Credit One Bank

Credit One Bank, N.A., headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, is a bank specializing in credit cards for borrowers with low credit scores; credit limits for its cards are usually approximately $500. Despite the similar names and "nearly identical" logos, Credit One is not affiliated with the much larger Capital One. The bank has been ordered to pay fines multiple times for various breaches of financial regulation, including attempts to collect debts from customers after they had been discharged by declaring bankruptcy, and unauthorized robocalling.

It is an affiliate of Sherman Financial Group and is owned by billionaire Ben Navarro. It owns the naming rights to Credit One Stadium, a tennis stadium in Charleston, South Carolina.

History
The bank was founded on July 30, 1984 as First National Bank of Marin in San Rafael, California. It received a designation of "credit card bank" in June 1996. In November 1998, the bank moved from San Rafael to Las Vegas, Nevada. In 2005, the bank was acquried by Sherman Financial Group. On February 1, 2006, FNBM changed its name to Credit One Bank, N.A.

Credit One Bank moved its headquarters to a new facility in 2018 which was expanded in 2021 to include a second building of 150,000 square feet.

Legal issues
In 2006, federal investigators accused the company of offering low credit limits, then charging many fees and security deposits, forcing users to exceed their credit limits.

The company charges fees to post payments made on accounts before a 7 day wait; a lawsuit filed in 2020 alleged that this practice is in violation of the Truth in Lending Act.

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.

The bank has been sued many times for using unauthorized robocalls for debt collection, in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. In 2020, a plaintiff was awarded $262,000 after she received 465 calls from the bank. In 2023, the bank was sued for hiring a vendor to make harassing calls.

In 2023, the bank was sued for reporting disputed information to credit reporting agencies.

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.

The Better Business Bureau's profile for Credit One Bank includes an alert reading, "BBB files indicate that this business has a pattern of complaints concerning billing/collection issues. Complainants allege that this Credit One Bank charges consumers, sometimes repeatedly, without authorization, which may include late or unexplained fees. Complainants also allege that Credit One Bank forwards incorrect information to credit reporting agencies such as Equifax, Experian and TransUnion."

Confusion with Capital One
The Credit One Bank logo and the Capital One logo both have an arcing "swoosh" above their names, leading to confusion among consumers. Credit One adopted its logo in 2006; Capital One in 2008. Marketing by Capital One has led to an increase in customers for both itself and Credit One, some of whom were unaware that the two were different companies.