The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau yesterday ordered Navy Federal Credit Union to pay a $5.5 million civil penalty and $23 million to customers over allegations of improper debt collection practices, MorningConsult.com reported. The Vienna, Va.-based credit union, whose 6.3 million members include many veterans and military service members, unfairly restricted account access for members with delinquent loans and made false threats about debt collection between January 2013 and July 2015, the CFPB said. Navy Federal threatened to garnish the wages of members with slumped loans or take action against them, the CFPB said — actions it seldom took or did not have authority to take. The credit union also gave members with delinquent loans misleading information on the consequences to their credit, inflating the credit union’s influence on their credit ratings, the agency said.
