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Three key tips to keep in mind if you are denied access to basic financial services and products.

In observance of six years serving consumers, here are six ways the CFPB has made consumers count. 

The CFPB works to create a level playing field in financial markets and to help ensure fairness for consumers. Our SEFL division helps ensure compliance with federal consumer financial laws by supervising market participants and bringing enforcement actions when appropriate. 

Today, we took action against Mastercard and UniRush after preventable technological breakdowns in October 2015 left tens of thousands of RushCard users unable to access their money and without customer support.

There are many credit scores available to you as a consumer as well as to lenders. A credit score you receive may not be the same score your lender is using to make a credit decision. Your credit score starts with the information in your credit report and may be different depending on the data used to calculate it.

If you were one of the thousands of Wells Fargo Bank account holders who had an unauthorized account opened, here’s what you need to know.

La Oficina para la Protección Financiera del Consumidor (CFPB, por sus siglas en inglés) multa a Wells Fargo por abrir cuentas secretas sin el conocimiento o consentimiento de los consumidores.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fines Wells Fargo for opening secret accounts without consumers’ knowledge or consent. 

In the past five years, we have written rules, enforced laws and, supervised banks and other financial companies, while at the same time creating resources to educate and engage you to make informed choices with your finances. 

El banco BancorpSouth pagará $10.6 millones para responder al problema de la delimitación ilegal y otras alegaciones de discriminación, luego de que por primera vez  el CFPB utilizara a personas encubiertas para ayudar a respaldar dichas alegaciones de discriminación.

BancorpSouth Bank will pay $10.6 million to address redlining and other discrimination claims. After, for the first time, we used undercover testers to help support claims of discrimination.

El garantizar un acceso equitativo y anti-discriminatorio en el proceso de obtener crédito apunta a la esencia misma de la misión del CFPB de proteger a los consumidores y promover la transparencia de los mercados financieros en los Estados Unidos. Durante este último año hemos obtenido reembolsos para consumidores perjudicados por prácticas discriminatorias y hemos supervisado a prestamistas para evitarles daño a los consumidores.

Ensuring fair and nondiscriminatory access to credit goes to the core of the Bureau’s mission of protecting consumers and promoting openness in America’s financial markets. In the past year we have gotten funds back for consumers harmed by discriminatory practices and we have supervised lenders to prevent harm to consumers. 

We alleged that those two companies tricked consumers into borrowing against their pensions, hid high interest loan rates and fees, and deceived consumers about other terms of the deal. Now we are working to make sure affected consumers know who to reach out to if they need further information.

Today, harmed borrowers participating in the settlement were mailed checks by the Ally settlement administrator, totaling $80 million, plus interest. Here’s what to do if you think you should receive a check.

An important part of the CFPB’s mandate from Congress is to make rules governing consumer finance markets more effective and to create new rules when warranted. Today, we’re posting a semiannual update of our rulemaking agenda as part of the federal government’s Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions.

The complaint alleges that Hudson City redlined by locating its branches and selecting mortgage brokers nearly all outside of majority-Black-and-Hispanic neighborhoods, among other actions. In other words, it intentionally discouraged potential borrowers from equal access to credit in majority-Black-and-Hispanic neighborhoods in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.

Since 2011, we have secured over $10.8 billion dollars in relief for more than 25 million consumers harmed by illegal practices.

Today we’re ordering Citibank, N.A. and some of its subsidiaries to refund approximately $700 million to customers for unfair and deceptive credit card practices. This includes unfairly billing consumers for credit card add-on products, deceptively marketing those products, and deceptive collection practices. Generally, consumers who were signed up for these products on or after January 1, 2009, will receive full or partial refunds.

Morgan Drexen has gone out of business. If you are a Morgan Drexen customer, you must take action on your debts. You can also request a refund of any money that is currently in your settlement account.

Chase has already begun compensating consumers and will contact you if you are eligible for payment.

En diciembre de 2013, junto con el Departamento de Justicia (DOJ), ordenamos a Ally Financial Inc. y Ally Bank a pagar $80 millones en daños y perjuicios a los consumidores perjudicados por las políticas de precios de préstamos para vehículo de Ally que dieron lugar a discriminación.

We found that between April 2011 and December 2013, Ally’s markup policy resulted in African-American, Hispanic, Asian and Pacific Islander borrowers paying more for auto loans than similarly situated non-Hispanic white borrowers. Ally agreed to a settlement and is paying a settlement administrator to distribute the $80 million in damages to harmed borrowers.

We’re announcing settlements with Sprint and Verizon to return $120 million directly to consumers for illegal billing of unauthorized third-party charges. Read more about the settlement and learn how to submit a claim.

We’re releasing our third annual Fair Lending Report, which details the important strides we have taken over the last year to protect consumers from credit discrimination and increase access to credit.