In April 2015, the CFPB ordered Regions Bank to pay a $7.5 million fine for “charging overdraft fees without first getting customers’ permission,” a violation of regulations banning banks “from charging overdraft fees without first obtaining a customer’s consent.” The CFPB ordered the bank to “give full refunds to any remaining affected customers.”

• The CFPB issued a consent order to Regions Bank. [CFPB file no. 2015-CFPB-0009 (Regions Bank), filed 04/28/15]

• The CFPB ordered Regions Bank to pay a $7.5 million fine for “charging overdraft fees without first getting customers’ permission” which is a violation of “federal rules that took effect in 2010 bar banks from charging overdraft fees on debit card purchases or A.T.M. withdrawals without first obtaining a customer’s consent to ”opt in” to the service.”

“Regions allowed customers to link their checking accounts to a savings account or a line of credit. After the link was set up, funds would automatically be transferred to cover a shortage in the customer’s checking account. However, Regions never provided customers with linked accounts the chance to agree to the overdraft service. Instead, the bank paid the transactions, then charged a fee of up to $36.”

Regions Bank had already refunded $49 million in fees to “hundreds of thousands of customers” and was ordered to “give full refunds to any remaining affected customers.” [Ann Carrns, “Regions Bank Fined $7.5 Million for Illegal Overdraft Charges,” The New York Times, 04/28/15]