On September 11, 2024, the CFPB ordered TD Bank to pay a total of $28 million for repeatedly sharing inaccurate and negative information about its customers to consumer reporting companies. According to the CFPB, the information included systemic errors about credit card delinquencies and bankruptcies.
CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said the following in a statement:
“The CFPB’s investigation found that TD Bank illegally threatened the consumer reports of its customers with fraudulent information and then barely lifted a finger to fix it. Rather than treating its customers fairly and following the law, TD Bank’s management clearly cared more about growth and expanding its empire through mergers. Regulators will need to focus major attention on TD Bank to change its course.”
TD Bank is a national bank and is one of many subsidiaries of Toronto-based Toronto-Dominion Bank. It is the tenth-largest commercial bank in the country with more than 1,200 branches. Among the products and services offered by TD Bank are credit cards and deposit accounts. The Bank furnishes information to credit and other consumer reporting companies about its customers related to their credit cards and deposit accounts.
The CFPB’s investigation revealed that TD Bank:
Failed to fix its credit card reporting errors. TD Bank provided incorrect information about its customers' credit card accounts to consumer reporting companies and failed to promptly correct its mistakes. This included inaccurate information about credit card delinquencies and falsely suggesting active accounts that had actually been closed by customers.
Shared fraudulent information with consumer reporting companies. In January 2022, TD Bank found hundreds of thousands of fraudulent deposit account openings. By April 2023, the bank continued to share fraudulent information about these accounts as if it belonged to its customers, including derogatory details, with consumer reporting companies.
Failed to investigate and resolve consumer disputes. TD Bank was found to have inadequate processes for investigating consumer reporting disputes and failed to conduct reasonable and timely investigations, at times not conducting any investigation at all. They also neglected to properly notify consumers after deeming a dispute frivolous or irrelevant.
According to the CFPB, TD Bank violated consumer financial protection laws, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act and its implementing regulation, Regulation V, and the Bank engaged in unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices. TD Bank is ordered to pay $7.76 million in redress to tens of thousands of consumers affected by its unlawful behavior and $20 million to the CFPB’s victims relief fund.
Read the CFPB’s press release here.
The Consent Order can be found here.