By Christian Martinez
(Reuters) -The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has scraped settlements with Apple and U.S. Bank that were implemented under former President Joe Biden’s administration, ending oversight requirements years early, according to court filings dated earlier this month.
The moves follow efforts by President Donald Trump’s administration to minimize CFPB oversight of consumer finance. The Trump administration has also quietly ended the agency’s settlements with Toyota and Bank of America while also dropping almost all enforcement actions that were pending when Trump took over.The Apple settlement originated last fall when the CFPB found that the tech giant and Goldman Sachs had violated consumer protection laws for allegedly mishandling transaction disputes stemming from the Apple Credit Card and misled purchasers about whether some transactions were interest-free. The original settlement had required five years of enhanced compliance and cooperation.
Court documents released on Monday state that Apple had paid a civil money penalty of $25 million, the full amount required under the October 2024 action.
In a separate filing the CFPB said that U.S. Bank had also paid the full $15 million penalty required to settle allegations it had illegally blocked out-of-work consumers from accessing unemployment benefits during the pandemic. Its original settlement with the CFPB, made in 2023, had also required five years of compliance and cooperation.
The filing noted that U.S. Bank had made redress payments and is taking steps to prevent future conduct violations.
Requests for comment to the CFPB, Apple and U.S. Bank were not immediately returned.
(Reporting by Christian Martinez and Doug Gillison; Editing by Caitlin Webber and Shri Navaratnam)
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