By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) -American Express said on Thursday it will pay about $230 million to settle U.S. criminal and civil probes into alleged deceptive practices in selling credit card and wire transfer products to small business customers.
The credit card and travel services company agreed to pay $138.4 million, including about $108 million in fines, and enter a non-prosecution agreement to end criminal and civil probes by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Amex said it also reached an separate agreement in principle with the Federal Reserve that should become final in the coming weeks.
The New York-based company said it cooperated extensively with investigators, discontinued some products, disciplined staff, and upgraded compliance and training.
Amex also said the problems identified by investigators ended no later than 2021, and the payout does not affect its 2024 earnings forecast.
The Justice Department alleged that from 2014 to 2017, Amex misrepresented card rewards and fees, and whether credit checks would be done without customers’ consent, and submitted false financial information for prospective customers.
It also said that from 2018 to 2021, Amex misled customers in sales pitches about the tax benefits of wire transfer products known as Payroll Rewards and Premium Wire.
These products were the subject of the non-prosecution agreement.
That agreement contained many internal communications about the products, such as employee complaints calling Premium Wire a “very questionable product” where customers could “write off expenses as a business expense and benefit personally.”
The Justice Department also faulted Amex sales staff for deceiving regulators by entering “dummy” employer identification numbers such as “123456788” when opening small business credit cards, to replace discontinued co-branded Amex cards.