Capital One credit card ...trouble!

[barend]

My wife had a platinum CapitalOne credit card, last year she paid of the balance and called on the same day to tell them to close the account. The woman she talked to, said that that was no problem, got all the security confirmation to close the account and told her to cut up the card and mail it in along with a written request confirming the phone conversation. You know where this is going, don't you?

Lo and behold she gets a statement which she obviously ignored because the account is closed, right?! Apparently not, they went ahead and assessed their annual membership fee and then started charges late pay fees. By the thhe time we figure out wat is what, they are claiming she owes almost $150. So she calls and is told the account couldn't be closed because it should be in writing , we already did that I believe, but, i went ahead and wrote a nice letter requesting the account be closed, because she was told that would take care of it, the balance erased and the account would be closed. Wrong!!!!! :doh:We get a letter stating that the account needs to be closed by talking to a representative :confused07::confused07:. So I call Brenda, who is visiting her mother and tell her what they said, she calls them, explains the whole thing for the, what, fifth time and is told accounts can only be closed in writing :bang head::bang head: I think we've been there??? She talked to them again last night and was told she did not notify them to close the account in a timely manner (I guess the day you pay of the balance is not timely enough) and therefore acquired the annual fee, of course they won't close the account with an open balance either.

 

I got three words: WTF?????

[etcswjoe]

Call the FTC 1-877-FTC-HELP and see if they can do anything for you. Talk to your bank and see if they have any avenues to help you out.

 

The first rep she talked to should have told here to wait till the statment showed the card being paid off before cancelling it.

 

Have all the dates, times and person you spoke to and keep copies of all the corespondance you will probally need them.

 

I wish you the best.

[Bubber]

Write a 2nd letter and tell them you already cancelled it by phone and in writing and that the next letter they receive will be from your lawyer and or the Attorney General of your state.

 

[Carbon_One]

I have a Capitol One card and was going to close it out in the near future. During the last week or so I get announcements from them that they've bought out the Best Buy and a Union Plus Master Cards I have. It seems now that with all their sudden wealth they have money to spend. So far they'll continue to have the card holders using & paying the same cards as in the past but who knows what the future holds there. You can't win.

Larry

[ediddy]

I've been through similar things over the years and have learned what you have to do when dealing with companies. First, get the name of the person you talk to and document the date and time. I even ask for their extension number. If I have to send a letter I keep a copy of the letter. Last and most important, never, never assume that someone does what they tell you they will do. I follow up with a phone call in 7 days and keep following up until I confirm it has been done. It's a shame you have to do this but you can't rely on someone doing what they say they will do.

[JohnMidnight]

Sounds familure. A friend of mine had such problems. Funny, even got told that he didn't specify a "when to close the account"

 

The majority of the details are fuzzy, but I do know that he had to go to court for it, and thru it all, got everything squared away. Capital One paid for everything in the end, and more than likely a few people lost their jobs

 

And his dads shop... no longer accepts Capital One cards

[SilvrT]

I get their solicitations in the mail at least once a month to sign up for a card ... I am guaranteed approval ... but when you read their "fine print" ... the solicitation goes directly into file "G".

[Bobby G]

I've been in the wholesale and retail finance business for 28 years, and I have a piece of advice for you for future reference....when you pay off your credit cards, DON'T CLOSE THE ACCOUNT, EVEN IF THERE IS AN ANNUAL FEE!!! Your credit score is based in large part on the ratio of credit availability vs. existing debt. The more open available credit you have, the better the overall ratio is and the greater your score will be. Also, by using open lines of credit once in awhile and paying them off promptly, you will also improve your score.

 

This won't help you with this debacle you currently have, but keep it in mind for future reference.

 

On CapOne, they just acquired all of HSBC's lines of business in the U.S. (including other credit card issuers like Merrick Bank), and this has created massive confusion with their customer service folks. So good luck dealing with them. I have a CapOne Mastercard, and also an HSBC VISA card, both with no balances, and I wouldn't touch either one with a ten foot pole right now. But I'm certainly not going to close either one for the reasons stated above. What a mess!

 

[PGunn]

I had a card with them a few years ago and was making payments on time and low and behold they call me one night and inform me I missed a payment. Well somehow my payment arrived 2 weeks late to them which I know for a fact didn't happen but you can't win so my interest went from 7% to 28%. Well the next day I sent a registered letter with the full payment to the Head of collections at Capital One informing him of my enclosed full payment on my account and to close my account because of what I believed to be shady business practices. Well the phone calls and apologies that followed were a nice attempt but sorry you bagged me once and that will never happen again.

My advice on them... run as far and as fast as you can the other way.......

[BoomerCPO]

Sooner or later folks will realize just how much power these darn Banks have and start cutting up their credit cards....until then the scalpings will continue.

Boomer....who pays with cash or Debit card....NO fees to the Bank.

[midnightrider1300]

I get their solicitations in the mail at least once a month to sign up for a card ... I am guaranteed approval ... but when you read their "fine print" ... the solicitation goes directly into file "G".

 

i cut their solicitations up and add more crap and mail it back in the postage paid envelope. they have to pay for the weight of the envelope.. I don't get that crap any more after doing that for about a year...

[SilvrT]

i cut their solicitations up and add more crap and mail it back in the postage paid envelope. they have to pay for the weight of the envelope.. I don't get that crap any more after doing that for about a year...

 

LMAO... good idea... I think I will do that to them and anyone else that includes a PPd envelope.

[bongobobny]

Hmmmm, credit cards... If they ain't fee free, they ain't for me!!

 

Sorry that you are having such a hassle with them! Hey, what's not in your wallet?!!?

[Redneck]

If you play with a snake your going to get bit. The only way to prevent getting bit is don't play with snakes.

[msshearin]

I would not deal with Cap one even if I wanted a credit card just because of their stupid commercials!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[flb_78]

DON'T CLOSE THE ACCOUNT, EVEN IF THERE IS AN ANNUAL FEE!!! Your credit score is based in large part on the ratio of credit availability vs. existing debt. The more open available credit you have, the better the overall ratio is and the greater your score will be. Also, by using open lines of credit once in awhile and paying them off promptly, you will also improve your score.

 

So it's better to have a bunch of cards you're not using just laying around? I mean no one ever has their identity stolen and retailer's and bank's online security is absolutely bulletproof so there's no way that anyone could get ahold of a credit card number that hasn't been used in 5 or 6 years....

 

Close the damn accounts and QUIT USING CREDIT CARDS!!

 

The only thing a person should have to borrow money for is a house and even then there are limitations and rules on how to do it properly.

 

It's amazing how much you quit caring about your credit score when you quit using credit and only buy things you can afford.

[flb_78]

Sooner or later folks will realize just how much power these darn Banks have and start cutting up their credit cards....until then the scalpings will continue.

Boomer....who pays with cash or Debit card....NO fees to the Bank.

 

That's the way to live.

[BradT]

Hmmmm, credit cards... If they ain't fee free, they ain't for me!!

 

Me too and pay it off right after using it

 

I used it twice in Michigan in two different stores on same day and then for the next two days someone racked up 1,500 in gambling fees. Bank canceled credit card and called me. I told them it was not me and they sent me a paper I checked a box confirming it was not me and sent it back, never heard from the bank again on that issue 3 years ago

 

Brad

[bongobobny]

Yupper Brad!! I pretty much exclusively use plastic and besides being fee free it better give me a cut of those transaction fees they charge the merchant every time you use the card! I prefer the cards that give 5% cash back like the GM card. So far I have redeemed over $8000 on new cars thru the years and already have almost $1000 for the next car next summer. I am constantly redeeming restaurant gift cards as well! I don't use any card that is less than 1% cash back. Yes, pay them off in full every month as it would be really stupid to pay 14% interest to get 1% to 5% back!!

 

I also take out an "interest free for a year" card every year for major purchases and emergencies and make sure I have them paid off when the year is up. It's hard to come up with several thousand dollars at once but with 12 or more months to stretch it out with monthly payments of one or two hundred dollars. As a matter of fact I'm using Capital One this year and besides being interest free they also give me money back!!!

 

Yes, over the years there have been "incidents" but they have never cost me a dime! Like you mentioned, the credit card company will call to verify any out of country or out of state purchase that seems out of the ordinary. A word of advice, if you are planning a vacation and are travelling, let your credit card company know in advance the location and dates of travel so they know you may be buying some trinket in East Noweresville...

[FROG MAN]

GM Card was just sold to Capitol One. So was my Yamaha Card it's Capitol One now. Good advice not to close the accts for credit score and credit history sake but make sure you monitor the activity religiously.

[etcswjoe]

GM Card was just sold to Capitol One. So was my Yamaha Card it's Capitol One now. Good advice not to close the accts for credit score and credit history sake but make sure you monitor the activity religiously.

 

 

If you are going to make a large purchase like a house the available credit on open cards will count against you.

[bongobobny]

Yes it will Joe, but you also need to weed out your cards well in advance of buying a home, etc as any activity even cancelling cards, and doing credit score checks actually reduces your credit score as well! Found that out a few years ago when buying a new car. No problem with my credit score personally but it did change it slightly doing credit scores just before shopping for a car...

[loehring]

Are you sure you didn't talk to "Peggy"?

[radian]

Capitol One abuses their customers!

 

Besides this story, I heard of several instances where one person CALLED in their payment ahead of time, or one MAILED in a whole week ahead of the due date, and Capitol One would 'convieniently' not recieve the payment until just AFTER the due date.

Thereby then charging their customer the Late Fees, Sometimes Over the limit fees, and of course, raising the finance charge to the maximum.

 

STAY AWAY from Capital One!

 

[spear]

The pillion and I live off our credit cards.

We have a Visa account for general, everyday purchases and a MasterCard for fuel and groceries. Buying groceries on the MasterCard earns us a four to eight cents a litre discount on our fuels (petrol and diesel.)

We usually run up around $2,500 a month and ALWAYS pay on time - every time.

Works well for us.