CFPB - Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
11/14/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 11/14/2024 10:06
Enforcement Action (Global Tel Link Corporation d/b/a ViaPath Technologies; Telmate, LLC d/b/a ViaPath Technologies; and TouchPay Holdings, LLC d/b/a GTL Financial Services)
On November 14, 2024, the Bureau issued an order against Global Tel Link Corporation, d/b/a ViaPath Technologies ("Global Tel Link"), and its subsidiaries Telmate, LLC, d/b/a ViaPath Technologies ("Telmate"), and TouchPay Holdings, LLC, d/b/a GTL Financial Services ("TouchPay"). Together with its subsidiaries, Global Tel Link is one of the country's largest providers of money transfer services to justice-involved consumers. Many consumers who are incarcerated rely on these money transfer services to receive from their friends and family the funds they need to pay for items in correctional facilities' commissaries, including basic necessities such as food, medicine, and clothing. The Bureau found that Global Tel Link and its subsidiaries engaged in unfair acts or practices in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) by blocking consumers' accounts when a money transfer was charged-back, which prevented friends and family consumers from sending, and incarcerated consumers from receiving, funds via debit card or credit card transfer. To get an account unblocked, friends and family consumers had to pay the amount of the chargeback plus, in some circumstances, a fee, even though they had not filed the chargeback. The Bureau also found that Global Tel Link and its subsidiaries engaged in unfair acts or practices in violation of the CFPA when they failed to disclose to consumers complete fee schedules for money transfers, depriving consumers of information that would allow them to understand how the payment channel, payment method, or amount they deposit may impact the fee they are charged for the money-transfer transaction. In addition to money transfer services, Global Tel Link and Telmate also provide "Unified Accounts" to friends and family consumers to pay for online messaging, video visitation, and telephone services so they can communicate with people who are incarcerated. The Bureau found that Global Tel Link and Telmate engaged in abusive acts or practices in violation of the CFPA by, between 2019 and 2023, emptying and then retaining the funds from consumers' Unified Accounts after a period of inactivity, without sufficiently notifying them. The order requires Global Tel Link and its subsidiaries to pay at least $2 million in redress to affected consumers whose Unified Accounts were emptied out and to consumers who paid to unblock a trust or commissary account that had been blocked due to a chargeback filed by a third party. The order further requires them to pay $1 million in civil money penalties. Finally, the order prohibits the companies from blocking accounts due to consumer chargebacks, requires them to disclose complete money transfer fee schedules to consumers, and requires them to return to consumers any funds in inactive Unified Accounts.