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Capital One - ruthless banksters

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Capital One extraordinary incompetence - failed to send balance transfer check!

On 1/10/08 I called Capital One and asked whether they could send a check directly to my bank account, as I recently had been told several times.

The guy barely spoke English, I had to spell out every letter for the Compass Bank name and address and I was worried right then.

On the 15th I called Cap One to make sure that everything was going ok.  I was told no problem, it just takes a few days to process everything.

Checked my account balance today, no record of the deposit, called the bank, no record of receiving the check, called Capital One again.

Of course the first person knew nothing, transferred me to Becky, employee ID IRS818. She started talking about the transfer being cancelled.

I have a letter from Cap One stating that the transfer request was approved, dated 1/10/08.

The she said the transfer was stopped on the 15th.  I didn’t stop it, I called in on the 15th to ensure that everything was going ok.  After putting me on hold several times, Becky couldn’t provide further details and had to transfer me again.

Then spoke to Eric, employee ID VRF848.  He finally told me that on the 18th the “address verification” failed.  I wasn’t too surprised.

I asked Eric why NOBODY informed me that the transfer was cancelled and he replied:

We don’t have the manpower for that.

Can you believe that?  They send out a letter stating that the transfer was APPROVED, and then don’t bother to notify you that they didn’t send out the check. Notably, the address was NOT on the letter, it only referenced “Compass Bank”.

So I asked what Capital One could do for me and Eric suggested that we submit ANOTHER request for the check.  I asked whether he could verify the address instantly, but they don’t have that capability.

Why on earth would I do this AGAIN, what reason is there to believe that the address would be verified this time?

Eric thought it wouldn’t be a problem.  So I asked him to look up why the address wasn’t verified and it turns out that they had ARKANSAS instead of ARIZONA.

It would REALLY help if they had people with half a clue and basic English skills.  Not to mention, that the idiots in the “verification department” could have figured out that the ZIP CODE is in Arizona and that my billing address happens to be in Kingman ARIZONA and is even on the SAME street as my bank!—DUH!

What kind of an IQ does it take to determine that their employee made a mistake?

Is it really too much to expect that they call me, as they FREQUENTLY do when I use a Capital One card more than 3 times in one day?

Is it really too much to expect to at least get a letter?

And why was the transfer APPROVED on the 10th and they didn’t even verify the address until the 18th?

I asked Eric whether I could just get a cash advance and they put it on a promo with the $50 max fee.  But of course that was not an option.  The checks I have already expired.

Eventually, Eric figured out that it was not even possible to send a check to my bank!

They can ONLY process requests to CREDIT CARD accounts. 

So why do their employees continually suggest having Cap One send a check to my bank directly when I say that my bank won’t accept their promotional checks sent to me?

This is as bizarre as it gets.

Finally Eric suggested that they send a check to ME.  Not having any other options, I agreed to that and supposedly they’ll now send a check to my billing address, he told me that the request was approved.

45 minutes on the phone today and my total time wasted is at least 3 hours - so far.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Capital One fantastic balance transfer offers—1.99% for life of the debt—watch for the TRAPS

I thought I wasn’t seeing right when I saw the Cap One offer online today for 1.99% interest credit card balance transfers with NO expiration date.  A few weeks ago it was still 4-6% or so. 

1-15-08--CapOne-1-99-offer.pdf

Where’s the legalese?  Just about anybody ought to be able to understand this.  What worries me is what’s missing.

It’s very cool that this rate is good until you paid the debt and the maximum fee is $50.  It’s a fantastic offer for those with plenty of cash to pay off the full balance and then take advantage of this great deal and NOT use the card again.

It’s also NICE that you can be late up to 2 days TWICE in 12 billing periods and they won’t raise your rate.  That’s much better than most other cards.

The screwees are the people who do NOT have a lot of cash and just borrow a SMALL amount.

GREAT deal:

LARGE credit line - pay it off and then pay $50 for a b/t (which can be in the form of a check to your bank) and don’t use the card again.  If you do, you’ll have a BLENDED interest rate and in order to get rid of the balance with the purchase rate you have to pay the ENTIRE balance off.

BAD deal:

You’re unable to pay off the full balance and you have only a few hundred dollars available.

Let’s say your balance is $6,000 and you transfer only $500.  The 3% fee is $15.

Because just about all banks apply most of your payment towards LOW rate balances, you don’t get much out of this deal.  Your payment is around $200 and depending on the interest rate on the original balance, let’s say $80 goes to interest.  So $120 is principal reduction for the LOW rate balance and it’ll be paid off in just a few months.  And since you paid the 3% upfront fee you really paid more like a 10% or so APR.

I really don’t understand WHY Capital One offers these low rate deals, other than to keep customers from defaulting.

Last week I decided on the 0% for 6 months for the $50 max fee.  I did 2 transfers and it’s costing me $100 to borrow almost $15,000 for 6 months.  Can it get any better?

I suppose they could pay us to take the money.

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Capital One AGAIN deletes date closed with TU - FICO score down to 617

Apparently Capital One DELIBERATELY removes the date closed from the TU reports for discharged or charged off accounts occasionally.  The impact is devastating:

Capital One deleted date closed and current status: FICO TU score drops 65 points

My client just had major surgery and starts her 2nd chemo treatment this week, they have to move and when she checked her FICO scores, she was shocked to see the 617 TU score.

On 7/1/07, the score was 690 and Capital One reported:

Date Closed July, 2001

On 10/1/07, the score was 617.

There is no reference to the “date closed”, it’s the NEW myFICO format and Fair Isaac decided to simply ignore the data fields with no reported data.  Obviously, the inexperienced consumer wouldn’t even notice that the date closed is missing, as no reference to it is made on the new myFICO report format.  So clever!

Also, when I first looked at the 10/1 report yesterday, I got the OLD format.  Since my client had posted the score factors, she obviously had looked at the NEW format.  A few hours later, I logged in again and also got the new format.  I suppose Fair Isaac just wants to ensure that consumers are confused.  I saved both reports and on a slow day I might get around to posting the differences.

I really wish I could refer my client to an attorney.

She is in VA and we’ve already gone through the frustrating exercise of trying to get a lawyer to sue last year.  It’s incredible how many problems we’ve had just getting the discharged accounts reported correctly.

I really don’t understand why TU doesn’t implement procedures to PREVENT the deletion of such vital data, ESPECIALLY since I already had to contact them with a power of attorney to get it fixed last year.

Why do people who’ve done NOTHING wrong have to pay me again and again, just to get the credit they deserve?

Why can’t people just live in peace and focus on staying alive?

Saturday, August 04, 2007

Capital One raising interest rate to 15.9% for all accounts?

Is Capital One increasing rates to 15.9% for everyone?

I was visiting friends in Santa Fe last week and I’ve spent several HOURS on the phone with Capital One.  So my friend showed me the notice with changes in terms, including the rate increase to 15.9%.

It did not contain any mention of credit and when my friend called, she was told that although she had the “fixed” rate of 9.9% for life, their terms allow them to increase the rates for economic reasons.

HUH?

My friend’s only option was to CLOSE the account if she did not agree to the rate.  Of course that would dramatically lower her FICO scores since it’s her only credit card and she had it for many years.

My advice:

Get other cards with better terms (you should have 3 - 5 open credit card accounts anyway) and unless Cap One is one of your newer accounts, use it only every few months and especially don’t carry a balance.  As long as you pay your statement balance in full by the due date, the interest rate is not an issue.

If you currently have a substantial balance that you can NOT pay off and you have other accounts and Cap One is not substantially older than your other credit card accounts, you might want to notify them of your option not to agree to the rate increase and let them close the account.

If your credit scores are important, be sure to analyze all 3 credit reports before closing the account or opening new accounts—you can seriously lower your FICO scores.

Please post if you have a Cap One account with a rate lower than 15.9% that’s NOT increasing.

Interestingly, I just had a credit bureau employee write that Cap One has to report the credit limits as of 8/1 and I already saw the limits on TU for two Cap One charge-offs. 

How is the rate increase related to the reporting of credit limits?

Is Cap One expecting financial problems due to many customers accepting competitors’ offers after the Cap One limits are reported and credit scores increase to qualify for competitors’ cards with better terms?

On another note, dealing with Capital One has been horrible.

As I posted, one of my Cap One accounts was fraudulently used.  Friday a week ago I received an “important” VM from Capital One.  It contained a call back # and a “code.”

I went through the hassle of calling the number, had to enter the code, only to get a message telling me that it’s so incredibly important to complete the fraud docs they mailed to me regarding the unauthorized charges.

Capital One had no duty to assist me with tracking down the person who fraudulently used my account a few years ago.  I already wasted considerable time on the phone reporting the fraudulent charges, see my previous postings.  So why is this important?

More problems using Capital One credit cards

We left for Santa Fe last week.  After the 3rd gasoline charge for a total of about $130, Capital One declined a $25 dinner charge at a truck stop.

I spent 1.5 hours on the phone with Capital One to get the card reactivated.

This is not a typo.  I was transferred so many times, I lost count.  One time I gave all my info to someone in the fraud department, only to have that idiot transfer me to an automated system to enter my account info.  After I entered my account # and whatever, I got to another person who knew nothing about the issues, AGAIN demanded all my info and then told me she could do nothing for me, I had to be transferred to the fraud department.

Eventually they wanted to know how long I’d be on vacation, which states I’ll be in, etc.

How about this for a new policy:

BEFORE you use your Capital One credit card, CALL them!

Make your daily call to Capital One and tell them where and how you’re going to use the card to avoid declines.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

ID theft AGAIN—fraudulent charges to my Capital One card

As long time readers may recall, I sued Capital One in 2004 because they refused to provide ANY information about fraudulent charges to my Capital One credit card.  At the time I tried to file a police report and the deputy refused because I had NO information about the charges.  Capital One had deleted all references to the fraudulent charges prior to sending the statement.  Judge Wake in Phoenix federal court ruled that Capital One has no fiduciary duty to assist me in any way whatsoever.

So I just checked the balances on my credit cards and it actually took a while to grasp what happened.  I noticed that $0 was available and I wondered what I screwed up.  I checked the recent transactions, saw the $286 charge and wondered what I ordered.  I’ve been ordering a lot online since I’m building my new house off the grid and needed all kinds of power gadgets and stuff to stay cool while working there this summer.

Then I noticed the Walmart charge and I realized that those were fraudulent charges.

\

I need this like a hole in the head.

I’m writing this post while holding for a person at Capital One, after pushing “0” numerous times since they don’t have an option to get to a person. 

I think they just disconnected me, went from hold music to silence.  How nice!  Hoping it’s not true .... nope, the line is dead, have to go through this ordeal again to TRY to report the fraudulent charges.

This time I listened to all the options on 3 or 4 menus and I got to the option to report fraud.  I’m on hold again.  Finally somebody picked up. I tell my story and I’m transferred.  And again.  THREE times I had to explain everything until my dispute was accepted.

Time WASTED on the phone with Capital One:  43 minutes

Then I had to explain what happened to my visiting nephew, then I called the sheriff and now I’m waiting for a call from a deputy or maybe they’ll just stop by.

Last time, the deputy refused to write up a police report because I didn’t have any info about the charges and Capital One refused to provide any info to me.  Of course they COULD have sent a subpoena to Capital One, but that would be too much to ask from law enforcement.

This time, I printed and saved the page online BEFORE Capital One disabled my access and deleted the fraudulent charges.  And I even got the authorization codes for both transactions from the Cap One rep on the phone.

Will they actually investigate?

This will be another interesting documentary.  I just recently changed my billing address for this card and I haven’t used it a lot.  For online orders, usually at least the zip code for the billing address is confirmed.  Both Walmart and Best Buy should have the IP for the order as well as all the information that was provided by the ID thief.

Even if I can’t pin down which merchant was responsible for the theft of my data, posting the listing of suspects would result in positive ID if OTHER victims from the same outfits find my documentary.

Unless someone broke into my home and stole my info for maxed out credit cards and nothing else (highly unlikely!), the only explanation is either mail theft in combination with pretexting or an employee at a merchant or bank stole and/or sold my data. 

I don’t know yet whether Best Buy and Walmart require the 3 digit code on the back of the card to place orders and what other security measures they take.  It’ll be interesting to find out.

It’s really amazing that there is NO interest by any law enforcement agency to determine where credit card data is stolen.  If they compiled a database of all merchants and banks (could be bank employees—they have all the data when you take out a cash advance) used by the fraud victims in the previous 6 or 12 months, you could pinpoint immediately where the crimes occur.  But because NOBODY gives a rat’s ass, people like me have to waste many hours and go through this hassle.

Potential damages:

I’ll probably have to fill out paperwork again.  Capital One will bounce ALL checks and will not allow me to provide them with the check numbers, amounts and companies to pay those.  That means that I’d have late, over limit and return check fees if I had used one of their checks to pay a credit card.  Capital One doesn’t care.

Capital One states that recurring charges will probably be honored.  Last time, they were all declined.

Capital One recommends that I contact everybody with recurring charges and provide the new account number.  But I don’t get the new number for probably 2 weeks.  It was embarrassing last time when my charges were declined, it’s a hassle for my vendors, and if you’re on vacation or otherwise not near your home/office, you can book the next flight home to deal with this crap.

We need new legislation to deal with these issues.

Right now, it’s cheaper for the banks to NOT investigate.  If they had to pay every consumer for time, expenses and stress related to fraud, they WOULD investigate.

And since I’m sure that some of my credit monitoring services come with ID theft insurance, I’ll try to file a claim.  It’s highly unlikely that they’ll pay as much as a dime.