Cash America International Inc.,one of the largest U.S. payday lenders,will repay previous customers up to $14 million to settle a casebrought by the ConsumerFinancial Protection Bureau.

According to the agency, the firm will also pay $5 million infines.

“This action brings justice to the Cash America customers whowere affected by illegal robo-signing, and shows that we willvigilantly protect the consumer rights that servicemembers haveearned,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray.

“We are also sending a clear message today to all companiesunder our watch that impeding a CFPB exam by destroying documents,withholding records, and instructing employees to mislead examinersis unacceptable,” Cordray's statement said.

The agency cited the firm for having improperly signed documentsas part of litigation brought by its debt collection subsidiary inOhio, Cashland Financial Services Inc., affecting up to 14,000consumers, the CFPB said Wednesday.

CFPB also took Texas-based Cash America to task for makingpayday loans to members of the armed services at more than 36% andimpeding the agency's investigation into its activity.

According to CFPB, Cash America's online lending subsidiary,Enova Financial, instructed employees to limit the information theyprovided to the CFPB about their sales and marketing pitches;deleted recorded phone calls with consumers; continued to shreddocuments after the CFPB told them to halt such activities; andwithheld a report related to robo-signing practices.

To settle the complaint, the firm has already started repayingconsumers, will drop existing litigation against consumers and willimprove its internal monitoring and reporting systems to ensurefuture compliance, the agency said.