Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum co-led a bipartisan letter from 33 Attorneys General to Rohit Chopra, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) calling for stronger consumer safeguards for money sharing platforms and apps.
Popular payment apps include Apple Pay, Venmo, Square, Zelle, and others. The Attorneys General highlight a rise in consumer complaints related to these payment platforms, especially complaints from consumers about difficulties reaching customer service representatives, inability to retrieve funds, and fraudulent money transfers by third party scammers. These payment platforms are sometimes marketed as a solution for consumers without access to traditional banks, even though these apps are not considered a bank.
“Especially during the pandemic, consumers have depended on payment apps as a virtual and safe way to send money quickly,” Rosenblum said. “But as these platforms explode in popularity, so does the chance of being scammed and defrauded. As our letter urges, it is particularly important these platforms employ safeguards to protect consumers from fraud, and provide better customer service when things go wrong.”
The letter addresses three major issues: customer service, account access, and third-party scams. Highlights from the letter include:
Issue 1: Customer Service
Complainants say that…
