Capital one: A-ok (Capital One)

Member Name: derpigeon

Product:	Capital One
Date:	14/11/01 (524 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: readily accesible

Disadvantages: complicated add-ons

I’ve been hearing recently a lot of negative things about Capital One. My brother had an account with them a few years ago and said they were awful. I have had an account with them for over a year now, and have not had a single problem.

As a student money is a big deal. And although the initial credit limit of £200 is not massive it’s a reasonable amount and fairly easy to stick to. I did recently breach my credit limit. The card was stopped so I couldn’t get any further into the red, which was fine. I received a letter a week or so later informing me of this fact and asking me to rectify it if I had not already done so. I had so there was no problem and only a small charge. Well, I say small, it was 18 pounds, which actually upset me, but that’s what you get for breaking the contract. On the other hand, unlike many banks there was no charge for the letter informing me I’d become overdrawn.

Do be careful though, the bank is not there for your benefit, its there to make money, and so many of the insurance and payment protection is largely unnecessary cost. You can get the card protection plan that costs thirty pounds for three years, or twelve pounds a year otherwise. I do have the payment protection but not for any real reason, I’m a student so not actually employed. At the moment it’s costing me something under two percent per month, which is normally around a pound. When you first open an account with them you have to phone a certain number to activate the card. And I must admit I received a fair amount of pressure to get card protection, which may not be a bad step, but even after telling the person that I was covered on another card, he still sounded unconvinced; I presume that this motivated salesmanship is largely unavoidable however, so you just have to be on guard.

The interest rate charged on money carried over is 2.445 percent. This is comparable with other cards. Of course financially
it is far sounder to pay of the balance in full as soon as possible.

Statements arrive, for me at least, towards the end of the month, normally in at the end of the second week, never after the third week, i.e., between the 14th and 21st of the month. The statements are very clear, with all the purchases you made over the last month, which are dated and quite clear, also any additional fees are itemized, as well as your current balance and the minimum payment (5%) to reach them by the specified date, it gives you two weeks to pay of the money, and on the back of your statement explains clearly how to pay them, giving full instructions on bank deposits, cheques e.t.c.

There is a free twenty-four hour help line for account info or lost cards. And you get to speak to a real person. The card, which is a MasterCard, is accepted basically everywhere, and in most cash machines. It can be used in Europe and abroad, and there is no transactions cost with in the UK applied by Capital One. When you put the card into any machine it comes up with a language selection screen, so if you want to practise your French here in England, or your Italian isn’t up to scratch you needn’t worry.

While I’m sure that there may be other cards out there which offer all these services, I found that the Capital One card was the least complicated to get, and is a trusted bank. So why not give them a call.

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