The Consumer Financial Protections Bureau (CFPB) is not pleased with how Apple and Goldman Sachs handled customers of their joint Apple Card.

The CFPB claimed the two companies "mishandled disputes and misled iPhone purchasers about interest-free payment options through their Apple Card partnership, delaying refunds for customers on disputed transactions or leaving damaging information in their credit reports," writes the Washington Post. The CFPB claims several hundred thousand customers were impacted by these behaviors.

As a result, the agency fined Apple (which clocked nearly $100 billion in net income last year) a $25 million fine, and Goldman Sachs (which took in more than $8.5 billion in net income last year) was slapped with $19.8 million in redress and a $45 million penalty. Moreover, Goldman Sachs has been banned from launching any new credit cards until provides the CFPB with a "credible plan" to comply with the law, reports Bloomberg Law.

“Big Tech companies and big Wall Street firms should not behave as if they are exempt from federal law," Rohit Choprasaid, director of the CFPB, said in a statement.

Both Goldman and Apple have pushed back, with a Goldman spokesperson noting that "we worked diligently to address certain technological and operational challenges that we experienced after launch and have already handled them with impacted customers."

Similarly, an Apple spokesperson described how "upon learning about these inadvertent issues years ago, Apple worked closely with Goldman Sachs to quickly address them and help impacted customers."

JP Morgan

This isn't the end of the Apple Card, though. According to CNET, JPMorgan Chase may take over the card from Goldman Sachs.

"I certainly think that there's an opportunity for the product to be revamped," John Cabell of JD Power told CNet. "It does not have the rewards and benefits of some of the most attractive card products out there. That's not its strength, so there's an opportunity to improve in a change like this."

Verdict

For two massive and high-profile companies like Apple and Goldman Sachs to be so blase with their consumer-facing product is baffling. Then again, if the penalty exacted by the CFPB is so miniscule, it really hurts neither corporation to flub again.