Credit One Bank, N.A., headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, is a bank specializing in credit cards for borrowers with low credit scores.[2] It is owned by Sherman Financial Group, which runs one of the largest buyers of consumer debt in the United States.[3] Despite the similar names and "nearly identical" logos, Credit One is not affiliated with the much larger Capital One.[4]
History
The bank was founded on July 30, 1984, as First National Bank of Marin in San Rafael, California.[1] It received the designation of "credit card bank" in June 1996.[1] In November 1998, the bank moved from San Rafael to Las Vegas, Nevada.[1] At that time, the bank was owned by Kjell Qvale.[5]
In 2005, the bank was acquired by Sherman Financial Group. On February 1, 2006, FNBM changed its name to Credit One Bank, N.A.[1][3] In that same year, the bank continued its rebrand by changing its logo to have an arcing "swoosh" above the name of the bank. Capital One underwent a similar rebrand in 2008, displaying a "nearly identical" logo to Credit One, leading to confusion among consumers. Marketing by Capital One led to an increase in customers for both itself and Credit One, some of whom were unaware that the two were different companies.[3]
The bank moved its headquarters to a new facility in 2018[3][6] which was expanded in 2021 to include a second building of 150,000 square feet.[7]
Litigation and settlements
In 2001, to settle an investigation by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the bank repaid $4 million to customers who cancelled their cards after realizing that the credit limit that they received, after paying annual fees and security deposits, was too low to make any purchases. In 2004, the bank paid $10 million for allegedly encouraging people to charge security deposits to new cards, leaving them almost no available credit. In both cases, the bank did not admit wrongdoing.[3]
In January 2019, Riverside County, California district attorney Mike Hestrin attorney began an investigation of a third-party vendor of Credit One for making harassing debt collection calls in violation of California law. The bank sued the district attorney, claiming that this matter was in the jurisdiction of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.[9]
A lawsuit filed in 2020 alleged that Credit One Bank was in violation of the Truth in Lending Act, following a practice of frequently failing to post customer payments to their accounts within the required and or expected time frame unless the customer pays an "express payment" fee.[10] In 2021, the case was referred to arbitration.[11]
In June 2022, a bankruptcy judge found Credit One Bank liable to roughly 288,000 credit card customers for attempting to collect debts after such debts were discharged via bankruptcies.[12] In January 2024, the bank filed to decertify the class action status of the case.[13]
In 2023, the bank was sued for reporting disputed information to credit reporting agencies. Summary judgement was granted in favor of the bank, which was appealed.[14]
Reception
The Ascent (a service of The Motley Fool) gave a one-star (out of five) review to Credit One Bank's credit card. The review praised the bank for making the card available to customers with poor credit and for offering cash-back incentives, while criticizing the card's complicated application process and high fees.[15]
As of September 2024, the Better Business Bureau's (BBB) profile for Credit One Bank noted its accreditation by the BBB with a rating of A+, but the company held a customer review score of 1.1 out of 5 stars.[16]
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