Buddy
Eureka,#2Consumer Comment
Fri, January 06, 2006
A friend of mine had a Capitol One card and felt that she was wrongly charged an over-the-limit fee when the monthly fee put her over her limit. By the time all was said and done, she owed over $600 on an original charge of $134, and she had been paying on it for a year. She finally said "enough". She thought that Capitol One would take her to small claims court and she would have a chance to show a judge that she had paid over $800 on an original charge of $134 and that Capitol One still wanted $600. But, no -- Capitol One waited until the charges were over $1,000 and then wrote to her giving her "one last chance" to clear up the debt. She basically told them where to go, and they went right to the IRS. They wrote off the debt and filed a form similar to a 1099, and the IRS considers the $1000 "write off" as "income". So, in addition to having her credit ruined, she had to pay $200 in extra taxes. Capitol One should be put out of business.