Capital One / Better Business Bureau

Capital One / Better Business Bureau

October 14, 2006

Contact: Niels Re: Capital One Bank - Richmond VA - Council of Better Business Bureaus - Arlington, VA Capital One Bank was sued by the Attorney General in Minnesota on December 30, 2004 for deceptive trade practices. The press release announcing the filing of this action (http://www.ag.state.mn.us/consumer/PR/PR_041230CapitalOneBank_FSB.htm) states that the complaint is for using false, deceptive and misleading television advertisements, direct-mail solicitations, and customer service telephone scripts to market credit cards with allegedly “low” and “fixed” interest rates that, unlike its competitors' rates, will never increase. In fact, the lawsuit alleges that Capital One increases the interest rate on such cards up to 400% for consumers who trigger a “penalty” rate by defaulting in any number of ways. The full law suit can be found at http://www.ag.state.mn.us/consumer/PDF/PR/CapitalOneComplaint.pdf On its web site for membership information in local chapters of the Better Business Bureau (http://www.bbb.org/membership/index.asp) The Council of Better Business Bureaus write: Members of local BBBs are businesses and firms which: "Meet tough membership standards, agree to follow the highest principles of business ethics and voluntary self-regulation, and have a proven record of marketplace honesty and integrity". On the page showing membership standards (http://www.bbb.org/membership/standards.asp) the Council of Better Business Bureaus shows the standards that has to be met in order to be a member of a Better Business Bureau. One of the stadards are: "Be free from any governmental action concerning the marketplace and its customers that demonstrates a significant failure of the company to support the principles and purposes of the Better Business Bureau. A membership must be suspended by the BBB's board when an action is filed if the allegations suggest such a failure". On their home page The Council of Better Business Bureaus has a link to their page for their BBB Tips program (http://www.bbb.org/alerts/tips.asp), which is a Registered Trademark. This page shows as follows "Our founding National BBB Tips program sponsor Capital One". When clicking on the logo for Capital One Bank, the reader is taken directly to Capital One's home page. During the curency of this lawsuit (Still pending as of October 2006) by the AG in Minnesota, The Better Business Bureau in Richmond, VA maintained Capital One Bank as a member in Good standing. During the currency of this lawsuit (Still pending as of October 2006) by the AG in Minnesota, The Better Business Bureau in Houston, TX accepted Capital One Bank as a member. I have myself been the victim of Capital One. I received a credit card with a limit of $ 300.00 and they billed me $ 149.00 for various fees on the first statement. My own experience and those described by consumers on Complaint.com are all accurately and well described in the lawsuit filed by the AG in Minnesota and it is clear for all to see. The complaint is that The Better Business Bureau is not what it purports to be because The better business Bureau does not adhere to its own guidelines for membership. By advertising the requirements for membership to the geneal public on its website and then not following those guidelines as clearly described above, The Better Business Bureau is in fact guilty of deceptive advertising themselves. By actively advertising the services of Capital One Bank, by providing a link to Capital One Bank's web site, Better Business Bureau most consumers would accept this as implying endorsement of Capital One Bank and implying that Capital One Bank is following their membership critieria and "Meet tough membership standards, agree to follow the highest principles of business ethics and voluntary self-regulation, and have a proven record of marketplace honesty and integrity". The majority of Americans expect at a minimum that honesty and integrity means that an advertiser will accurately describe the product or service up front. You buy a dozen donuts, You expect a dozen donuts, not just 11 and some sort of convoluted explanation on the bottom of the box explaining why a dozen is only 11. In the second instance, if the business methods of Capital One Bank, so vividly described by consumers and the Attorney General in Minnesota, represent the highest principles of business ethics and have a proven track record of honesty and integrity as described by the Council of better Business Bureaus, common sense will then tell us that we are plain and simple in trouble.