Bank of America raked in at least $80 million by repeatedly charging some customers a $35 fee, regulators say

• Bank of America made at least $80 million by repeatedly charging customers a $35 fee, the CFPB said.
• The bank would sometimes push the fee multiple times on the same transaction, per the CFPB.
• It's been ordered to pay a total $250 million in penalties over multiple allegations revealed Tuesday.

For nearly four years, Bank of America generated millions in revenue by charging customers a $35 fee multiple times on declined transactions, regulators said on Tuesday.

The bank would issue the $35 fee when customers held insufficient funds in their accounts, and charged them again whenever a selling merchant tried to re-push the transaction, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau said in a statement.

"The CFPB's investigation found that Bank of America double-dipped by allowing fees to be repeatedly charged for the same transaction," the bureau wrote. "Over a period of multiple years, Bank of America generated substantial additional revenue by illegally charging multiple $35 fees."

These repeated fees affected customers from September 2018 to February 2022, the CFPB added.

The regulator ordered the bank to refund customers $80.4 million, and to pay a $120 million total fine.

Bank of America was also accused by the CFPB of withholding cash and points rewards from customers, and of fraudulently opening credit card accounts for people without their consent. It's been ordered to pay a combined $250 million in penalties.

"Bank of America wrongfully withheld credit card rewards, double-dipped on fees, and opened accounts without consent," said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. "These practices are illegal and undermine customer trust. The CFPB will be putting an end to these practices across the banking system."

Bank of America spokesperson William Haldin told Insider that the company in February 2022 stopped charging customers the non-sufficient fund fees that were repeatedly issued.

"We voluntarily reduced overdraft fees and eliminated all non-sufficient fund fees in the first half of 2022," Haldin said in a statement. "As a result of these industry-leading changes, revenue from these fees has dropped more than 90%."

The latest fine is one of the largest penalties faced by Bank of America in its history. In May 2022, the bank was also made to pay $10 million in civil penalties for unlawfully garnishing its customers' wages.

Later that year, it was fined $225 million by authorities for "botching" payments of state unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic. The bank was also ordered to pay $727 million in 2014 for misleading consumers in marketing for its credit card add-ons.