WASHINGTON—The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has fined U.S. Bank nearly $21 million for cutting off access to unemployment insurance benefits during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency imposed an additional $15 million penalty on the bank over the same practices. ‘
The fifth-largest commercial bank in the country, U.S. Bank administered prepaid debit cards to distribute unemployment insurance benefits through its ReliaCard program.
But starting in the summer of 2020, when unemployment rose close to 15%, the bank froze tens of thousands of accounts due to suspected fraud. It then failed to provide a reliable method for consumers with frozen cards to regain access to their benefit money, the CFPB said.
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