Apple and Goldman Sachs were ordered by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on Wednesday to pay over $89 million for improperly handling customer complaints about Apple Card transactions.
The CFPB stated in a news release that hundreds of thousands of Apple Card consumers were affected by a breakdown in customer care and deception after it discovered that the device maker had not provided Goldman Sachs with details of disputes or that the bank failed to properly analyse those that were sent through.
According to the FBI, Apple failed to send tens of thousands of consumer disputes to Goldman Sachs.
The CFPB found that Goldman Sachs failed to comply with statutory rules while examining disputes. Goldman Sachs was forced to pay a $45 million civil penalty plus $19.8 million in restitution, while Apple was fined $25 million.
The agency also barred Goldman Sachs from launching new credit cards until it could present a sufficient strategy to comply with the law.
“Big tech companies and big Wall Street firms should not behave as if they are exempt from federal law,” said Rohit Chopra the directorUS Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Apple debuted its credit card product in 2019 in collaboration with Goldman Sachs, which the CFPB said had begun a drive into the consumer market in 2016.
Apple’s business strategy is based on significant revenue and profits from the sale of its devices, including iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks.
Many of Apple’s items are more expensive than those of other brands, thus many customers opt to finance their purchases with payment plans and credit cards.
We earlier reported that Apple has launched its new iPad mini equipped with Apple A17 Pro chip which made its debut on last year’s iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max.
