The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said yesterday that Santander Bank would pay $10 million to settle charges that it engaged in illegal overdraft practices, Reuters reported. The regulator said the bank's telemarketing vendor deceptively marketed its overdraft protection services and then signed customers up for them without their consent. It said that some call representatives also misrepresented the protection as free, and mistakenly told customers they would be charged overdraft fees for one-time debit card purchases and cash machine withdrawals. Recent changes in the law allow customers to cancel those transactions after being notified they have insufficient funds, to avoid overdraft fees.
