VyStar Credit Union in Jacksonville, Fla., must pay a $1.5 million civil penalty to address the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s concerns over a botched online banking platform launch.
The agency penalized the $14.8 billion-asset credit union over issues tied to its May 2022 transition to a new online banking platform that made it challenging for members to perform basic banking functions for weeks. Some features remained unavailable for more than six months.
VyStar must also refund members who incurred fees and costs tied to the snafu.
“VyStar and its senior management bungled the credit union’s rollout of a new banking system and left customers stranded without online access to their accounts,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a press release. “VyStar’s careless errors inflicted financial harm on their credit union members.”
The CFPB said that the new system crashed upon launch because VyStar brought it online prematurely and failed to establish or follow critical processes to ensure its success.