New York State Sues MoneyGram For Violating Consumers Many Times
New York State is suing the international money transfer company MoneyGram for multiple consumer violations. New York Attorney General Letitia James and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit on behalf of residents today, Thursday, April 21, 2022. MoneyGram International, Inc. and MoneyGram Payment Systems, Inc. allegedly repeatedly violated consumer protection laws in the state.
The Attorney General is accusing MoneyGram of failing to deliver money to recipients in a timely manner or provide a refund to consumers when their transfers were delayed. These practices unfairly impacted the state's immigrant population who used the company's services to send money back to their native lands to family members and loved ones. The suit claims that MoneyGram did not accurately communicate with New York consumers about when their money transfers would be delivered and kept them in the dark if an error occurred.
Attorney General James said,
Our immigrant communities trusted MoneyGram to send their hard-earned money back home to loved ones but MoneyGram let them down. Consumers deserve to know where their money went. Companies have an obligation to be transparent with consumers, treat them fairly, and follow the law, but MoneyGram repeatedly failed to do so. Today we are suing MoneyGram to correct their unlawful practices and prevent them from further harming consumers. New Yorkers can trust that my office will always protect them from unscrupulous companies.
MoneyGram has 430,000 locations across the United States and the world. The service is frequently used by immigrants in New York State. In 2020, more than 600,000 New Yorkers sent and received money at MoneyGram locations in the state 3.8 million times.