American Express to Refund $85 Million

250,000 customers get refunds over marketing and billing schemes

American Express will reimburse $85 million to about 250,000 customers to resolve accusations that the company violated federal law in its marketing, billing and debt collection practices, the company and the government said Monday.

The settlement is the latest in a series of enforcement actions that federal and state regulators have brought against some of the nation's largest financial institutions for problems in their credit card businesses.