers had to maintain a certain balance or were faced with monthly fines.
The CPFB directed M&T Bank to refund 2.9 million dollars to consumers and the CPFB fined M&T Bank $200,000 dollars.
M&T Bank signed the consent order, agreed to the payments and issued a statement stating they complied with the CPFB and that they had adopted to regulatory changes about two-years ago.
