Citizens Financial to Pay $9 Million to Settle Consumer-Protection Lawsuit

Citizens Financial Group Inc. will pay $9 million and take other remedial measures to settle US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau allegations that the bank failed to adequately address credit-card disputes and fraud claims.

The consumer watchdog alleged in a 2020 lawsuit that the Providence, Rhode Island-based bank violated consumer-protection laws, including the Truth in Lending Act. In addition to paying the $9 million penalty, the bank will remedy how it handles credit-card issues such as the resolution of billing-error notices.

“Federal law provides important rights to credit-card holders when disputing transactions and resolving billing errors,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said Tuesday in a statement announcing the settlement. “As outstanding credit-card debt approaches $1 trillion, the CFPB will be closely watching the conduct of the credit-card industry.”

Citizens Financial, which vowed in 2020 to “vigorously challenge” the CFPB’s lawsuit, continues to disagree with the agency on “these long-resolved issues,” but the bank is “pleased to put this matter behind us,” general counsel Polly Klane said in a statement.

–With assistance from Evan Weinberger.

Photo: A Citizens Financial Group Inc. branch in Boston, Massachusetts. Photographer: Kelvin Ma/Bloomberg