In June 2014, “the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau [ordered] GE Capital Retail Bank to pay $225 million in refunds to customers.” The CFPB found that, “638,000 customers were misled about certain add-on products” and “108,000 customers were allegedly discriminated against when the bank excluded them from debt relief offers because they lived in Puerto Rico or asked to receive communications in Spanish. At the time, the case was the largest credit card discrimination settlement yet, according to the Justice Department.”

• “In its latest crackdown on deceptive and illegal credit card practices, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is ordering GE Capital Retail Bank to pay $225 million in refunds to customers. Credit card issuer GE Capital, which changed it name to Synchrony Bank earlier this month, was ordered to pay $56 million to 638,000 customers that the CFPB said were misled about certain add-on products — like debt cancellation services that it said were free when they weren’t, and charging people without their knowledge. But the biggest chunk — $169 million — will be refunded to 108,000 customers who were allegedly discriminated against when the bank excluded them from debt relief offers because they lived in Puerto Rico or asked to receive communications in Spanish. That makes this the largest credit card discrimination settlement yet, according to the Justice Department.” [Blake Ellis, “GE Capital to refund $225 million to customers”, CNN Money, 06/20/14]