Capital One: Enter Ethicist

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced in July 2012 findings that a vender working for Capital One “had pressured and deceived” credit-card customers into buying products “presented as a way to protect” the customers from identity theft and hardships like unemployment and disability. In a related action, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency required the bank to reimburse customers “harmed by unfair billing practices” from 2002 to 2011. The bank had billed customers even though it had failed to provide full use of the products sold. “Unfair and deceptive practices will not be tolerated,” Thomas J. Curry, the comptroller, said.

The full essay is in Cases of Unethical Business, available in print and as an ebook at Amazon.com.