Capital One should uncover a dead merger amid astroturfing ahead of its July 19 public meeting

Band Mateusz R. Leeward

SOUTH BRONX, May 26 – Capital One filed to buy Discover in an anticompetitive deal that should be rejected by regulators if they mean what they say. Although they filed late on March 20, there was no information on the Federal Reserve or OCC websites as of 1 p.m. on March 22. Inner City Press submitted second FOIA requests to each agency. Public hearings should be held not only on antitrust disparities, but also on credit disparities at both companies.

On April 24, the Fed extended the comment period through May 31 – without (yet?) granting public hearings or producing FOIA documents.

On May 14 – still without delivery of FOIA documents – the Fed and OCC scheduled a virtual public meeting for July 19. And lobbying for a merger has already begun, for example here, by a group previously identified in connection with the quid pro quo political scandal in Trenton, New Jersey.

Then from SC, the “third vice chairman of the Richland County Democratic Party” posted an Astroturf article outlining how the merger would benefit business owners of color. FALSEHOOD. We’ll have more on this.

The OCC first posted its application in its reading room. And it is a scandal that Capital One plays on the CRA system. For example, “the proposed transaction would result in CONA establishing a new assessment area in Delaware that would include all census tracts in Sussex County and seven contiguous census tracts in Kent County.”

This for a nationwide card and subprime lender…

As Fair Finance Watch documents, Discover Bank denied African-American mortgage applications at more than twice the rate of white people in 2022.

Previously, Inner City Press and NCRC questioned the acquisition of ING Direct by Capital One, see here. This time, given the antitrust enforcement claims made in DC, this proposal should fall on deaf ears. View this site.

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