CFPB Capital One Case Settled With Hundreds Of Millions In Fines

By Cornelius Nunev


The CFPB has brought its first enforcement action against Capital One. The CFPB Capital One case has been fixed, as the bank failed to monitor third-party services being sold with its cards, leading to more than $200 million in fines and restitution.

Found and fixed first issue

The start of the CFPB was really controversial, despite the belief that it has taken almost a year for the agency to do anything besides enact a few laws.

Capital One, a charge card business, was the first target of the CFPB who has brought and resolved its first enforcement action against it, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau started a probe to the company because it found that third-party vendors who were selling financial goods on the cards such as credit protection were not clearly named by Capital One. This led to the following suit.

Poor target group

There are credit monitoring services and payment protection offered for Capital One consumers who have charge cards. These are provided through 3rd party vendors, according to ABC, and are meant as a sort of insurance. If an individual misses work because they are sick or injured and cannot make a payment, a minimum payment is made on the behalf of the person.

When consumers called to activate their cards, they were routed to call centers. Oftentimes, the call would last about two minutes and no pitches were made. However, consumers with poor credit who had gotten subprime cards, would often have to listen to at least 8 minutes of sales pitches from phone operators, many of whom pressured them into sales, lied about a cost being involved or exaggerated the scope of the services.

Phone operators promised things like getting the product would improve credit scores, or that consumers who were already jobless could get a few payments made for them from payment protection, which demands the policy holder to be employed.

Getting charged big charges

As a result of the investigation, it was concluded that Capital One does not have the ability to regulate vendors well enough to know what is being sold to customers and how it is being sold. Until the bank can ensure product conduct, it can no longer sell the additional products with credit cards. It also was ordered to pay $210 million in penalties; the Office of the Comptroller will get $35 million and the CFPB will get $25 million. The other $150 million will be given to Capital One clients as restitution.

According to USA Today, the 2.5 million customers wronged in the case will receive their money later this year. It is the second time Capital One has faced such charges, as the bank settled a comparable case in England in 1997, according to ABC. Discover Financial is said to be currently facing a similar Consumer Financial Protection Bureau investigation.



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