Capital One Seeks Dismissal of Balance Transfer Class Action Lawsuit
By Kimberly Mirando
Capital One asked a federal judge Friday to dismiss a class action lawsuit alleging it tricked credit cardholders into accepting a “0% balance transfer” by omitting the fact that they would have to pay interest on those balances, saying it never violated its contract with card owners.
Plaintiff Priscilla Barton sued Capital One in October, alleging in the Capital One Balance Transfer Class Action Lawsuit that Capital One advertised its balance transfer program as a “chance to save” by allowing customers to transfer their high-interest loans to a Capital One Credit card. What the offer failed to mention was that Capital One would exempt transferred balances from the normal 25-day grace period that applies to new purchases, or that the only way to avoid late-payment interest charges was to pay off the entire transfer within the same month.
Barton claims she and other transfer customers are entitled to an interest-free grace period as long as they paid off their entire balance each month. According to her class action lawsuit, this violates the 2009 Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act (CARD Act) and California’s Unfair Competition Law.
Capital One urged U.S. District Judge Susan Illston to dismiss the class action lawsuit on the grounds that Barton’s claims fail because Capital One did not breach its contract with her and because she opened her account before the credit card law was passed.
“For the foregoing reasons, Plaintiff’s Complaint should be dismissed in its entirety for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted,” Capital One said in its motion.
No ruling has been made.
The Capital One 0% Balance Transfer Offer Class Action Lawsuit case is Priscilla Barton v. Capital One Bank, Case No. 12-cv-5412, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California.
Updated January 9th, 2013
All class action and lawsuit news updates are listed in the Lawsuit News section of Top Class Actions
