WASHINGTON–With its headquarters now closed and its future murky at best under the Trump administration, a notice of voluntary dismissal was filed in federal court in Virginia by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in a case it had brought against Capital One that alleged the bank had shorted its customers some $2 billion in interest owed. 

In addition, Mark Paoletta, chief legal officer for the CFPB, has also moved to dismiss other enforcement actions, including the agency’s lawsuits against Rocket Homes and a student loan servicer in Pennsylvania, according to the Wall Street Journal.  

As The CU Daily has reported, the future of the CFPB is much in doubt as White House directives have all but gutted it. It’s the opposite of the aggressive stance seen under Rohit Chopra, who has been dismissed, and the Biden Administration, which often brough considerable pushback from credit unions.

The Allegations

In the case of the Capital One, the suit involved changes the bank made during a period of low interest rates when in 2019 introduced a savings account called 360 Performance Savings, while keeping existing customers in older accounts with a similar name, the Journal noted. 

“When the Federal Reserve raised interest rates, Capital One only raised rates on new accounts,” the CFPB had alleged. 

The CFPB’s lawsuit said Capital One customers thought they were getting the higher rate that was being advertised. It said millions of customers lost out on $2 billion in interest payments, the Journal added.

Capital One “disputed” the allegations. In the case of Rocket Homes, it called the dismissed CFPB action a  “misrepresentation of the facts” in a statement.