In a complaint filed in the Alexandria, Virginia federal court today, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has accused Capital One of illegally avoiding the payment of more than $2 billion in interest to consumers.
Consumers who held a 360 Savings account are claiming that the bank failed to pay them the interest they were entitled to, despite the account’s name suggesting otherwise. Court documents reveal that the CFPB alleges that Capital One has kept the interest rate for these accounts artificially low, while misleading account holders by promoting their 360 Savings accounts as offering some of the best interest rates in the nation.
The legal action follows a thorough examination by the CFPB, which uncovered deceptive marketing practices employed by vendors working for Capital One. The company is accused of pressuring and misleading consumers into purchasing “add-on products,” such as payment protection and credit monitoring, when they activated their credit cards.
Capital One has faced legal issues since launching the 360 Performance Savings account in 2019, including several lawsuits regarding interest rates and accusations of misleading customers about policies and options.
A previous lawsuit stated, “Capital One did not notify its 360 Savings accountholders that the 360 Performance Savings account was available, that 360 Performance Savings was in fact a different account and not just another name for the 360 Savings account, or that 360 Performance Savings paid a higher rate of interest than the 360 Savings account,” the court filing said. “Instead, Capital One left its 360 Savings accountholders in lower-yield account and hoped that they would not notice.”
“Since the original suit, we have also been sued in six similar putative class actions in federal courts in California, Illinois, Ohio, Virginia, New Jersey and New York,” Capital One stated.
By CEO NA Editorial Staff
