SLIDESHOW: The Naughty List - Financial Edition
Richard Fairbank
The CEO of CapitalOne probably should've been minding the store a little better because on July 18th the bank settled a $35 million civil penalty with the Office of the Controller of Currency and was asked to pay back $150 million to the 2.5 million customers who were pressured into buying unnecessary and costly account features and then misled about benefits, requirements and eligibility. Each wronged customer will get a payment of about $70 each, but the bank itself only partially admitted any kind of culpability in the matter. It blamed much of the incident on third-party vendors, but admitted that it was ultimately responsible for the actions of those contractors. However, this wasn't the only incident. Also in July, they settled with the U.S. Justice Department because of alleged violations of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, which gives active-duty military a temporary break from some debts, and puts a cap on interest rates they can be charged. Appearently, CapitalOne just kept right on charging them, resulting in overcharges and wrongful foreclosures on outstanding loans. They then paid them $12 million in restitution.







