Capital One is a bank holding company best known for credit cards, alongside auto lending and a retail banking operation built partly through acquiring other regional banks. Unlike many card issuers that outsource the actual bank behind their cards, Capital One issues and services its own credit cards directly, giving it more control over underwriting and a larger share of the interest income and fees those cards generate. The company built much of its early growth on data-driven underwriting, using detailed data analysis to price credit risk and target card offers more precisely than competitors at the time. Capital One's earnings are closely tied to consumer credit trends, since a large share of its revenue depends on cardholders carrying balances and on how many borrowers default during economic downturns.