Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Dan DeWalt, who writes for ThisCan’tBeHappening.net.
Recently, the Vermont Attorney General’s Office announced a settlement with Capital One Bank.
According to the AG’s press release: Capital One Bank (USA), N.A., headquartered in McLean, Va., has for some time been sending direct-mail solicitations to Vermont businesses, offering the use of an “access check” to borrow up to a certain amount of money — for example, $5,000 — at 0 percent interest for 12 months. However, businesses that use an access check are considered to have a continuing balance on their credit card account until the check amount is paid back, even if all other purchases are paid in full by the monthly due date. As a result, interest accrues immediately on all new purchases on the account, and businesses that normally pay off all of their new purchases each month end up paying interest on those purchases. According to the attorney general, this practice was not disclosed by Capital One, violating the Vermont Consumer Protection Act.
As a result of the settlement, the bank will now have a bold disclaimer on the front page of their future solicitations that explain their crafty way of extracting interest charges from the unwary consumer. In addition, they will have to refund all interest charges that were collected from Vermont businesses as a result of this 0 percent scam. For the next five years in fact, Capital One will be obliged to put these warnings on their solicitations.
It turns out that the Vermont AG cannot force Capital One to disclose its solicitation list for anywhere outside of the state of Vermont. However, the newly created Consumer Protection Bureau does have that power and the Vermont AG’s office is forwarding the entire case and its materials down to Washington, D.C., in the hope that the bureau will take action and force Capital One to pay back every one whom they scammed outside of Vermont as well.
One might reasonably ask what led Elliot Berg, the attorney who led this case, to sharpen his focus on Capital One in the first place. How was this crooked bank not able to slip by underneath law enforcement radar like so many others do day in and day out? How did little Vermont get wind of this scam and put a stop to it?
The freshly enraged citizen explained that, actually, there was something that could be done, because in Vermont, the Attorney General’s Office cares about consumer fraud issues and the office is willing to stand up for citizens being bullied by big corporations.
This is where we come in, because it was a single aggrieved Vermonter who had indeed borrowed $5,000 of “interest free” money, and who only learned after months of phone calls and incorrect information how the bank’s scam actually worked. The consumer, who has chosen to remain unnamed, upon receiving the first bill with an interest charge, promptly called the bank to explain to them their mistake. They responded that this was how it is usually done (charging interest) but the bank phone operators were unsure why that was.
Month after month, our consumer made the complaint call, and month after month, each time with a slightly different twist to the explanation as to why, the interest charges were removed, but without explanation or the prospect of any remedy to the problem. After about six months, a Capital One operator was reached who could explain the confusion. When the operator explained that the 0 percent loan triggered the interest fees on all purchases, even if paid off in full by the due date, our consumer morphed into a citizen and took the bank to task, claiming that this was a fraud and a scam.
The bank representative humored the caller and said that there was, unfortunately, nothing that could be done. The freshly enraged citizen explained that, actually, there was something that could be done, because in Vermont, the Attorney General’s Office cares about consumer fraud issues and the office is willing to stand up for citizens being bullied by big corporations.
The Capital One rep thought that this was quaint and touching, but hung up without ever thinking that Vermont’s AG would indeed take an interest in this deceptive advertising fraud and would, after having been fully apprised of the situation by the irritated Vermonter, take an interest, investigate, and ultimately press a case that would lead to this admission of wrongdoing and the above-mentioned settlement.
So often we think that one person doesn’t stand a chance when facing the might of corporate lawyers supported by laws bought and paid for by their lobbyists and buffered by the obsequiousness of executive branch law enforcement, which spends more time bowing and scraping before the titans of wealth than it does enforcing the laws that those titans love to break. But this is an instance where, courtesy of legitimate representative government, a solitary citizen did indeed work with our public servants to serve our interests and to assert justice into an unfair and rigged system.
Let this be an inspiration to each of us who is adversely affected by corporate arrogance and greed. We can indeed make a difference. And let this be a warning to the corporate porkers rushing to swill: You may think that a corrupted political system can protect you from accountability for your actions, but you are mistaken. As your outrageous behavior becomes more blatant and egregious, Americans, like Vermonters, are beginning to figure out who the true enemies of the republic and its citizens are. We will come after you and we will take you down from your artificial perches of power. Your bloated bank accounts will not protect you from the trip wire on the ground that your bloated belly conceals. This will not happen overnight, but it is inexorably on its way. Don’t hurt yourself on the way down.
