American Express doles out $75M for credit card practices

American Express has been ordered by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to pay out $75 million to settle claims it charged improper fees and misled credit card customers regarding add-on products such as identity fraud protection.

Payouts for American Express include $59.5 million in refunds to more than 335,000 customers based on its credit card practices and a $9.6 million cash penalty to the CFPB, according to the New York Times.

One of American Express’ products that came under scrutiny was as account protector, which was marketed as a way to cover minimum monthly payments if the card holder lost their job or had a disability, but the benefit topped out at $500, which in many cases could be less than a minimum monthly payment. The CFPB also found that the company unfairly charged interest and fees in certain cases, which resulted in customers exceeding their credit limits.

Read more from the New York Times.