On July 26, 2012, the Department of Justice announced that Capital One agreed to pay approximately $12 million to resolve a lawsuit by the Department of Justice alleging the companies violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). The settlement covers a range of conduct that violated the protections guaranteed service members by the SCRA, including wrongful foreclosures, improper repossessions of motor vehicles, wrongful court judgments, improper denials of the 6 percent interest rate the SCRA guarantees to service members on some credit card and car loans and insufficient 6 percent benefits granted on credit cards, car loans and other types of accounts.
Capital One agreed to pay approximately $7 million in damages to service members for the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) violations, including at least $125,000 in compensation plus compensation for any lost equity (with interest) to each service member whose home was unlawfully foreclosed upon, and at least $10,000 in compensation plus compensation for any lost equity (with interest) to each service member whose motor vehicle was unlawfully repossessed. In addition, the agreement requires Capital One to provide a $5 million fund to compensate service members who did not receive the appropriate amount of SCRA benefits on their credit card accounts, motor vehicle finance loans and consumer loans. Any portion of the $5 million that remains after payments to service members are made will be donated by Capital One to one or more charitable organizations that assist service members.
Funding Title: Capital One Settlement for Violations of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act
Agency Name: Department of Justice
Funding Instrument Type: Grant
Express Language for Legal Aid: No
Target Population: Service members for SCRA violations
Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement: No
How to Apply: Any portion of the $5 million that remains after payments to service members are made will be donated by Capital One to one or more charitable organizations that assist service members.
Eligible Applicants: Charitable organizations that assist service members
