The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is suing Walmart and a financial technology firm, alleging they illegally forced drivers into using costly deposit accounts to receive their pay. <\/p>\n
The agency alleges that Walmart and the vendor, Branch Messenger, forced the drivers, who were part of Walmart\u2019s Spark Driver gig-work platform, to use Branch Messenger\u2019s deposit accounts to collect their compensation \u2014\u00a0and would be terminated if they did not want to use this service. <\/p>\n
The CFPB also alleges that Walmart and Branch Messenger misled workers about the availability of same-day access to their earnings, and that drivers had to follow a complex process to access their funds.<\/p>\n
Even when they did access their funds, the CFPB alleges, the drivers faced delays or fees if they needed to transfer the money into an account of their choice \u2014 resulting in workers paying more than $10 million in fees since 2021 to transfer earnings.<\/p>\n
\u201cWalmart made false promises, illegally opened accounts, and took advantage of more than a million delivery drivers,\u201d said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. \u201cCompanies cannot force workers into getting paid through accounts that drain their earnings with junk fees.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walmart said in a statement that the CFPB\u2019s suit was \u2018riddled with factual errors\u2019 and \u2018exaggerations and blatant misstatements of settled principles of law.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018The CFPB never allowed Walmart a fair opportunity to present its case during their rushed investigation,\u2019 it said. \u2018We look forward to vigorously defending the Company before a court that, unlike the CFPB, honors the due process of law.\u2019<\/p>\n
In a statement, Branch Messenger said the CFPB\u2019s suit \u2018misstates the law and facts\u2019 while omitting items designed to \u2018mask the Bureau\u2019s clear overreach.\u2019 <\/p>\n
\u2018Despite the company\u2019s extensive cooperation with its investigation, the CFPB refused to engage with Branch in any meaningful way about this matter, instead rushing to file a lawsuit,\u2019 Branch said.\u00a0\u2018This approach makes clear that this litigation has nothing to do with the law or protecting workers and everything to do with the media attention garnered by a lawsuit involving one of the world\u2019s biggest retailers.\u2019<\/p>\n
The CFPB has announced a flurry of rules and suits this month as the Biden administration winds down and the agency\u2019s future is clouded by uncertainty. Last week, the CFPB sued three of America\u2019s largest banks on accusations that they failed to curb fraud on the digital payments platform Zelle. The banks, as well as Zelle\u2019s operator, which was also named in the suit, have denied the charges. <\/p>\n
It also sued Comerica Bank for allegedly harming consumers enrolled in the federal government\u2019s Direct Express federal benefits delivery program. Comerica has denied the charges and is countersuing the CFPB. <\/p>\n
The agency also announced four separate rules, including one limiting bank overdraft fees that was immediately challenged by the banking industry.<\/p>\n
NBC News earlier reported the agency had been weighing which rules to finalize before Republicans take control of all three branches of government. The GOP has\u00a0signaled plans\u00a0to defang the agency, while President-elect Donald Trump has\u00a0named authors of Project 2025\u00a0\u2014 which calls for eliminating the CFPB \u2014 to influential positions. <\/p>\n
Multibillionaire Trump donor Elon Musk, who\u00a0is slated for a high-level cost-cutting role, has\u00a0posted\u00a0on his social platform X: \u201cDelete CFPB.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is suing Walmart and a financial technology firm, alleging they illegally forced drivers into using costly deposit accounts to receive their pay. The agency alleges that Walmart and the vendor, Branch Messenger, forced the drivers, who were part of Walmart\u2019s Spark Driver gig-work platform, to use Branch Messenger\u2019s deposit accounts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":13475,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}