Bank of America in $783m settlement over credit card practices

Bank of America is the second largest bank in the US

Bank of America has agreed to pay $783m (£470m) in fines and refunds to settle accusations it misled customers about its credit card services.

The bank will refund $738m to affected customers and pay $45m in penalties to US regulators.

The payout relates to the bank's sales and marketing of its payment and identity theft protection add-on services from 2010 to 2012.

Regulators said nearly three million customers were affected.

The US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said in a statement that the bank had been "unfairly billing consumers" for the identity theft protection product, and "using deceptive marketing and sales practices" for the credit protection add-ons.

Bank of America neither admitted nor denied the allegations.

Instead, it said in a statement that it had stopped marketing identity theft protection products in December 2011 and credit card debt cancellation products in August 2012.

The settlement comes weeks after Bank of America agreed to pay $9.5bn to settle charges it misled US mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac before the housing crisis in 2008.