The company has been fined after it inadequately processed USD 2 billion in mortgage payment transactions without the authorisation of its customers. The transactions were reportedly made in April 2021.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the institution that imposed the fine, argued that there were nearly 500,000 homeowners affected, who were serviced by Mr Cooper, at the time, one of ACI’s largest mortgage-servicing customers.
The affected homeowners reportedly scheduled their monthly mortgage payments using ACI’s Speedpay, an offering that enabled the company to transfer the homeowners’ mortgage payments from their bank accounts to Mr Cooper. The improper fund transfers caused homeowners to overdraft or deal with insufficient funds fees.
As part of the transfer process, it is reported that ACI Worldwide sent Mr Cooper’s customer data into the ACH network. The affected borrowers had not anticipated, nor authorised the payments.
CFPB officials further commented that customer accounts have been mended following the discovery of the issue. However, regardless of ACI Worldwide’s actions to remedy the problem, the institution decided to proceed and penalise the company for the inconvenience it caused to the affected homeowners. As per the official statement, ACI Worldwide accepted the CFPB’s decision without admitting, nor denying responsibility.
In a statement from ACI Worldwide, representatives explained that the improper transactions were conducted after the payments software provider took charge of an electronic payments platform that it had recently acquired. Moreover, officials further added that the funds and the data of the consumers affected were always secure. The representative also emphasised that a consumer class action brought against the company following the event has been settled.
After its investigation, the CFPB offered additional details regarding the incident. According to officials, during a test of its payments platform in April 2021, ACI Worldwide inadequately utilised real consumer data instead of dummy data. Consequently, the real-time payments software provider illegally initiated transactions that amounted to approximately USD 2.3 billion.
According to details shared in the official release, at only one bank, over 60,000 accounts are said to have been charged with more than USD 330 million the subsequent morning. Reportedly, as a consequence of ACI Worldwide’s error, around 7,300 account balances were reduced by more than USD 10,000.
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