Credit One Bank will pay $10.2 million to settle a civil lawsuit alleging it made harassing calls to collect consumer debts, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.
The case was investigated and prosecuted by the California Debt Collection Task Force, a statewide team made up of the district attorney’s offices in Santa Clara, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Riverside counties.
The lawsuit alleged that Credit One had a policy allowing its vendors to make eight calls a day, plus two more under certain circumstances on overdue credit card accounts, according to the prosecutors.
Making repetitive and unreasonable phone calls to people who owe debts is against the law in California because it is harassment, Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a press release.
“Bombarding consumers with calls over debts is illegal,” Rosen said. “Folks may owe money, but companies owe their consumers reasonable civility and consideration.”
The judgment was entered Thursday in Riverside County Superior Court. The court ordered the bank and its agents to implement policies and procedures to prevent unreasonable and harassing debt collection calls.
Credit One was ordered to pay $9 million in civil penalties and $1.2 million in investigative costs, according to prosecutors.