GRETNA – A lawsuit filed by Capital One seeking damages from a credit-card holder over an open account has been resolved in the 24th Judicial District Court.
According to the claim, the plaintiff, Capital One, issued a credit card to defendant Heather L. Blake, with the understanding that regular payments would be made on any balance accumulated. The original complaint states that Blake accumulated a balance of $3,351.41 but failed to pay it off.
Capital One Bank (USA) NA v. Heather L. Blake was dismissed on Aug. 1 without prejudice, with each party bearing their own costs.
Capital One was represented by Remy Symons of Couch, Conville & Blitt LLC in New Orleans.
Capital One files more lawsuits over unpaid balances than any other credit card company, according to ProPublica, which analyzed court filings from 11 states. Many of its cardholders have poor credit, and Capital One is the largest subprime lender in the United States.
“The suits hit workers who earn below $40,000 a year the hardest and federal garnishment laws provide scant protection," ProPublica reported. "Even workers near the minimum wage could have a quarter of their take-home pay taken or their bank accounts cleaned out. State laws typically offer little more protection.”
Although Capital One has filed fewer lawsuits since 2011, ProPublica notes as an example that "in Indiana counties for which court data is available — home to about two-thirds of the state’s population — the bank filed about 3,360 suits in 2014. That’s about a quarter of the suits Capital One filed in 2010, but still more suits than all other national banks combined in 2014.”
In 2012, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered Capital One to refund $140 million to 2 million customers after it found that Capital One used deceptive marketing practices to the detriment of consumers.