Amex fined after staff misled customers American Express will pay $75.7m in fines and reimbursements to customers, after regulators found that its salesforce misled customers over the benefits of numerous credit card insurance products. Some 335,000 Amex customers will receive compensation as a result of a settlement announced on Christmas Eve with three US regulators. Amex sales staff repeatedly overstated the financial benefits of an insurance product called the "account protector," which customers were told would cover their monthly minimum repayments for up to two years if the borrower lost their job, became sick or had some other life event, according to court documents and statements from regulators. The benefits were sometimes smaller than the monthly repayment and often lasted for less time. There was also mis-selling of two other products, a "lost wallet protector" and identity theft insurance, according to court documents. In the case of an identity theft protection product, 85 per cent of customers were never properly enrolled, yet were billed anyway. Many of the victims of the mis-selling were Hispanics in the US and Puerto Rico, and court filings suggest confusion arose because telemarketing scripts were provided to sales staff only in English, whereas the marketing calls were conducted in Spanish. Amex settled simultaneously with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. "Marketing of the products included in these settlements was discontinued more than a year ago," the company said in a statement. As previously reported, American Express continues to conduct internal reviews designed to identify issues, correct them and ensure that its products and practices meet a high standard of quality. In total, Amex subsidiaries will pay fines of $16.2m to the three regulators and at least $59.5m in customer remediation. Most of the costs associated with the settlements have been provided for in previous quarters, the company said, and most of the reimbursements have already been provided to customers. According to the OCC, the deceptive marketing of payment insurance continued for eight years from 2004, while the identity theft protection product was mis-sold between 2009 and 2012.