Getting money back from a credit card issuer doesn’t happen every day, so plenty of Discover, American Express and Capital One customers are in for a treat in the form of refunds hitting their accounts soon. Those three companies were ordered to pay up a total of $435 million to almost six million customers after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau took action against deceptive credit card practices.

Some of the refunds may have arrived already, reports CNNMoney, while others can expect refunds by the end of March. You don’t even have to do anything to get your refund, it’ll just appear as a credit on your account. Anyone who isn’t a customer of one of the three issuers anymore will get checks in the mail.

The CFPB went after these three issuers for various reasons, mostly for marketing credit products, offering monetary rewards that in fact, didn’t exist, or charging higher late fees than are allowable by law.

In one case, American Express sent out offers about a “Blue Sky” credit card program offering a $300 bonus that simply never showed up for some customers. They’ll be getting that money now, however, after the CFPB cracked down on AmEx this fall.

Capital One was ordered to refund $150 million to two million customers in July, after the CFPB said the company’s third-party vendors were getting too pushy with customers and convincing them to buy additional products or services like credit-monitoring programs.

Discover was hit next when the CFPB issued a smackdown in the form of $200 million in refunds to over 3.5 million customers who bought credit protection products over the phone between December 2007 and August 2011.

Anyone who thinks they should be getting a refund and doesn’t receive one should talk to their credit card issuer first, and then report it to the CFPB if necessary.

Refunds from credit card issuers on the way [CNNMoney]

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