Resources / Banking & lending
Public cases from banking & lending where what customers were told, or weren't, ended in fines, bans or headlines.
$185M in fines · about 5,300 employees fired
Regulators found employees had opened more than two million bank and card accounts customers may not have authorised, to meet aggressive sales goals. The incentive scheme was not monitored closely.
Listen for on your calls
Products added without a clear yes from the customer, and agents pushing extra products to hit a number.
About $250M in penalties and refunds
US regulators said the bank charged repeat fees on the same declined transaction, withheld card bonuses it had promised, and used customers' data to open accounts they did not know about.
Listen for on your calls
Offers and rewards promised on the call that don't match the written terms.
New loans stopped under eCOM and Insta EMI Card until May 2024
The RBI barred lending under two products after finding Key Fact Statements were not issued to borrowers, and were deficient for other digital loans. The ban was lifted in May 2024 after corrective action.
Listen for on your calls
Interest rate, fees and tenure explained in full before the customer agrees.
₹3.95 crore RBI penalty
The RBI's findings included failing to ensure customers weren't contacted before 7 am or after 7 pm, and not carrying out annual reviews of its recovery service providers, alongside customer-service lapses.
Listen for on your calls
Call timing, and how agents speak to borrowers on every recovery call, not a sample.
About £38bn repaid, the UK's largest consumer redress
Payment protection insurance was added to loans, cards and mortgages, often without checking whether the customer needed it or could ever claim. Banks spent most of a decade paying it back.
Listen for on your calls
Add-on cover offered without checking the customer's need or eligibility.
Summaries are our own reading of the linked reports. Amounts and outcomes are as reported at the time; some companies settled without admitting wrongdoing. These cases are listed to show what is at stake on customer calls, not to suggest any particular tool would have prevented them.
