Bank Gets Taken To Court For Bad Business
Credit card issuer Capital One Bank and four other companies were sued by West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw for unfair and deceptive practices and bad business conduct. The complaint was filed this week in West Virginia's Circuit Court and it claims that Capital One hooked consumers into repayment plans by mailing out solicitations disguised as new credit offers.
Capital One offered to give consumers one dollar of new credit if they agreed to transfer the whole balance of a charged off account to the new credit card. This meant that Capital One could re-age debts to get around the statute of limitations, which would start anew.
According to the case, Capital One issued cards with limits as low as 200 dollars for low-income consumers with bad credit histories. The cards carried membership fees of up to 59 dollars per year. Generally, the annual fees were billed on the consumer's second monthly statement, leaving the consumer with just 141 dollars of credit when they thought they had 200 dollars. Then, if the consumer mistakenly exceeded the limit, they could face over the limit fees of up to 29 dollars.
In recent months, McGraw's office has gone after collection agencies in an attempt to protect West Virginia's consumers. In November, his office took two payday lending firms and four collection agencies to court.
As members of the collection industry, we may scratch our heads and wonder why, in an economy that is doing poorly and where debt is running rampant, we cannot retrieve the money that people owe. Authorities in the business allege that with unemployment rates running so high, it is impossible for consumers to repay their debts. But bad business practices are not going to help the situation either. It may be a knee jerk reaction to try to con consumers out of money, but it is just that. A knee jerk reaction.
Capital One offered to give consumers one dollar of new credit if they agreed to transfer the whole balance of a charged off account to the new credit card. This meant that Capital One could re-age debts to get around the statute of limitations, which would start anew.
According to the case, Capital One issued cards with limits as low as 200 dollars for low-income consumers with bad credit histories. The cards carried membership fees of up to 59 dollars per year. Generally, the annual fees were billed on the consumer's second monthly statement, leaving the consumer with just 141 dollars of credit when they thought they had 200 dollars. Then, if the consumer mistakenly exceeded the limit, they could face over the limit fees of up to 29 dollars.
In recent months, McGraw's office has gone after collection agencies in an attempt to protect West Virginia's consumers. In November, his office took two payday lending firms and four collection agencies to court.
As members of the collection industry, we may scratch our heads and wonder why, in an economy that is doing poorly and where debt is running rampant, we cannot retrieve the money that people owe. Authorities in the business allege that with unemployment rates running so high, it is impossible for consumers to repay their debts. But bad business practices are not going to help the situation either. It may be a knee jerk reaction to try to con consumers out of money, but it is just that. A knee jerk reaction.
About the Author:
Mallory Megan works for a debt collection agency. Also she composes articles on business and finance, consumer spending and collection agencies.
You like it? Share it!
posted by DISCLAIMER: at
11:08 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home