Judge Approves $7.2M Capital One Class Action Settlement

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Preliminary approval was given to a $7.2 million class action settlement in which Capital One Bank (USA) NA was charged with deceiving customers over the fees and conditions linked to the bank’s zero percent annual percentage rate checks.

U.S. District Court Judge Leonie M. Brinkema said in the Dec. 19 approval of the Capital One class action settlement proposal that it is both fair and reasonable.

According to the agreement, Capital One will send checks to a class of Capital One customers who accepted the zero percent offer, which will total more than $4.1 million.

Customers who accepted more than one offer will be invited to submit claims, totaling at least $3.1 million.

The affected Capital One customers will receive either $5.50 or $2.00, according to the Capital One class action settlement.

“Class members will recover up to 44 percent of the average interest paid by class members as a result of the charges at issue in this lawsuit, despite Capital One’s vigorous dispute over the amount that would be owed, even if liability was established,” the class action settlement agreement stated.

“These tiered payments reflect that not all class members were injured through Capital One’s grace period and interest charge practices, and that some were harmed more than others,” it adds.

In addition to the monetary compensation, Capital One has also made the disclosures in its zero percent offer materials more clear, especially the grace period and payment allocation effects.

Capital One will also pay $1.5 million in attorneys’ fees on behalf of the plaintiffs.

The class of Capital One customers was also conditionally certified by Judge Brinkema, which is for those who accepted a zero percent offer from Capital One from Aug. 1, 2008 through Jan. 2, 2015 through their own account using either an access check or no-hassle check.

Capital One was hit with the class action lawsuit in September 2013, which was filed by plaintiff Margaret Murr, alleging that the bank created false payment shortfalls in her account in order to charge fees on her account, which she claimed was a violation of the contract with Capital One.

According to Murr, when she attempted to pay off her monthly balances, Capital One took part of her payment and put it toward the access check balance, which meant that she always owed interest on her account, she claimed in her Capital One class action lawsuit.

In addition, she alleged that the bank violated its contractual obligation when it tried to charge her interest on a zero percent APR transaction when it was still within the grace period, according to the contract.

She alleges that as a result of Capital One’s violation of the contractual grace period, the bank gave “derogatory” information to credit-rating agencies, negatively affecting her credit-rating, when she wouldn’t pay some of the fees link to the affected transaction.

Plaintiff David Reign joined the Capital One class action lawsuit in December 2014.

The plaintiffs are represented by Timothy G. Blood and Thomas J. O’Reardon II of Blood Hurst & O’Reardon LLP; Joseph P.  Guglielmo of Scott+Scott, Attorneys at Law LLP; Daniel M. Cohen, Robert J. Cynkar and Pamela Gilbert of Cuneo Gilbert & Laduca LLP; and John A. Yanchunis of Morgan & Morgan PA.

Capital One is represented by Mary C. Zinsner, S. Mohsin Reza and David N. Anthony of Troutman Sanders LLP and Aaron D. Van Oort, Amanda J. Rome and Peter Cunningham Magnuson of Faegre Baker Daniels LLP.

The Capital One Class Action Lawsuit is Margaret Murr, et al. v. Capital One Bank (USA) NA, Case No. 1:13-cv-01091, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

UPDATE: Instructions on how to file a claim for the Capital One class action settlement are now available! Click here or visit www.CapitalOneZeroPercentSettlement.com for details.

UPDATE 2: On Feb. 5, 2016, the Capital One 0% Settlement website announced that replacement checks were mailed on Dec. 18, 2015 to all Class Members whose original checks were not cashed. If you received a postcard check from the Murr v. Capital One Settlement Fund in August of 2015, that check is expired and a new check was mailed to you in December of 2015.