Complaint Review: Capital One

On June 20, 2015 I called Capital One to close our account. We paid our remaining balance by phone, closed our account, and cut up our card. In October, we received a call telling us our account was past due. Concerned, we called back and were informed that “due to a system error” our account remained open. No only did our account remain open, it was now past due as the result of monthly recurring charge set up against the account. Upon calling Capital One, they were very helpful, apologized for the mistake, reversed all late fees and finance charges and also indicated that the past due would not go against our credit record.
Fast forward to January 2016, and upon running our credit to begin the mortgage qualification process we were in shock at our low credit scores. Upon reviewing the report, the low score was due primarily to the 30-day late payment posted against my record from Capital One. Confused and frustrated, I opened an investigation with Cap One, who was no longer helpful and indicate that they had no proof that our account was closed and that we were liable.
Ultimately, after 5 weeks of constant follow up, supplying phone records, sending registered letters, and filing disputes with the credit bureaus, Capital One continued to validate the late payment posting to us and to the credit bureaus. After continued calls to Capital One and the Consumer Financial Bureau we received a call from a woman at the Executive office. She listened to our story, seemed reasonable and indicated she would look into it. I faxed all the information regarding the issue again and hoped for a positive outcome. No luck. They still claimed that the account was never closed, and they had no phone records to substantiate our claim.
Having no other alternatives, I tracked down and hired a lawyer in Virginia who has jurisdiction over this case. The lawyer sent a demand letter to Capital One and the Credit Unions to remove the fraudulent late payment. I hoped that once the Legal Compliance department in Virginia received the letter we be able to work through this issue. After several more weeks without being contacted by Capital One Legal, we received a letter from our neighbor from Capital One, which was addressed to us, but did not have the correct apartment number on the address.
Upon reviewing the letter, Capital one confirmed they reviewed the phone call request for us to close the account, but stated that “due to a system error” our account remained open. They also provided a copy of a letter dated August 11 indicating our account was not closed due to an error on their part. I was registered to receive electronic communications and never received that August 11 letter, which also was sent to the wrong address. 

After calling Capital One back and explaining all the issues again, including the issue with the mailing address, under a last hope that they would see that this late payment was more their fault than ours, they still held firm and indicated we were responsible for the charges even though those charges would never have occurred without the system error that they have admitted to. You would think going through all of this effort with Capital One would have convinced they to correct the issue due to their mistake, instead, we feel we are being targeted by Capital one for a reason we don't understand. We really believe Capital One is in very corrupt company that down right lies and utilizes fraudulent practices to hide their mistakes please read this and never bank nor apply for credit with Capital one they are the most corrupt company I have ever dealt with.

 

San Francisco, CA