{"id":2008,"date":"2025-01-15T12:30:57","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T17:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/?p=2008"},"modified":"2025-01-15T12:30:59","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T17:30:59","slug":"capital-one-sued-by-cfpb-for-allegedly-cheating-consumers-out-of-2-billion-in-savings-interest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/?p=2008","title":{"rendered":"Capital One Sued by CFPB for Allegedly Cheating Consumers Out of $2 Billion in Savings Interest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Allegations of Unlawful Practices<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)<\/strong> has filed a lawsuit against Capital One, accusing the bank of <strong>\u201ccheating millions of consumers\u201d<\/strong> by freezing interest rates on its \u201c360 Savings\u201d accounts and failing to notify customers of higher-yield alternatives. The alleged practices cost consumers more than $2 billion in lost interest payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe CFPB is suing Capital One for cheating families out of billions of dollars on their savings accounts,\u201d said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. \u201cBanks should not be baiting people with promises they can\u2019t live up to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Disputed Practices<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The lawsuit alleges that Capital One:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Froze interest rates<\/strong> on its \u201c360 Savings\u201d accounts at 0.30% between 2019 and mid-2024, even as nationwide interest rates rose.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Launched a higher-yield \u201c360 Performance Savings\u201d account, offering rates that increased from 0.40% in 2022 to 4.35% in January 2024, without adequately informing \u201c360 Savings\u201d accountholders.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Marketed the \u201c360 Savings\u201d account with terms like <strong>\u201ctop,\u201d \u201cbest,\u201d and \u201chighest\u201d<\/strong>, misleading customers about the competitiveness of its rates.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The CFPB claims that Capital One obscured the existence of the higher-yield account to retain customers in lower-yielding products, depriving them of billions in potential earnings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Capital One&#8217;s Response<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Capital One has strongly denied the allegations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe are deeply disappointed to see the CFPB continue its recent pattern of filing eleventh-hour lawsuits ahead of a change in administration,\u201d a Capital One spokesperson said. \u201cWe strongly disagree with their claims and will vigorously defend ourselves in court.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bank added that the \u201c360 Performance Savings\u201d account was widely marketed, including via national television campaigns, with what it described as <strong>\u201cthe simplest and most transparent terms in the industry.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The CFPB\u2019s Demands<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The CFPB seeks:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>An injunction to stop what it deems <strong>unlawful practices<\/strong> by Capital One.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Redress for consumers<\/strong> harmed by the alleged actions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The imposition of <strong>civil money penalties<\/strong> on the bank.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key Details<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The CFPB highlights that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The interest rate on the original \u201c360 Savings\u201d account remained at 0.30% even as market rates surged.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The newer \u201c360 Performance Savings\u201d account was designed to attract customers with <strong>higher interest rates<\/strong>, but the bank allegedly failed to notify existing accountholders of this better option.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Consumer Protection Implications<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This lawsuit underscores the CFPB\u2019s ongoing efforts to hold financial institutions accountable for <strong>alleged deceptive practices<\/strong> and ensure consumers benefit from competitive market rates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Allegations of Unlawful Practices The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has filed a lawsuit against Capital One, accusing the bank of \u201ccheating millions of consumers\u201d by freezing interest rates on its \u201c360 Savings\u201d accounts and failing to notify customers of higher-yield alternatives. The alleged practices cost consumers more than $2 billion in lost interest payments. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10772,"featured_media":2009,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[899,902,900,898,391,397,901],"class_list":{"0":"post-2008","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-360-performance-savings","9":"tag-360-savings","10":"tag-banking-misconduct","11":"tag-capital-one-lawsuit","12":"tag-cfpb","13":"tag-consumer-protection","14":"tag-savings-account-interest"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10772"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2008"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2010,"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2008\/revisions\/2010"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}