Capital One Sucks!

Well, well now...

Capital One recently made public that they are finally going to start reporting the credit card limits of their customers to the big 3 credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

Their selfish, hurtful, and long-standing practice of leaving that crucial piece of information off of their customers' credit reports was a very sneaky practice of theirs. One that was done - I'm sure - for their own benefit. Basically to keep their competitors from stealing their "good" customers.

You see, they didn't want the prying eyes of other credit card companies peeking into the credit files of their "good' customers to evaluate them for "pre-approved" credit offers, and possibly stealing them away.

So, Capital One made their customers look less attractive and less credit-worthy by not reporting their credit card limits to the credit bureaus.

You see, this is how it works:

When your credit limit is missing from acccounts reported in your credit files, it can cause your FICO scores to take a nose-dive (and FICO is the credit scoring model most widely used today).

Your FICO scores will take a hit because a big part of your FICO score (30%) is based on your credit "utilization," or how much of your credit you use or max out. Your credit utilization is calculated based on the outstanding balance you have on your account in relation to the credit limit.

So, when companies like Capital One don't report your credit limit, the FICO scoring model either uses your highest ever reported balance as the credit limit, or it uses nothing at all. And that makes you look maxed out!

And the more maxed out you are (or appear to be) on your credit accounts, the worse the impact on your credit score. The worse your credit score, the less attractive you are as a potential borrower or customer to other companies.

This little sneaky tactic makes you look like a bigger credit risk, like you're living on the financial edge, and like you're one of the people most likely to turn into a "bad payer" by missing payments and/or paying late.

And that's exactly what Capital One wanted. Despite what "else" they say. They've recently been trying to do damage control by saying they were only withholding credit card limits to protect the privacy of their customers. And we all know that's BULL!

The only thing they were trying to protect was their own greedy pockets! They weren't trying to protect your privacy! They wanted their competitors to see you as "unattractive" - plain and simple!

Once they had you, they didn't want anyone else to have you! Now that may be a little flattering (albeit obsessive and stalker-ish) in a love story, but when it comes to your credit card company - come on!

That sucks!

Capital One has been screwing with the FICO credit scores of their 50 million-or-so customers for quite some time. And most of their customers don't even know it!

Capital One has knowingly been hurting their own customers by duping them out of precious FICO score points, which could essentially raise their credit costs, or cost them credit approvals all together!

And they've been doing this for a long time!

A big-wig credit card company like Capital One knows exactly how the credit game is played. And they've been playing dirty. Too bad it's been at the expense of their very own hard-working, bill-paying, unsuspecting customers!

They're only making this change of reporting credit card limits to the credit bureaus, which is supposed to be in full effect by the end of this year, because of the continued pressure they've received from lending and consumer advocacy groups. This issue has continued to gain momentum and become more and more popular, so they have to save face.

So if you have a Capital One credit card, you should be pleased to know that they'll soon be removing the dagger out of your back, which could potentially restore reportedly anywhere from 40 to 80 or more FICO points to your credit score.

It's about time! Cause what they were doing just wasn't right!

And please... Don't you dare ask me "what's in your wallet?" Cause it sure as hell ain't Capital One!

Comments

[Squib]

I had a credit card in college with a different bank that, unfortunately for me, sold my account (and probably many others') to Cap1 years ago, and I've been saddled with them ever since (I don't close it for fear of damaging my credit). I try not to use it, cause every time I charge even one little thing to it there is a problem. Then, my car finance account got bought by Cap1 too (lucky me). They claim not to get payments on time, they charge absurd fees, they play games sending bills a few days before the due date, they (and this is no exaggeration) "forget" to send bills for months at a time in the hope of getting me to pay late and whack me with fees, they put payment due dates on Sundays and increase interest rates at will. SOMEONE FILE A CLASS ACTION PLEASE!!!!!

[fred]

Absolutely impossible to speak with someone with clout. Their web site is a joke, just loops. It's like selling your soul to the devil.

[David]

Written proof received about Capital One now discriminating by 'redlining' your city if they do not where you live or when you purchased your home. More on this unethical and bad practice by going here: http://davidgreen.com/credit-discimination-based-on-zip-code-by-capitalone.htm

[Fern]

I agree, CapitalOne SUCKS! I have had a Visa card with them since 2001 when I got divorced. I have spent the last eight years building up my credit score (the ex hurt it a lot). So now I have a great score and work very hard to maintain it. Today I login to my Cap One account online and one of my cards says "this account is restricted". I call the number and find out that they decided to close my account because of inactivity. I am outraged!!! I received no warning of this! They could have sent me a message through the online website, or they could have sent me an email. I would have used the card if I knew it was at risk of being closed. I have been told that closing an account that you have had for a long time is VERY bad for your credit score and I am very iupset that they decided to take this action and damage my credit score. This is just the last of many terrible problems I have had with them through the years, why do they think that I don't use their cards, because of the the problems, hassles, and errors that happen when I do. They really SUCK!!! Get this, after some chick explains to me that it's pretty much tough luck for me because they will not reopen this account, she offers to help me apply for a new credit card - IS SHE INSANE???? There is no way I will ever apply for anything else from Cap One.

[Larry]

You can read about their latest scam at my new blog - http://capital-one-scam.blogspot.com/

[Tom Pagel]

Hey all. FICO is shorthand for Fair Isaac Company. There is nothing fair about this company or the big three credit reporters. My advice is stop charging. Pay cash. You always know how much you have and how much you can spend. My parents bought their house for cash in th 50's. My Grandparents lent them the money at 3% If they were short one month we were not repo'd, We lived 2 doors down and they came over for Sunday dinner. I'm being sued by Cap One and other companies. I paid them every week through automatic deductions. I called when my business ground to a halt, and without exception, everyone was really rude. I am looking at bankruptcy. Don't worry anymore about your credit. They want you to fail. Stop buying and let everything grind to a halt. I know my business has, so let's get together and reivent the system. I say screw FICO, Transunion, and all the other agencies that thrive on your demise. Screw em. Pay cash!

[Scott in California]

I called Capital 1 today to complain about a $49 membership fee they charged me which put me over my credit limit... Guess what, I got slammed with a $39 over the limit fee on the same day. The next day I got slammed for another $39 for a late fee I was charged because I was trying to contact them to negotiate the over the limit fee. When I asked to transfer the balanace to card with no membership fee, the stupid lady acted suprised that I got hit for $90 in 1 day in fees... yeah right. The lady spent 15 minutes taking my information just to tell me that they didn't have any available offers for me. I've been a customer in good standing for alomst 4 years, never late on a payment, and now I'm being treated like some leper... screw them, I'm paying the card off with my tax refund and cancelling the card.

[Demetri]

I had an offer from cap one for low interest purchase check. Usually I don't use them but decided on the 12th to use some for another card, I deposited the check on 12.12 and on the 19th I get a letter dated 12.17 telling me that because of inactivity they are suspending my account and in 60 days will close it, I called and said but I just used it last week. The Rep said it was declined, so now what, the check will be returned right. Can I make them pay the return check fee??? PLUS it is an old card so I assume my FICO will plummet too.

[Anonymous]

Captial One is the shittiest credit card company in the world. I will never do business with them again.

Between the idiots at Capital one, and in the stock market and financial industries- all of which who have ran our American economy into the ground- I am being forced to appear in court over- get this- $1300.00 total chump change to the credit card companies.

I’ve been layed off three times in the past 4 years, once due to idiots at these corporation who outsourced jobs to the Philippines, among others who can't budget to keep positions open.

Charges were made on a Capital One card in the amount of $700 for one month’s rent- so that I could not be homeless. In turn, this company pulled off their ‘rip off’ tactic that was noted here in another article, overlimit fees and late fees… jacking the total up to well over $1300.00. Years ago- It used to be that such tactics and fees were illegal, not sure who in government changed that, but I can bet it was someone who was in kahootz with a financial company.

Capital One is the most relentless and abusive credit card company. What’s in my wallet? A debit card, that’s all I need.

So now, after they’ve hosed the housing market and financial loans, they’re coming after the people that are unemployed, barely scraping by to make ends meet on food stamps and unemployment insurance… over $1300? Then hit me with the additional court costs as well?

Its a shame, Capital One and its lawyers, stealing from the poor and giving to the rich. I don't see how they sleep at night knowing they do this to consumers, and I know I'm not the only one.

Honestly I really wonder what would happen if this were to make it to the local news here in my area - and around the world. It really is a shame these companies today are so greedy. To me its just like the napster incident, suing the poor single mom who had kids- and couldnt afford music, so she downloaded it. The case was dropped.

Screw the credit card companies and the financial lenders who are more posessed about putting money in their wallets, by sending jobs overseas and screwing the middle class into being poor.

-Anonymous

[woodrow arrington]

today i recievd a letter from capital one out of salt lake city. in essence, the letter said i must go back to the "big 3credit bureaus", once again, and tell them i must tell the big 3, that i must get an item called an "opt out" in order to get these inquires stopped on my credit report. this is thier answer for not removing one of thier inquiries off my report, which i might add i never asked for in the first place. i am 62 years old, a disabled vet, and in my entire life i have never seen the likes of these mean and spiteful companies, they should be ashamed, because of thier brand of bussiness they have all, but destroyed our country, in years to come when the truth is finally told, these "bottom feeding slugs" will bear the brunt of americas ordinary people. YOU CAN LAUGH IF YOU WANT AT MY COMMENTS, BECAUSE SOME DAY SOME LITTLE LAW MAKER IS GONNA SINK YOUR CROOKED SHIP, I HOPE I AM ALIVE TO SEE IT

[alana]

Capital one is the worst credit card company known to mankind. They outsource to people that when filing a dispute on internet fraud said that i had to redo all my paperwork to show that I was expecting the item within 6 weeks and not one year! Whoever buys anything like that for a one year turnaround? I received the item plus they said they were in Florida but my credit card statement said Panama, not Panama City, FL. I called in, then mailed in a letter plus their own redundant paperwork was completed. It was for over 300.00 so it was worth it but if it were a small item, they make you jump through hoops like no other! Plus illegally charged me interest. Then they said they ruled in my favor a full year later after requesting more garbage from me when working two jobs. My satisfaction was on an issue, it was theirs.

When I got the letter I called the number listed on it and was transferred no less than 4 times! Finally they said there is no record of a refund, it had not heen put thruogh the system yet it take 3 billing cycles! Then they sent me a check for 3.55 in interest only not the disputed amount. they never showed me any reason why they didn't approve. There was no delivery and io product. The number for the company in the country of Panama had been disconnected. It was fraud but they never wrote me telling me why they didn't pay or ahything else. This occurred in october 2007 and they just wrote me in September 2008 and still waiting for them to pay me.

It is the horrible customer service that makes them the absolute worst credit card company' worse than any other like chase etc i have a few cards, Citi, AMEX, Chase, discover and the most unbelievable experience when you have a problem, they won't resolve it. I am a professional and they treat me like I am the scum of the Earth because I want my money back. I wrote the 3rd letter telling them that i expected the item in 6 weeks. The supervisor was nice when I still hadn't heard,she doesn't resolve anything either. I tried to cancel it but they still owe me money so I can't. I have the letter in hand that took over one year to resolve and I have a feeling they will now say it is too late to collect because there is some statute, this is how slimy this company is. I don't expect them to pay me my 311.00 ever. I spoke to a friend in wyoming (am in CA) she said she had just cancelled hers coincidentally. They won't be around long. it's just credit and they have rules luckily or they would be like gangsters robbing people blind and lying. The worst. I never blog about companies but these people have no compunction about wasting anyone's time and make them resubmit, they lost this send the certified proof of mailing etc. What BAD
accuracy and service. And I am out $311 dollars!

[Ambug]

My husband has had a Capitol One credit card that he cannot get rid of. He has told them numerous times to cancel his account. They flat out refuse. Now all of a sudden, they started sticking monthly fee's on his card when they never did before. He had to call a few times to get them taken off. I told him to check it religiously to make sure.
What I want to know is, how do we get them to let my husband go? He is not using their card and just want's it gone. They keep telling him it will hurt his credit score if he lets the card go. How can a card he never uses hurt his score if he never uses the darn thing?
No matter how he tries, they just will not close the account. Who do we contact that will make them close the account? This is so aggravating and frustrating, not to mention stressful.
Thanks for reading, and please feel free to contact me via my email address.

[Guy]

I recently closed a secured credit card with them,and was told I would recieve the amount I secured it with within 2 billng cycles. I have had to call back 3 times!!I've benn told they had mailing problems and have been given 2 different dates.Most recently I was told That I had recieved this rebate 2 years ago!Which is not true.I'm still trying.Will call them back today.Wish me luck.

[Nicole of JustAskNicole.com]

Thank you for your comment Frank_70. I certainly respect your opinion, however, I believe you're missing the crux of this post. Although it is laced with my opinion, it is still steeped in fact.

a) True, all creditors do not use the FICO scoring model, however, most do. So when consumers who had Capital One credit cards had their credit checked by an auto dealership, mortgage company, insurance company, or whoever that happened to use FICO scores, their credit scores would be artificially depressed because Captial One did not report the credit limits on their credit card(s) to the credit bureaus. And yes, some companies have let "good customers" get away because they rely solely on the automated process of credit scores to make quick credit decisions, and do not have "correcting formulas" or other procedures in place to account for the inaccuracies that exist in consumer credit reports. So please trust, I am not hiding or ignoring any elements - this was all real.

b) Although the practice of not reporting credit limits does occur, even across varying industries, it is not a "regular" practice in the whole credit card industry. That's precisely why Capital One became notorious for doing so. They began to stick out like Pinnochio's nose. And I do not have anything going on with Capital One, outside of me working on behalf of my clients to ensure that Capital One accurately reports their credit card limits to the credit bureaus.

c) I'd be interested in knowing what company you work(ed) for and what type of customer satisfaction surveys were conducted. If your surveys only queried "upmarket" customers, well, I'd take issue with that for reasons not even relevant to the discussion at hand. And I bet that if those "upmarket" customers actually knew that their good credit could be even better if it were not for Capital One's deceptive practices, they'd be pissed off, and those surveys wouldn't show as much satisfaction.

d) About: "this article is a little inaccurate or just a result of drinking from the sour grapes of a bad credit score." It is a FACT that Capital One engaged in the practice of withholding the credit limits of their customers in their reporting to the credit bureaus, which caused a negative impact on their customers' credit scores. I've had many clients who experienced this first-hand. And for years, major consumer advocacy groups had been protesting this practice and pressuring Capital One to change their ways. It wasn't until the news of what their practices were doing to consumer credit scores became more widespread and publicly known, that they finally decided to changed their credit reporting policies. So, sour grapes? OK, maybe so. I do get really ticked when big corporations take advantage of unsuspecting consumers and do things that could hurt them financially. That's why I work to help consumers get smart about their credit, so they can advocate for themselves and help put an end to this type of BS that's out their in the financial marketplace.

I'm sure that if you had a Capital One credit card and you experienced what countless others did, regardless of whether your credit is good or bad, you'd be upset.

And Frank_70, I really do appreciate your feedback, so I hope you've subscribed to this blog by RSS or email so you can continue to contribute to the conversations here. Again, thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment!

[Frank_70]

Some of this things can be true, I don't know. What I see is that the article is not completely true. a) The FICO is not mandatory. A lot of credit lenders use variances for this, so I believe that they know this supposed bar reporting from Capital One better that the girl Nicole, who's hidiing some elements or just ignore them (do you think that credit issuers have not caorrecting formulas if this is true? They are so stupid that they let good customers go away just because this? Come on! It's a billionaire industry). b) This kind of practice aer regular on the whole industry, so I think this girls has something with Capital One maybe. c) Due to my job, I had access to credit card customer's satisfaction surveys. you know what? Capital One has a lot of happy customers (mostly of them upmarket, the ones who really know about how to build good credit). There are no big differences between the customer's satisfaction from Capital One and other credit card companies. d) The thing about outsourcing "customers service" outside the US is true for almost any other services company. It started with Nike, I think, in the '80, remember? Hewlett Packard, TrackPhone, Verizone, and zillion else do the same. Maybe they are all thieves, or something is happening the the economy, don't you think? I don't trust much any company, but this article is a little inaccurate or just a result of drinking from the sour grapes of a bad credit score.

[Fred]

I have been paying for Capital One's payment protection service for years. Recently I was laid off my job and I remembered that the insurance pays my minimum monthly balance. I called Capital One and they directed me to use the online service at WWW.MYCLAIMS.COM. Well what do you know.....this link is a false page. It doesn't exist (well it does...it just doesn't do anything). Nice way to avoid paying any claims. Credit cards suck. I'm paying them off and cutting them up!

[Paul from FL]

whatever you do, never try to obtain credit card from third party bank or credit card company,- most of them are thiefs who just wait to take your money away and give you nothing in return exept headaches, hassle , waste of time in dealing with customer service, who in most cases are bunch of morons paid $2 a day in some third world countries.
My suggestion, go to your local bank with which you have long time relationship and ask them to open credit card account for you, in most cases they will be happy to do so.
BTW capital ONE really sucks and if you have their card in your wallet, then you are in BIG, BIG trouble.
Get rid of it as fast as possible, before they rip you off on some nonexistant late fee charges, or some other bogus fees.
Victim of CapitalONE.com
www.capitalone.com, capitalone.com, capitalone.com are conartists,

[Vane]

hahah i work for capital one and yeah..it sucks.

but hey, all the other credit cards companies suck as well so my advice would be for you to not use a credit card ever again in your life.

anyway, once you get to know more or less how the system works, u wont have any problems at all with C1.

p.s when the online banking is down, we can take your pymnt free of charge.

plus, i usually remove most past due or overlimit fees, and depending on your account most membership fees can be remove as well

in the end, its not THAT bad at all.

[Sasha]

I had a Capital One Visa account for years. In recent months there was fraudulent activity which they resolved promptly and issued another card. Two months later there was fraud on the new card. I finally just closed the account after having to go through the bullshit of fraud reporting AGAIN. There must be someone at Capital One selling card holder info. I can see this happening once, but not twice. It has never happened with my Mastercard with company or my Amex. The truly shitty thing about Capital One is that I wanted to donate my remaining Rewards points. Apparently, they don't transfer them to other institutions, not even for charity.

[soupreme]

That's not the only reason they suck! Web site is absolutely useless and always seems to be down right around its time to pay your bill online. Customer service, horrible! I wanted to close a stupid $500 limit card that has had $0 balance forever and which I've had opened for 6 years but still am being charged a $5/mo "membership fee". After refusal to drop the fee the rep had the nerve to try to convince me to keep it open and they will help me out by billing the membership fee for 4 months in one lump sum, that way I won't be paying for it every month. Wtf!