Capital One, National Association, and Capital One Financial Corporation
On January 14, 2025, the Bureau filed a lawsuit against Capital One, N.A., a national bank with over $480 billion in assets, and its parent holding company, Capital One Financial Corp. (collectively, Capital One). Defendants are incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Virginia. The Bureau alleges that from 2013 to 2019, Capital One represented to consumers that its 360 Savings account was a “high interest” account with a variable rate that was “one of the nation’s” “top,” “best,” and “highest,” and would earn much more interest than the average savings or money market account. The Bureau alleges that these representations were false or otherwise misleading and that from December 2020 to at least August 2024, Capital One has kept the 360 Savings interest rate fixed at 0.30%, a rate that falls far short of the level represented in its marketing. The Bureau further alleges that Capital One made representations that created the net impression that its 360 Savings product was and would be its only 360 high interest savings product with the features, terms, and conditions of 360 Savings, but in 2019, Capital One stopped offering 360 Savings accounts to new customers and started offering a new high-interest savings product called “360 Performance Savings.” This new product had all the same terms and conditions as 360 Savings accounts, and Capital One likewise marketed it as having “one of the nation’s top savings rates.” But in contrast to the 360 Savings rate, Capital One has kept the 360 Performance Savings rate at a consistently high level. In August 2024, the 360 Performance Savings rate was more than 14 times higher than the 360 Savings rate. Capital One did not convert 360 Savings accounts into 360 Performance Savings accounts and instead took steps to obscure from 360 Savings accountholders the fact that these were different products. The Bureau alleges that by misrepresenting the interest rate for the 360 Savings product, Capital One violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010’s (CFPA) prohibition on deceptive acts and practices; and Capital One, N.A. violated the Truth in Savings Act and Regulation DD. The Bureau also alleges that Capital One violated the CFPA’s prohibition on deceptive acts and practices by misrepresenting that 360 Savings was and would be its only high-interest savings product and the CFPA’s prohibition on abusive acts and practices by taking unreasonable advantage of 360 Savings account holders’ lack of understanding of the material risks and costs of the 360 Savings product. The Bureau seeks, among other things, injunctive relief to prevent future violations and monetary relief in the form of redress to consumers and the imposition of civil money penalties.