MONEY MONEY (Capital One)

Member Name: leeanne160480

Product:	Capital One
Date:	20/11/08 (232 review reads)
Rating:

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I've had a Capital One card for a few years now. This is my 2nd time at having a card from them and they are alright I guess. I read a few reports of how they aren't very good, and yes I admit I haven't been entirely happy with everything they have ever done, but that's nothing new.

I first applied for a Card in April 2003. I went onto their website www.capitalone.co.uk and filled out the details to get a card. They have a few different cards available depending on your circumstances. For example they have

A card that helps you build up your credit score if you've had credit problems,

A cashback card, that lets you earn money while you spend on the card - fair enough you may not earn much but you are still earning a bit.

A Platinum Card, which has a higher spending limit.

You can choose what card to apply for, or it has a kind of search function on the site where you can answer questions about your credit score, any finance problems and it recommends the card for you. Also if you were apply for the Platinum Card and was turned down due to not meeting their critera, then they could maybe offer you a card with a lower credit limit and higher apr on it.

You get to choose the design of your card as well. They have a standard card design or you can choose 1 with pictures on it such as dog, lightening, blocks, whales and so on. I have the Dog one, who is happily chewing a ball!

The first card I got was the one for Credit problems. The credit range for this card is between £200-£2500 and I got a limit of £1000, which sounded not bad. Unfortunately the APR was quite high at 23% for purchases and 28% for cash advances. I had set up a direct debit to pay this each month and it was set to pay the minimum amount each month, which I think was about £46 if I has spent the whole £1000, which I had by this point, so half of that payment went to the balance and the other half was swallowed up by the interest charge.

Everything was going ok with this card until Christmas time came. I didn't think about my payment being delayed due to Christmas bank hoildays and I got a snippy letter in late January to say they had gave me a £30 late payment charge and since this charge had put me over my credit then they had added on another £30 charge.

I phoned them straight up and said that the payment date had never changed and it was the payment date they had set for me originally. I admitted I hadn't thought about the Christmas holidays delaying the payment and I thought they would take into account for this. They wouldn't budge and said it was my responsibility to ensure my payments were made on time, which maybe it was, but you know!

Later down the line I got into a bit of financial difficulties and asked them to Freeze the interest on the account to allow me to start paying the card off at a reduced amount. They said no, so I had to skip a few payments and get reffered to their collections department who accepted payment of £50 a month. When I was paying £46 a month, surely paying £4 more is bad? Not really as all the payments were going to the debt and the interest was frozen. They also gave me an early settlement figure so I saved up and paid them off as they knocked 30% off the bill. So as of October 2006 I was finally clear of the debt.

Did I learn? Did I heck. I am signed up to a freebie website and in April 2007 I saw an ad on here about getting the card and free balance transfers. Again I was drawn to apply thinking my problems in the past with this card would get me turned down flat. my online application was sucessful and I got another card about 2 weeks later. Again I got a £1000 limit and was told they would monitor how I run my account and in 4 months time they would review the account and possibly increase my credit limit.

4 months later and they had added another £300 onto my limit so I now had £1300 limit. Not bad I thought! At this time I had a few things outstanding and I know it wasn't ideal but I used the card to pay the things off and just be left with the 1 payment. I had ran up the whole credit limit and my payments were £63 a month. The APR has went up now and it is 30.6% on purchases and cash advance, which is certainly high even as Credit Cards go, but I was kind of happy that I didn't have 6 bills to pay and only had the 1!

I still use the card to this day and although I have only used a bit of the limit it comes in handy for any emergencies. I know the Credit limit is quite high, but I know if I was to spend it all then I know how much I will be paying a month.

Not the best Credit Card out there, but it does for me!

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