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Capital One bank began in 1988, created by Richard Fairbank and headquartered in Mclean, Virginia. It includes several subsidiaries for its various consumer products such as Hibernia National Bank, Capital One Bank, Capital One, F.S.B., and Capital One Auto Finance Inc. Although it has been in existence less than twenty years, the Capital One banking group now has nearly 50 million consumer accounts. The Capital One banking group is also active in the United Kingdom and Canada.

Capital One offers many different product lines including auto loans, credit cards, home loans, healthcare finance, direct banking, personal loans, commercial loans, and small business loans. They are perhaps most well-known for their extensive line of credit cards. Capital One banking group has been based on its founder's belief that by properly using the powers of technology along with the skill of a company's employees the company can offer very customized financial products to consumers.

Credit Card Controversy

Capital One is a leader in the industry of sub prime credit cards. However, Capital One banking group has fallen under recent scrutiny for its credit card reporting practices. Consumer credit scores are determined using many different factors. One of the most important factors is the percentage of available revolving credit in use. For example, it will likely damage a person's credit score if they are using 100% of his or her available credit, in other words, if that person has all of his or her credit cards charged to their limits.

Capital One may be negatively affecting their customer's credit scores because they have a corporate policy of not reporting consumer's credit limits to the credit bureaus. Depending on the credit bureau, the consumer's limit may either not be listed, or listed as the consumer's highest recorded balance. This means that if a person has used their credit card for a total of $300, even if their limit is $1,200 it will affect their credit score as if they are using 100% of their available credit.

This controversy has caused Capital One banking group to be criticized by consumer groups in recent months and has caused the company a decent amount of negative publicity. Thus far Capital One banking group has not indicated that they have any intention of changing this practice; they site consumer privacy as their reason for not reporting limits to the credit bureaus. Critics however remain unconvinced; they contend that Capital One banking Group is not reporting consumer limits to keep other credit card issuers from identifying their best customers and taking them.