JPMorgan to Pay $125M in Collections Settlement

An exclusive Reuters report has revealed JPMorgan Chase & Co. will pay at least $125 million to settle investigations by federal and state authorities that the bank sought to improperly collect and sell consumer credit card debt. The settlement also includes an estimated $50 million in restitution, according to unnamed sources. 

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 47 states and the District of Columbia are expected to formally announce the settlements later Wednesday. The CFPB did not return calls for comment. 

The nation's largest bank has been accused of relying on robo-signing and other discredited methods of pursuing consumers for debts they may not have owed and for providing inaccurate information to debt buyers. Robo-signing refers to signing documents in mass quantities without reviewing records.

According to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office, the agreement requires Chase to "significantly reform its credit card debt collection practices in areas of declarations, collections litigation, debt sales and debt buying. 

Among other reforms, the agreement requires new safeguards to help ensure debt information is accurate and inaccurate data is corrected, provides additional information to consumers who owe debts, and bars the bank's debt buyers from reselling consumer debts to other purchasers.

In September 2013, the CFPB ordered JPMorgan to refund $310 million to an estimated 2 million customers for illegal credit card practices and "unfair billing practices" - including charging consumers for credit card monitoring services they did not receive. That order came just hours after the bank agreed to pay $910 million in regulatory fines related to the London Whale trading scandal.
 The $310 million did not include additional $80 million in civil money penalties, which included a $60 million civil money penalty from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and a $20 million payment to the CFPB's Civil Penalty Fund. The OCC during that month also issued a consent order against JPMorgan after identifying unsound practices in connection with the bank's sworn document and collections litigation. The order demanded changes, including to debt sales.
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