Capital One is anything but Capital (Capital One)

Member Name: Charris2002

Product:	Capital One
Date:	22/11/08 (591 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Basic Credit Card Company

Disadvantages: Poor communication and processes

My wife has a Capital One Premier credit card and has done for quite some time without any problems. She opted for Capital One as it is a basic credit card, no real bells or whistles with this particular card, no inducements to perhaps overuse the card in order to gain such incentives as nectar points, air miles or similar.

The interest rates on this particular credit card are relatively high compared to other credit card companies (approximately 35% APR) but, if used wisely, this is manageable.

As with most credit, full repayment within a set period allows you to avoid any interest charge whatsoever on purchases, although not on balance transfers or cash withdrawals. Neither are you are hit with an annual fee for this account

Capital One charges for late payments, exceeding your limit etc were initially high, but have been reduced in line along with the ther credit card companies. The current charges are now £12 for late payment, exceeding agreed limit, returned payments or returned credit card cheques.

Statements are always issued in good time to allow payments to reach them - via bank payment or cheque, although it easier to pay via direct debit or online banking. Where they fall down is their ability to accept payments via Debit Cards - always useful if you have been away, post has been late etc.

Another down side is the amount of mail Capital One insist on sending to customers - everything ranging from applications for a Capital One card (to existing customers!) to credit cards cheque books etc.

Where Capital One really fall down is, unsurprisingly, their customer service. My wife has had no late payments, never gone over her agreed credit limit, and has, in fact, always made additional payments to keep the outstanding balance very low.

Everything should be rosy........except it's not that simple!
Her credit card has recently been renewed and she has chosen not to activate the new card yet as she doesn't want to be tempted into using it unneccessarily. It has been pointed in some comments that it would have been easier simply to activate the card and that activation is to ensure it has reached the correct person. Fine but having spoken to Capital One and informed them why she didn't want to so and having been told by them that whilst the situation is slightly unusual, it is not unique for people to choose not to activate their card, she has chosen not to do so.

Following a series of increasingly rude and incessant phone calls urging her to activate the card, Capital One are now apparently in a state of utter confusion as she has refused to do so until she need the facility.

However, the normal day to day calls from Capital One have been fine - at one point, the telephone rep apologising for calling as my wifes account was in perfect order and she was unable to work out why she calling my wife ...

We then began receiving calls from Capital Ones collections department.....they advised in a series of increasingly rude calls (for example, I answered the phone and enquired who was calling and was told ' Just get her to her phone!') that:

Firstly, there was a block on her card as she hadn't activated it....
so she would not be able to use it

The next call informed her that her details were to be referred to a debt collection agency and that this would result in an adverse credit reference report. She requested they examine her account details, which they then confirmed were fine, well within credit limit, timely payments, etc and that her account was, in fact, in perfect order. This, apparently, made no difference to the fact that it was to be referred to a collection agency....

The following call from collections informed her that they suspected fraudulent activity on the card in August...my wife enquired why she had not been informed of this.....and went through each transaction to confirm that she had actually carried out these transactions. She was then informed that this was classed as 'abnormal activity' (despite being well within her credit limit and confirming yet again the account was in perfect order.....) and that it had been used 'too much' in August - although within credit limit and full repayment of the outstanding balance.

They then demanded that the only way to avoid her details being referred to a collections agency was that she pay off her existing limit in full (not a great amount but it's the principle).

In summary, my advice is to avoid Capital One at all costs because once something 'goes wrong' - although in this case, I can't exactly see what she has done wrong other than using, or not wanting to use, her credit facility at this point.

The two departments at Capital One continued to advise on one hand that her account is in perfect order and that she simply ignore the calls from the other department as the respective departments don't know what they are talking about....

It is sorted now due to the fact that we both cleared balances, cut up the cards and cancelled the credit cards.....
Nightmare company, best avoided.

Summary: One to avoid.................