TD Bank has agreed to pay back $97 million US to 1.4 million of its U.S. customers for deceptive marketing tactics to sell them an overdraft service the bank claimed was a free perk but in reality was not.
The bank, whose full corporate name in the U.S. is TD Bank, America’s Most Convenient Bank, will also pay a penalty of $25 million in addition to the restitution it will pay to customers.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced on Friday that the bank’s sales tactics violated several U.S. laws “by charging consumers overdraft fees for ATM and one-time debit card transactions without obtaining their affirmative consent.”
The service, which TD calls Debit Card Advance (DCA), would allow a customer to withdraw money from their chequing account, even if the withdrawal would cause their balance to go below zero.
The consumer rights watchdog said TD marketed the service as a free perk for new chequing accounts but actually charged customers $35 every time they used it. And the service was optional all along.
“When TD Bank enrolled some consumers in DCA over the phone, TD Bank deceptively described DCA as covering transactions unlikely to be covered by DCA,” the bureau said.
The bureau also found that the bank sometimes would require new customers to sign its overdraft notice with the “enrolled” option pre-checked without mentioning or explaining the service to them.
Bank has 9 million customers in U.S.
The settlement covers any customers of the bank’s 1,250 branches who signed up for a chequing account between 2014 and 2018 and signed up for the service, knowingly or not. The bank has nine million customers in the U.S., and the bureau said at least 1.4 million of them may have been impacted.
In a statement to CBC News, TD Bank says only U.S. customers would have been impacted and thus included in the settlement as the service “is not offered by TD Canada Trust” in Canada.
As part of the settlement, the bank agreed to change its enrolment practices and stop using pre-marked overdraft notices to obtain a consumer’s consent.
In a statement, TD called the program a “safe, reliable source of short-term liquidity and helps them avoid the inconvenience that may result from declined transactions.”
“We disagree with the CFPB’s conclusions. We have co-operated fully to resolve this matter and are moving forward with a continued focus on meeting the needs of our customers,” said Greg Braca, TD’s president and chief executive of U.S. operations, adding that the bank did not admit to any wrongdoing.
TORONTO – Restaurant Brands International Inc. reported net income of US$357 million for its third quarter, down from US$364 million in the same quarter last year.
The company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says its profit amounted to 79 cents US per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with 79 cents US per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue for the parent company of Tim Hortons, Burger King, Popeyes and Firehouse Subs, totalled US$2.29 billion, up from US$1.84 billion in the same quarter last year.
Consolidated comparable sales were up 0.3 per cent.
On an adjusted basis, Restaurant Brands says it earned 93 cents US per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 90 cents US per diluted share a year earlier.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents US per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Fortis Inc. reported a third-quarter profit of $420 million, up from $394 million in the same quarter last year.
The electric and gas utility says the profit amounted to 85 cents per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from 81 cents per share a year earlier.
Fortis says the increase was driven by rate base growth across its utilities, and strong earnings in Arizona largely reflecting new customer rates at Tucson Electric Power.
Revenue in the quarter totalled $2.77 billion, up from $2.72 billion in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Fortis says it earned 85 cents per share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 84 cents per share in the third quarter of 2023.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 82 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
TORONTO – Thomson Reuters reported its third-quarter profit fell compared with a year ago as its revenue rose eight per cent.
The company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says it earned US$301 million or 67 cents US per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30. The result compared with a profit of US$367 million or 80 cents US per diluted share in the same quarter a year earlier.
Revenue for the quarter totalled US$1.72 billion, up from US$1.59 billion a year earlier.
In its outlook, Thomson Reuters says it now expects organic revenue growth of 7.0 per cent for its full year, up from earlier expectations for growth of 6.5 per cent.
On an adjusted basis, Thomson Reuters says it earned 80 cents US per share in its latest quarter, down from an adjusted profit of 82 cents US per share in the same quarter last year.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 76 cents US per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
