If you had a savings account at Capital One between 2019 and mid-2024, you may have been misled into accepting a lower return on your deposits than marketing suggested, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is accusing the bank of offering low returns for customers with “360 Savings” accounts while offering better returns and marketing a similarly-named product called “360 Performance Savings” that was identical other than offering much higher rates.

The suit accuses the bank of intentionally keeping 360 Savings account holders in the dark about the better option after lowering and then freezing interest rates in 2019 at just 0.3% APY for that type of account.

In 2022, when interest rates on all kinds of financial products rose in the wake of Federal Reserve rate hikes, Capital One raised the yield on 360 Performance Savings as high as 4.35%. Meanwhile, the bureau said in the suit, filed in a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, the bank kept the older 360 Savings accounts at 0.3% despite having marketed them as a “high interest” account with “top” or “best” rates.

The bureau said because of the bank’s tactics, depositors missed out on $2 billion worth of interest.

“The CFPB is suing Capital One for cheating families out of billions of dollars on their savings accounts,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a statement. “Banks should not be baiting people with promises they can’t live up to.”

Bureau Alleges Deception, Bank Denies Wrongdoing

The bank took measures to keep customers with 360 Savings accounts from finding out about the new, better option launched in 2019, according to the suit.

Bank employees were forbidden from bringing up the new account with 360 Savings customers unless they mentioned it first, according to the suit. Customers with 360 Savings accounts were also excluded from marketing campaigns about the 360 Performance Savings plan, the suit said.

The bank denied wrongdoing.

“We are deeply disappointed to see the CFPB continue its recent pattern of filing eleventh hour lawsuits ahead of a change in administration,” a Capital One spokesperson said in a statement emailed to Investopedia. “We strongly disagree with their claims and will vigorously defend ourselves in court.”

The lawsuit is the latest in a flurry of activity by the bureau in the final days of Joe Biden’s presidency. Since the Nov. 6 election, when the Democrats were ousted from the White House, the bureau has finalized major consumer protection regulations and sued several high-profile companies.

Update, Jan.14, 2024: This article was updated to include a statement from a Capital One spokesperson.