Regions Bank Comments on Settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
28 Settembre 2022 - 5:11PM
Business Wire
Through long-term service enhancements, a robust financial
wellness program, and more, Regions remains committed to helping
customers reach their financial goals.
Regions Bank today commented on a settlement announced by the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on Sept. 28 regarding
one type of overdraft fee the bank stopped charging over a year
ago.
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Regions Bank’s corporate headquarters in
Birmingham, Ala. (Photo: Business Wire)
As part of the settlement, Regions will pay a $50 million civil
monetary penalty and provide customer redress of approximately $141
million; the financial impact of the settlement will be reflected
in the company’s results for the third quarter of 2022.
Although Regions Bank disagrees with the CFPB’s
characterizations, the bank cooperated with the investigation and
is pleased to move forward. Agreeing to the settlement reflects
Regions’ desire to focus its attention on continuing to support
customers through a wide range of account enhancements that have
already lowered fees for many customers. With more work planned,
Regions will continue to build on these customer-focused
enhancements.
In 2019, Regions began developing a series of changes to its
overdraft process that ultimately led to reduced fees and benefited
consumers, including through the elimination of the type of
overdraft fee that is addressed in the CFPB settlement. The fee
addressed in the settlement impacted a small percentage of
customers. The broader series of enhancements made by Regions were
designed to support the bank’s broad customer base. Further, the
changes resulted in declines of fee-related revenue. The changes
Regions made also included features designed to give customers more
tools for managing their daily cash flow and avoiding various types
of fees.
Regions Bank Chief Legal Officer Tara Plimpton commented on the
settlement with the CFPB, along with steps the bank has taken in
recent years to further enhance its services:
“Regions Bank has always been committed to
delivering financial services our customers need, want, choose, and
value, and our commitment remains strong. We are pleased to resolve
this matter and look forward to building further on our commitment
to help customers reach their financial goals,” Plimpton said.
“The CFPB settlement involves one type of
overdraft fee that was previously charged when there was sufficient
money in an account when a debit card or ATM transaction was
authorized – but not when the transaction actually posted to the
account, due to other transactions,” Plimpton explained. “Over a
year ago, Regions stopped charging this particular overdraft fee.
We took this action as part of a broader series of enhancements.
These enhancements also include updating the bank’s posting order
and transaction processing to give customers a clearer view of the
money they have available for making purchases while avoiding fees.
Regions took additional steps this year to even further reduce
overdraft charges while eliminating other fees.”
Plimpton added, “Helping our customers build
financial wellness is a top priority for Regions Bank. That is
demonstrated through our enhanced services as well as our
year-round commitment to providing free financial education and
customized financial plans for consumers.”
Additional Details:
Regions’ commitment to customers includes a series of steps
taken in recent years to help customers build their savings,
successfully manage their finances, and avoid various fees. Among
examples:
- In early 2022, Regions announced several customer-focused
changes, including:
- The elimination of overdraft protection transfer fees.
- The elimination of non-sufficient funds fees.
- A further reduction in the bank’s caps on overdraft fees.
- The launch of an early direct deposit feature making consumers’
paychecks available up to two days early.
- The launch of a low-cost line of credit to help cover
short-term financial needs.
- These changes were implemented during the first three quarters
of 2022 and are now all in effect.
- Earlier, Regions unveiled a series of posting order and
processing enhancements that took effect in 2021. These changes are
detailed at this link and included moving to more of a real-time
order for processing debits, payments, transfers, and withdrawals.
This gives customers a more current view of the money they have
available for covering purchases or payments – or adding to their
long-term savings.
- Regions also updated its CheckCard transaction processing and
previously changed how checks are processed on personal accounts to
show pending transactions sooner.
- In addition, Regions improved account alerts to make it easier
for customers to be aware of transactions and balances. Customers
can set customized alerts, such as deposit and withdrawal alerts,
to keep up with their transactions and balances.
Building Financial
Wellness:
Beyond account enhancements, the bank offers Regions Next Step®,
a robust, year-round program that connects people with free
financial education. This extends beyond in-person discussions and
includes a consistently updated online library of financial
wellness materials for a variety of age groups. The materials are
available to anyone, regardless of whether they bank with Regions.
Consider these financial wellness results from 2021 alone:
- Company-wide, Regions Next Step supported 124,000 financial
wellness workshops covering a variety of topics.
- Approximately 1.4 million people received financial education
from Regions.
- There were 2.4 million page views of Regions’ digital financial
education resources.
Financial wellness is also a key component of Regions’ Community
Engagement strategy. In cities large and small, Regions and its
community partners are taking clear action to help people grow
their savings, improve their credit scores, achieve homeownership,
strengthen their small businesses, and more.
An Ongoing Focus:
Given the importance of financial wellness to Regions Bank and
the communities served by the company, Regions will continue to
explore a variety of avenues toward reaching consumers and
businesses with effective services, insights, and solutions that
help them reach their goals. This is reflected in how Regions’
bankers meet with clients one-on-one to develop customized
financial roadmaps toward success. It is reflected in Regions’ work
with nonprofits and community partners. And it will remain at the
core of how Regions serves and supports its communities in the
years to come.
About Regions Financial Corporation
Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF), with $161 billion in
assets, is a member of the S&P 500 Index and is one of the
nation’s largest full-service providers of consumer and commercial
banking, wealth management, and mortgage products and services.
Regions serves customers across the South, Midwest and Texas, and
through its subsidiary, Regions Bank, operates approximately 1,300
banking offices and more than 2,000 ATMs. Regions Bank is an Equal
Housing Lender and Member FDIC. Additional information about
Regions and its full line of products and services can be found at
www.regions.com.
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Jeremy D. King Regions Bank 205-264-4551
Regions News Online: regions.doingmoretoday.com Regions News on
Twitter: @RegionsNews
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