Credit One Bank to Pay $10.2M to Settle Consumer Protection Lawsuit Alleging Unlawful Debt Collection Calls

LOS ANGELES — Credit One Bank will pay $10.2 million to resolve a civil lawsuit filed by the District Attorneys’ Offices of Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego and Santa Clara counties alleging that the company or its vendors made repeated, intrusive and harassing debt collection calls in violation of California’s consumer protection laws and the state constitutional right to privacy.

“Credit card companies do not have the right to badger consumers and invade their privacy with non-stop phone calls to collect debt,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said. “We are sending a strong message today that companies will not get away with harassing consumers in our state. I thank my office’s Consumer Protection Division and our partner district attorneys for their steadfast commitment to holding companies accountable for unlawful business practices. We will continue to fight for consumers to rein in abusive debt collection.”

California’s Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act permits debt collectors to make calls with frequency that is reasonable under the circumstances. The complaint, filed in Riverside County Superior Court, alleged that Credit One made, and directed calling agent vendors to make, unreasonably frequent and harassing debt collection calls to consumers, even after consumers requested Credit One to stop calling or the company called the wrong number. 

The complaint alleged that 1) Credit One had a policy allowing its vendors to make eight calls per day, plus an additional two calls per day under certain circumstances on overdue credit card accounts; and 2) the calls could be placed on consecutive days. These calls were alleged to constitute harassment and an invasion of privacy that would be highly offensive to a reasonable person.

Credit One had previously been found liable by a federal jury in 2019 for violating the Rosenthal Act. Despite this verdict, Credit One allegedly continued the same practices.

The judgment was entered on February 19, 2026, in the Riverside County Superior Court and signed by Judge Harold Hopp. It requires Credit One, a Nevada-based company, to comply with state and federal law relating to consumer debt collection.

Under the terms of the judgment, Credit One was ordered to pay a total of $10.2 million, including $9 million in civil penalties and $1.2 million in investigative costs. Credit One did not admit wrongdoing.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office will receive $2.25 million in civil penalties and approximately $300,000 in investigative costs after any required expense amounts are repaid to the Consumer Protection Prosecution Trust Fund and the California Attorney General’s Privacy and Piracy Fund.

The case was investigated and prosecuted by the California Debt Collection Task Force, a statewide law enforcement team composed of the District Attorneys' Offices of Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside and Santa Clara counties.

Head Deputy District Attorney Gina Satriano and Assistant Head Deputy District Attorney Steven Wang of the Consumer Protection Division handled the case on behalf of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.