Billion-Dollar Bank Paying $10,200,000 Settlement After Allegedly Badgering Customers With Non-Stop Phone Calls

A US bank is preparing to shell out more than $10 million to settle allegations that it harassed customers.

A civil lawsuit accused the Las Vegas-based bank Credit One of instructing agent vendors to frequently call and harass customers in an effort to collect credit card debt, even after customers asked the bank to stop calling.

The complaint, filed by the District Attorneys’ Offices of Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego and Santa Clara counties, alleges Credit One had a policy that allowed agents to call a customer as many as 10 times a day and on consecutive days.

The bank is accused of violating California’s consumer protection laws, as well as the state’s constitutional right to privacy.

Now, Judge Harold Hopp has entered a judgment that requires Credit One to follow state and federal law relating to consumer debt collection. The judge has also ordered the bank to pay $9 million in civil penalties and $1.2 million in investigative costs.

Credit One denies any wrongdoing.

Says Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman,

“Credit card companies do not have the right to badger consumers and invade their privacy with non-stop phone calls to collect debt. We are sending a strong message today that companies will not get away with harassing consumers in our state.

I thank my office’s Consumer Protection Division and our partner district attorneys for their steadfast commitment to holding companies accountable for unlawful business practices. We will continue to fight for consumers to rein in abusive debt collection.”

Credit One is the 526th-largest commercial bank in the US with $1.921 billion in assets, according to the Federal Reserve.

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