Several Democratic senators fired off a letter to U.S. Bank CEO Andrew Cecere demanding additional information after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) fined the financial institution (FI) $37.5 million in a customer accounts scandal.
The letter also asks that U.S. Bank brief Congressional staff on the matter and respond to a number of queries no later than Sept. 6. The CFPB investigation spanned five years and found US Bank had violated a number of laws by illegally accessing consumer credit reports and opening accounts without people’s permission.
See also: CFPB Slaps U.S. Bank With $37.5M Fine Over Unauthorized Accounts
The CFBP said its investigation found evidence that the bank knew employees were opening accounts without customers’ authorization and paid incentives for selling bank products, PYMNTS reported last month.
The senators want to know if any employees who took part in the scheme are still working at the bank and how data was used when unauthorized accounts were opened. They also want to know how many consumers were affected, how many accounts were opened, what type, the amount of revenue generated, and a state-by-state breakdown.
The letter was signed by U.S. senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusettes), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nevada), and Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey).
Read more: Senators to CFPB: Use Authority to Protect Consumers From P2P Payment Scams
“It is unacceptable that U.S. Bank provided incentives to and pressured its employees to take advantage of their unique access to a veritable treasure trove of sensitive, personal information to sign up unsuspecting customers for fee-generating financial products and services,” according to the letter.
The letter maintains that the CFPB’s consent order “tells a problematic story” of the nation’s fifth largest bank incentivizing its employees to increase profits “to the detriment of its own customers.”
The senators point to similar incidents with Wells Fargo, where a $3 billion fine was levied by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a $100 million fine handed down by the CFPB, a $35 million levy from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and a $50 million fine by the City and County of Los Angeles.
“Troublingly, this is the second time in less than a decade where the federal government has sought accountability and redress by a major bank for perpetuating this practice,” the senators said in the letter.
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