Chevy Chase Bank, F.S.B. was the largest locally based

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

company in the

Washington Metropolitan Area The Washington metropolitan area, also referred to as the National Capital Region, Greater Washington, or locally as the DMV (short for Washington, D.C., District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia), is the metropolitan area comprising Washing ...

. It was acquired by

Capital One Capital One Financial Corporation is an American bank holding company founded on July 21, 1994, and specializing in credit cards, auto loans, banking, and savings accounts, headquartered in Tysons, Virginia, with operations primarily in the ...

in February 2009, and rebranded as Capital One Bank in September 2010. Despite its name, Chevy Chase Bank was a federally chartered thrift regulated by the

Office of Thrift Supervision The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) was a List of federal agencies in the United States, United States federal agency under the United States Department of the Treasury, Department of the Treasury that chartered, supervised, and regulated al ...

, rather than a

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

. It was formerly held and controlled by the B. F. Saul

Real Estate Investment Trust A real estate investment trust (REIT, pronounced "reet") is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of real estate, including office and apartment buildings, studios, warehouses, hos ...

; B. Francis Saul II, who founded the REIT and is the grandson of the founder of the B. F. Saul Company, served as its chairman.

History

The bank traces its history to 1892, when Bernard Francis Saul founded the B.F. Saul Company, a mortgage and real estate firm. On October 11, 1955, a savings and loan charter was granted to a group of Baltimore area businessmen but never used. In 1969, the charter was purchased and the Chevy Chase Savings And Loan Association was established, taking the name from

Chevy Chase, Maryland Chevy Chase () is the colloquial name of an area that includes a town, several incorporated villages, and an unincorporated census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland; and one adjoining neighborhood in northwest Washington, D ...

. Saul's grandson, B. Francis Saul II, opened the S&L on December 1, 1969, fifty years to the day after his grandfather, B. F. Saul opened Home Savings and Loan (subsequently merged into American Security Bank – now part of Bank of America). It became an

FDIC The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is a State-owned enterprises of the United States, United States government corporation supplying deposit insurance to depositors in American commercial banks and savings banks. The FDIC was cr ...

insured federal savings bank in 1985 and changed its name to Chevy Chase Savings Bank, F.S.B. accordingly the following year. It acquired the Standard Savings and Loan Association of

Grundy, Virginia Grundy is a town in Buchanan County, Virginia, Buchanan County, Virginia, United States, an area located within the Appalachian Mountains region. It is the county seat of Buchanan County. The town is home to the Appalachian School of Law. The pop ...

, in 1988. It adopted its most recent name in 1994, and on January 16, 1996, moved its registration from Chevy Chase to McLean.History of Chevy Chase Bank, F.S.B., Chevy Chase, Maryland (FDIC Cert: 32324)
, FDIC.gov It moved into its actual headquarters in Bethesda in 2001. In 1995, it acquired the historic Alex. Brown & Sons Building in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

, which was renovated the following year and used for a branch office. On December 4, 2008,

announced it would be acquiring Chevy Chase Bank. The acquisition was completed on February 27, 2009. On Friday, September 10, 2010, at 7pm, Chevy Chase Bank shed its name, opening its doors on Monday, September 13, 2010, as Capital One Bank.

Business structure

The bank's core business was residential

mortgages A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdictions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any pur ...

and consumer banking; its mortgage subsidiary, the B.F. Saul Mortgage Company, was one of the leading mortgage originators in the region. As of December 31, 2007, it held $14.0 billion in deposits. Chevy Chase Bank had more than 290 branches in

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, and the

District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

, and claimed to have the largest network of ATMs in the Washington area. According to ABA routing information it was based in

Laurel, Maryland Laurel is a city in Maryland, United States, located midway between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore on the banks of the Patuxent River, in northern Prince George's County. Its population was 30,060 at the 2020 census. Founded as a mill town i ...

, while the bank's

headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

offices were in downtown

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Located just northwest of Washington, D.C., it is a major business and government center of the Washington metropolitan region ...

, at the corner of

Wisconsin Avenue Wisconsin Avenue is a major thoroughfare in Washington, D.C., and its Maryland suburbs. The southern terminus begins in Georgetown just north of the Potomac River, at an intersection with K Street under the elevated Whitehurst Freeway. Wisco ...

and East-West Highway. According to its FDIC certificate, the firm was headquartered in

McLean, Virginia McLean ( ) is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community and census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population of the community was 50,773 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is ...

. This was before being acquired by McLean based

, not after.

Competition

Its main competitors were the retail banking divisions of larger, supraregional companies such as

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (Bank of America) (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in ...

BB&T BB&T Corporation (previously known as the Branch Banking and Trust Company) was one of the largest banking and financial services firms in the United States, based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In 2019, BB&T announced its intentions to merge ...

, SunTrust Banks, and

Wachovia Wachovia was a diversified financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before its acquisition by Wells Fargo and Company in 2008, Wachovia was the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States, based on total asset ...

, and so emphasized its local nature and community involvement in its advertising. The bank used a

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, ...

portrayal of

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

as its advertising

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Mascots are als ...

, who repeated the

tagline In entertainment, a tagline (alternatively spelled tag line) is a short text which serves to clarify a thought for, or is designed with a form of, dramatic effect. Many tagline slogans are reiterated phrases associated with an individual, so ...

''The Leading Local Bank'' in its

television commercial A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

Litigation

Chevy Chase Bank was the subject of two national

class action A class action is a form of lawsuit. Class Action may also refer to: * ''Class Action'' (film), 1991, starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio * Class Action (band), a garage house band * "Class Action" (''Teenage Robot''), a 2002 e ...

lawsuits for violations of the

Truth in Lending Act The Truth in Lending Act (TILA) of 1968 is a United States federal law designed to promote the informed use of consumer credit, by requiring disclosures about its terms and cost to standardize the manner in which costs associated with borrowing ...

of 1968 involving as many as 7,000 mortgage borrowers. A federal district court ruled against the bank in January 2007, but the ruling was stayed pending appeal to the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the federal district ruling in September, 2008. The bank also agreed to pay $16 million to settle a class action alleging it charged late fees and high interest rates to credit card holders, although it denied wrongdoing.

References

External links

Chevy Chase Bank website

{{Authority control Banks based in Maryland Companies based in Bethesda, Maryland Companies based in McLean, Virginia Privately held companies based in Maryland Banks established in 1955 Banks disestablished in 2010 Capital One 2009 mergers and acquisitions 1955 establishments in Maryland Defunct banks of the United States Defunct companies based in Maryland