U.S. Bank ordered to pay $48 million in restitution to theft-protection customers

Two federal regulatory agencies have fined U.S. Bank $9 million and ordered the company to pay $48 million in restitution to customers unfairly billed for identity theft protection.

The action affects more than 420,000 consumers who signed up for theft protection from 2003 to 2012. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau say those customers did not receive the full benefits of the products they purchased.

U.S. Bank was also ordered to improve its oversight of third-party vendors associated with "add-on" consumer products. A bank spokesman said the problem was primarily related to an outside firm offering identity theft protection.

"We regret that errors occurred when our customers purchased credit monitoring and identity theft products from a third-party vendor, Affinion and its subsidiary Trilegiant, and that some of our customers did not receive the full benefit of those products," said bank spokesman Dana Ripley.

"As soon as we became aware of the issues with Affinion, we took swift action to protect our customers, and ultimately, discontinued our relationship with Affinion approximately two years ago. We will be compensating customers who did not receive full services from Affinion, and providing our apology."