Installment lender OneMain Financial has been ordered to pay $20 million over deceptive practices involving 25,000 customers, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced.

The settlement includes payments and penalties for OneMain’s failure to refund interest for customers who cancelled purchases within what was advertised as the “full refund period,” and for deceiving borrowers about the need to purchase add-on products to receive a loan. Half of the settlement will be paid in refunds to customers, the other $10 million will go to CFPB’s victim relief fund.

“OneMain pressured its employees to load up its loans with extra charges through false promises of easy cancellation with full refunds,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a statement. “We are ordering OneMain to refund borrowers it cheated and to clean up its business practices.”

OneMain denies the charges.

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Based in Evansville, Indiana, OneMain is one of the largest depository of personal installment lenders in the U.S. with more than 1,400 branches across 44 states, including Alabama. The company offers loans and makes extra profits by upselling borrowers with products such as roadside assistance, unemployment coverage, and identity theft coverage, CFPB said.

According to federal officials, OneMain:

• Tricked borrowers into signing up for optional products and customers were led to believe they could not receive a loan without signing up for add-on products. If customers asked the products not be included, employees were expected to make it seem difficult to remove the products.
• Kept $10 million in interest charges after borrowers were told they would receive a full refund for some purchases if they canceled within 30 days.

OneMain has been ordered to adjust its policies to make cancellation of add-on products easier, doubling the cancellation period to 60 days and include interest in refunds for extra purchases.

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In a statement, OneMain said the settlement involves less than 1% of its customers.

“OneMain is pleased to resolve this matter related to our refunding practices for some optional products, even though we do not agree with the CFPB’s conclusions,” the company said. “We are deeply committed to our customers and doing things the right way.”