Capital One - Not In My Wallet!

Beware of Capital One!

Think it’s hard to get a credit card? If you have a Capital One card it might be even more difficult to get out of it. I’ll try to explain my ongoing frustrations with Capital One as briefly as possible.

• I noticed in February of this year that the fixed interest rate that I have had for the past 10 years had suddenly become a variable interest rate (which was much higher) and it had changed sometime late last year without any notice. Capital One said they had sent a notification of this change but I did not receive one. When asked why, after 10 years of being a customer in good standing, they would suddenly change my rate they replied that the economy had forced the management to make this decision.

• I immediately opened a new account with my credit union with the same fixed rate I had before and even better terms. (props to Eastern Financial Florida Credit Union)

• I paid my Capital One account in full and called to cancel the account. The agent read a paragraph that said, among other things, that the account would remain open until it had a zero balance for 1 month. I protested this condition but was told there was no way to get around it. After more protesting I finally convinced them to put a hold on my account so nothing would get accidentally charged which would interrupt this unavoidable computer cycle.

• A month went by with no charges. However, at the end of the billing cycle, Capital One charged finance charges from the prior balance to my account even though they had assured me at the time I called to cancel that my account was paid in full.

• I immediately used my reward points cash to pay this balance leaving a credit balance of $4.16.

• After 30 more days (now 60 days total) my account remains open.

• Yesterday and today I spent nearly 3 hours talking to 6 different agents, 3 of which claimed the title of Senior Account Manager. I insisted that I wanted my account closed TODAY. I was told by all of them that there was absolutely no way they can manually close the account. No Accountant, Programmer, Lawyer, President or any other being was capable of closing the account. It must run through the monthly computer cycles and it might be the end of May before my account will finally be closed. I never raised my voice, got angry, or forceful in those entire 3 hours – and neither did they (I’ll give them that) but nothing was accomplished – my account remains open.

• I was also informed that a credit balance on my account wasn’t a zero balance, and it may take up to 90 days to refund that $4.16. (!!!)

• It should also be noted that in the past Capital One repeatedly ignored my request to cap my credit limit and they continued to raise it without my permission. When asked why they said the computer was not able to put in this limitation.

• The problem is that large open credit lines can damage my ability to seek credit elsewhere. I may have difficulties from a simple thing like getting a new cell phone to buying a car or a house. Having this account continue to be open is a BIG PROBLEM and I am at the mercy of a computer system that cannot be controlled and a company that doesn’t care about my credit score.

• Since Capital One is unable to control their computer system at all, I feel it is my duty to warn other people about this and I will do so daily in bigger and bigger ways. I promise to end my “Beware of Capital One” campaign as soon as my account is closed in good standing. It is now up to them to determine how long this might go on. Not many people read my little Blog – but I am a member of many Blogs that do get read by thousands and I pledge to use those and other avenues to warn others until this matter is resolved and my account is closed in good standing. I can be quite creative – I hope they get this resolved quickly!