U.S. bank giant Citigroup fined $70M for deceptive card fees

NEW YORK – Citigroup will be refunding $700 million to consumers and will pay $70 million in fines for illegal and deceptive credit card practices.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Tuesday that Citi will have to issue refunds to 8.8 million affected consumers who paid for credit card add-on products and services, like credit score monitoring or “rush” processing of payments.

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Citi representatives allegedly told consumers there were 30-day “free” trials for some products, when there wasn’t, or sold them fraud and identity theft protection when Citi wasn’t performing such services at all.

In a statement, Citi said it stopped illegal practices in 2013 and is in the process of issuing refunds or credit card statement credits to the affected customers.