Capital One Scam

[karnic3881]

Too much to type... but I am angry, not so much for me, I luckily got out of it, but for others! This isn't right and shouldn't we be able to do something about it? Please read this for background from my Blog:

<i>Recently, when I was considering refinancing my auto loan, I used LowerMyBills.com and received offers from various companies, including Capital One. I hadn't had the best experience with Capital One through my credit cards, but they offered me the best deal, and I had planned to go with them. However, I let the paperwork sit too long, had to have it notarized, and that caused me to again re-think the situation (it would be best to wait and see what happens as far as Nick's job, etc.). Anyhow, today I found this post over at Wenchypoo's Warehouse of Frugal Wisdom... and I am angry.

This exact situation happened to me, at the beginning of this year. I hadn't used my Capital One credit card and was just paying it down. Then I noticed a $4 charge on my statement. I called immediately and was informed that I was sent a letter one or two months ago, and it informed me of the new monthly member charge. If I had a problem with that, I would've had to answer at the time I received the letter. Now I was really frustrated and upset. So it's not okay that I am not alright with this fee right now, but it would've been okay back then? Made no sense to me. I was told (even after speaking to a supervisor) that they had no authority to waive this fee permanently, but they'd waive the fee for that particular month. I was on the phone for 45 minutes plus and got absolutely nowhere, even after threatening that I'd pay off the card immediately and cancel. Capital One did not care ~ they took my bluff, and I followed through with my promise. So now I am angry on behalf of all the other customers, that maybe don't have the ability to do as I did and get rid of the card. Ugh. Another point of frustration for me was that it was obvious that I was speaking to a rep directly from India ~ and it was extremely difficult to comprehend what she was saying.

If you are a Capital One customer, beware. I have also heard many horror stories from close friends and family.

*BTW ~ When I asked the CO rep why the fee was established, her response was "for all the services we provide to you, the customer." By this time I was pretty angry, so I admit I was snotty. I asked her to enlighten me to what those services were, since I wasn't aware. Apparently being able to contact them on the phone, access their website, and access your account 24/7 is something that NO OTHER credit cards offer....

I think Capital One should hear how angry I am at how they misled me, and many others.

I really am not sure what can be done, if anything can be done, to 'out' them on their faux pas, but knowing my complaint was sent will make me feel better. It'll make me feel even better if you do it too. Here's the link on <A HREF="http://capitalone.com/contactus/index.shtml">how to contact Capital One</A>, whether by e-mail, phone, or written correspondence.

[baselle]

Thanks for the info. I checked my Capital One account, and I didn't see this charge. I'll keep my eye peeled for it.

FWIW - I have no car loan with Cap One, and I don't keep a revolving balance.

[karnic3881]

I am not sure if all Capital One credit cards have it, I don't know? I don't have an auto loan through them either, but had considered it. Glad I didn't. BTW - here is the post I was talking about in my rant - it wasn't edited in and is the background of the whole thing, from another blog I found it on: http://wenchwisdom.blogspot.com/2005...e-attacks.html

[jhd815]

After reading your post it reminded me of the commercials on tv and radio for Washington Mutual ... lady walks up to teller and tells them the bank printed the wrong address on her checks and they'll have to reprint them. Teller says "that will be a reprinting check fee, a conversation fee, a transaction fee" Lady says "what?" Teller says "oh, that will be an emotional outburst fee, those are steep"... etc.

Just goes to show you that the cc companies can pretty much impose any sort of fee they want as long as they come up with some fancy name for it. What's next? Paper statement fee? ink fee? logo fee? putting information on your statement fee?

I too have a Cap One account and I will watch it closely.

Here's another Cap One story ... About two years ago I called Cap One to negotiate a lower APR but they wouldn't budge. So I decided then and there that I would use my CapOne card to make only small purchases where I didn't want to use cash and that I would pay off the balance every month. While it may not make much difference to them, it does put a smile on my face when I look at my statement and am able to see that they aren't making any interest off my account with them.

The main reason I didn't cancel this account is because it's one of my oldest accounts and I don't want that to affect my credit rating.

[doglar]

Capital One credit card was my favorite CC (it and Lowe's CapOne). In Jun 02 got a 6 mo 2.9% offer which then went up to 8 % and a 0% for 9 mo on Lowe's. Just as they probably knew that balance was going to get transferred, the rate was reduced to under 2% for the life of the balance. This was amazing I thought, and did not require any prompting or hagling from me (and xfered another balance). In 10/04 I had no need for the card, but still kept it because it seemed like such a great card, one to keep for life. But finally I closed it, because it seemed like perhaps the management had changed, insulting deals were coming around and it had a huge credit limit which may have affected my ability to get other credit. Similarly, I closed 3 MBNA accounts because their ridiculous "deals" and had huge credit limits. I don't think MBNA could offer me anything interesting nowdays. But it seems they leave me alone now...phew! Every now and then I hagle with discover for 0% rate, which they do not give up easilly "3% is pretty good!" - so is 0%!!!! I reply. Capital One would not go for it.

[timeouttiffany]

Recently I decided to take advantage of a Lowes Capital One card. big mistake ! When I went to make my first payment I tried to register online at the capital one website I was told that my account was not supported and I wouldnt be able to make online payments, so i called their 800 number and found out if I wanted to make a payment over the phone it would cost me a $10 fee to make my min $10 payment. I asked if I could take a payment into my local Lowes store and of course that wasnt an option either. by this time I was to late to make a payment by mail so I paid my fee in protest. The next following bill came and since this company had made it so hard to make a payment I decided to send my payment in extra early, I sent the payment in 15 days before the due day figuring it would make it by the dute date because it was only 2 states away. I waited for my payment to clear from my bank or post to my capital one card. Nothing happened I called the phone number on the back of my card 2 days after my due date and I was over my limit???? I kindly asked why, they told me my payment was late!!?? I had been charged a late fee which put my account over the limit, which then an over the limit fee too! They waived the fee's as a one time courtesy but give me a break! I have no problem with my regular capitalone card but BUYER BEWARE of the LOWES CAPITAL ONE CARD. Impossible to make payments, no online service with this card, extreme fee's for phone payments and slow prossessing time on payments, with likely fee's you dont deserve.

[lorlan]

I went through this too with the same Capital One Lowes card. Couldn't pay at the store, online and I refused to pay a fee by paying by phone. I decided to send in my payment days ahead of the due date and I also paid at the post office for a delivery confirmation. Found out about a big scam Capital One is pulling! Payment was due by 3:00 p.m. and confirmation was for 4:10 a.m. same day. I was not late since payment was way ahead of the 3:00 p.m. deadline and I had proof!! but I was charged a late fee. I called up and went through hoops but finally got refunded the fee. Capital One stated they do not do the processing of their mail until 12:00 a.m. Why have a blanket 3:00 p.m. deadline if none of the mail is time date stamped accordingly upon arrival. (my mailed payment arrived in their morning mail) Makes no sense. I reported this entire incident to Lowe's upper management about Capital One. Makes Lowes look bad, don't you think? I previously was issued before this incident a Lowe's credit card after complaining that I couldn't pay at the store my Capital One Lowe's card. I could tell by the Lowe's employee's expression that she heard it all before. I no longer use the Capital One Lowe's card but have other Capital One cards. Capital One's staff is rude and in a recent issue lied repeatedly to me. They don't give a hoot whether you stay with them or not. They charge fees anytime they get a chance. My advice if mailing in a payment to them is to get a delivery confirmation. It's free online with the post office or .60. Well worth any late fee they try to squeeze you for!

[tinapbeana]

Originally Posted by jhd815

Just goes to show you that the cc companies can pretty much impose any sort of fee they want as long as they come up with some fancy name for it. What's next? Paper statement fee? ink fee? logo fee? putting information on your statement fee?

Yes, you'd think this should just be funny, but I actually do pay at least one 'Paper Statement Fee' (or whatever it's called) with my State Farm Insurance. I pay my auto insurance monthly with them, and they won't/can't take a credit card for those payments they must be mailed in. For me to mail it in, they have to send me a bill, therefore I have to get charged the 'Paper Statement Fee'. But the rates are so reasonable that I'd be losing money to switch!

[allyourworth]

After the new bankruptcy bill became law, Capital Ones Vice President was quoted in an online article that the newly bankrupt were "itching to get their mitts on plastic"
and would "swallow very high interest rates to get it.
Not surprising , Capital One floods the mailboxes of the newly bankrupt with offers of credit.
Funny and shameful how some of these CC co's go after those who they know are high risk after crying to Congress for years about all the money they were losing from those who defaulted.

Capital One is itching to get their mitts on money from those who can least afford it. They are nothing but low life predators.
They will never be in my wallet!

[PRICEPLUS]

I have capital one and I pay it off when I use it. They will be nasty but to them it is a volume game. Until the bottom line starts to hurt them they will continue to abuse folks.

Get even by telling as many people how crappy their service is and ask those people to tell as many people as they can. It costs money to get people to sign up...It costs you nothing to spread the news about them as widelyas possible.....You can hurt a company that hurts you..it just takes a little effort on your part!

[poundwise]

I doubt seriously that there is a single credit card issuer who wouldn't, and hasn't, pulled exactly the same or similar stunts. It is not a scam any more than the whole industry is (and I admit that is debatable.)

The lesson for us all is that we should all watch our accounts closely. Read everything the credit card companies send us carefully. And, ultimately, put or keep ourselves in a position to not be at their mercy (by not carrying a large balance, for instance.)

[poundwise]

Wow. I just noticed how old this thread is/was.

[PetMom]

great tip on buying proof the envelope was sent at the post office.

A lot of credit cards love to tack on those high dollar (usually $30.00) late fees and then run up the interest because of the late payment.

Discover once told me when I knew I had mailed a payment in plenty of time that although it may have arrived it had not been 'processed' and this can sometimes take a week or so - which put it in the late category.

Credit card companies are full of these little tricks to make more money.

[hrbatyfan]

Capital One is ridiculously shady. I'd avoid them like the plague.

[PRICEPLUS]

Poundwise, I gotta tell ya I think the whole CC industry is a scam bent on hooking people and keeping them hooked. The only way to win at the game is not to play. Just my .02 cents!

[Gruntina]

Originally Posted by PRICEPLUS

Poundwise, I gotta tell ya I think the whole CC industry is a scam bent on hooking people and keeping them hooked. The only way to win at the game is not to play. Just my .02 cents!

Sigh....... I literly recieve 15 mails a week from CO alone! I do not want to have a card under them and they were even sneaky enough to find my old married name and send me duplicates mail. Just that alone is a turn-off... oh how I wish I could not see one more mail from them!

[tabbycat31]

Capitol ONe is the company that hurt me the most when I had my identity stolen (from a former friend). I found out she did a "check by phone" with them using my checking acct (I had owed her $$ and wrote her a check). When I called CO (I Hate to use those initials for such a horrible company because they're also my initials) about it their response was "we don't care whose account we get the $$ from as long as we get the $" and the operator did not care that my money was stolen by them.

[neatdesign]

As a former CapOne employee, I'd like to shed some light on some of the things touched on in this thread.

Spontaneously-added $4 monthly membership fee -- This is actually not that common, but it does happen. CapOne tended to add this fee to accounts that were subprime and/or costing CapOne a lot of money to maintain. (A good example is the former Kmart cardline.) Sometimes the fee is added and that's that. Other times the customers are given the chance to opt-out by sending in a coupon by a certain deadline date. If customers chose to opt-out of the fee (or APR increase, that happens, too), then they won't get the fee but they can also no longer charge to their cards. Charging to the cards triggers the fee.

Paying Lowe's cards in stores -- The reason people who have Lowe's Visa cards through CapOne can't make payments on their accounts at Lowe's stores is because the cards are through CapOne, NOT Lowe's. The Lowe's chain has its own store credit card, but it is completely separate from the CapOne Lowe's card. Lowe's cards issued by CapOne are wholly managed by CapOne, so the payments can only be made through CapOne. Lowe's the chain has nothing to do with it. The only thing that they share, really, is the name on the card.

No online payments for Lowe's cards -- This has been a HUGE irritation not only for the CapOne Lowe's card customers but also for the customer service reps. I cannot emphasize enough how much the CSRs at CapOne WANT ALL customers to have the online payment option. Why? Because the CSRs hate getting screamed at by customers when they discover they can't pay online, even though they have other CapOne cards they can pay online just fine. Even worse, CapOne did (does?) a horrible job at alerting their Lowe's customers that they DO NOT have that option. Basically, most customers didn't discover this until they really needed it as an option, and nearly all of them don't want to pay $10 to make a phone payment, which really gets them steamed. CapOne has been saying they were going to set up the online payment option for Lowe's cards as far back as January 2003, when I was hired. Sounds like they still haven't done it. My advice, then and now, is to do online payments through your bank instead. Just make sure you don't wait until the last minute -- do it at least a week in advance, 10 days is better.

Sending payments via express mail -- As someone who used to work in CapOne's Payment Investigations dept, I can't tell you how much frustration this causes customers. This is what most customers don't know and/or understand: The payment address on your statement is for payments ONLY sent via REGULAR MAIL. That is, with a 39¢ stamp on it, preferably in the envelope that came with your statement. Sending a payment to that address via express mail -- FedEx, UPS, DHL or USPS Priority Mail -- will most likely DELAY the posting of your payment, NOT accelerate it. That's because the payment address on your statement is not set up to receive that sort of mail -- so they have to send it to the address it SHOULD have gone to, and most likely that is in another state (Missouri, I think). Once it gets to THAT address (the one supposed to be used for payments sent via express mail), THEN they process it and post it to your account. But obviously that takes time; I've seen it take as long as 3-4 WEEKS. So while you might have proof that someone signed for it at the Regular Mail address, CapOne will say, "But you sent it to the wrong address, so we have to go by the day it got to the right address." In the meantime, you might get a late fee, an overlimit fee, a jacked-up APR, and who knows what else.

So, BEWARE. If you absolutely must send a payment via express mail, call CapOne FIRST and ask for the express mailing address.

Indian reps -- A lot of people probably don't know this, but if you get an Indian CapOne rep on the phone, you CAN request to be transferred to an American rep. You don't have to say why, just ask politely. Whatever you do, PLEASE don't say something like, "I can't understand you people" or "I don't trust talking to a foreigner about my money" -- it's tacky and insulting to the person you're saying it to.

~ Jenney

[tinapbeana]

jenney:

thanks for stepping up to the plate and being willing to take some of the heat on this issue by speaking from the other side. i used to train customer service for a major telecom company, and things that make business sense from the company end are sometimes difficult to explain to a customer who, understandably, simply wants the situation taken care of.

bravo

[allyourworth]

Originally Posted by Gruntina

Sigh....... I literly recieve 15 mails a week from CO alone! I do not want to have a card under them and they were even sneaky enough to find my old married name and send me duplicates mail. Just that alone is a turn-off... oh how I wish I could not see one more mail from them!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Crapital One no longer sends me pre screened offers .
When they were flooding my mailbox I sent back several of their offers in their postage free envelope along with a note telling them exactly how I felt about them.
Someone read all my rants cause they stopped. LOL!