The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has accused Capital One Financial in McLean, Va., of illegally avoiding paying more than $2 billion in interest to customers who had its high-interest savings account.
The CFPB, in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, claimed that the $354 billion-asset company promised depositors that its 360 Savings account provided one of the nation’s “top,” “best” and “highest” interest rates. The bureau claimed that Capital One froze rates at 0.3% while deposit rates rose elsewhere.
The CFPB also said that Capital One created a higher-rate account in 2019 but did very little to market it to 360 Savings account holders.
“Banks should not be baiting people with promises they can’t live up to,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a press release.
“We are deeply disappointed to see the CFPB continue its recent pattern of filing eleventh-hour lawsuits ahead of a change in administration,” Capital One said in a prepared statement. “We strongly disagree with their claims and will vigorously defend ourselves in court.”
The company said it marketed the higher-rate 360 Performance Savings account widely through national television advertising, “with the simplest and most transparent terms in the industry.”