Capitol One Settles $2M Lawsuit With San Diego, Riverside, LA Counties

SAN DIEGO, CA — Capital One will pay $2 million to settle a consumer protection lawsuit alleging the bank made "unreasonably frequent or harassing phone calls" to California debtors, San Diego County prosecutors announced Thursday.

The agreement, which was reached with no admission of wrongdoing on Capital One's part, stems from a lawsuit filed by the district attorney's offices in San Diego, Riverside, Los Angeles and Santa Clara counties.

The complaint alleged the company made excessive collection calls, some of which continued after consumers indicated they no longer wished to receive the calls or the calls were made to wrong numbers.

"The District Attorney's Consumer Protection Unit investigated complaints that Capitol One made repetitive, harassing debt collection calls and often to the wrong number," San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan said in a statement. "The settlement in this case underscores the importance of companies abiding by the state and federal debt collection laws that protect California consumers."

The judgment was entered Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court and includes $1.45 million in civil penalties and $300,000 in investigative costs. The bank is also required to pay $250,000 in restitution to a charitable trust fund to support additional consumer protection efforts. and implement policies and procedures to prevent such debt collections calls to state consumers. Those procedures include limiting the total number of calls to each debtor and honoring consumer requests for calls to stop, according to the San Diego County District Attorney's Office.