Texas residents who have ever held a Citibank credit card account may be getting a check in the mail or a statement credit on their account. On July 21, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that Citibank had agreed to reimburse customers who suffered financial losses as a result of deceptive credit card debt practices.Citibank will pay about 8.8 million of their current or former customers a total of $700 million. The credit card company will also have to pay an additional $70 million in fines. According to Citibank, the products that led to the allegations of deceptive practices have already been discontinued, and money was put aside for reimbursing consumers who were negatively impacted by the financial products.The CFPB says that consumers were falsely led to believe that add-on products such as credit monitoring and debt protection were free for the first 30 days. Some consumers never received the products that they had signed up for. According to a statement from the director of the CFPB, deceptive credit card add-on practices like Citibank's cost consumers millions of dollars, and the agency continues to uncover similar practices by other financial institutions.Many people who are overwhelmed by credit card debt have been unknowing victims of unlawful credit card practices. If a relatively small credit card bill has grown significantly over a short period of time, the credit card account holder may want to speak with an attorney. After investigating the credit card account, an attorney may be able to uncover unlawful practices and help the account holder to have the debt erased.To learn more about debt or bankruptcy in Houston, contact Guzman Law Firm or schedule a consultation today.
