Capital One: Avoid this corrupt company. Mailing address for CEO

Capital One: Avoid this corrupt company. Mailing address for CEO

August 17, 2006 - Consumer follow-up Message - From: Email User

URGENT Please update my Capital One complaint

An extraordinary number of people have emailed me wanting to know what happened to my Capital One complaint. There seem to be a massive number of victims out there. I hope you can post this update. I sent it originally in early June. The original complaint is at:

http://www.complaints.com/directory/2005/june/7/64.htm

UPDATE: June 7, 2006

I had a lot of people want to know what happened with this.

The gist of it is, Capital One refused to pay me for my annoyance or refund the fraudulent late charges. I still believe, however, that the best way to communicate with them is by snail mail letter to the CEO, preferably certified, and with copies to regulatory agencies. I would circumvent their normal "channels of communication" as much as possible. They seem designed to thwart your efforts to deal with them.

Here are additional details: I was told that Capital One reports their small business accounts to the Equifax small business exchange, although I have not checked to see if this is true. I successfully closed and kept my account closed. I got copies of all my past statements after an extraordinary effort. Also after an extraordinary effort, I got a letter describing my use of credit with them but it contained other business, making it not the document I wanted to show to landlords and creditors. Perhaps this was purposeful.

As you may know, Capital One is headquartered in Virginia.

After sitting on my case for a while, then Attorney General of Virginia Judith Williams Jagdmann claimed that she didn't have juridiction over this matter (I find this highly unlikely; there were ample causes of action) and referred it to another state agency. The Attorney General of Virginia is elected and the CEO of Capital One has made some rich political contributions in his time. This whole thing smells. It makes it look like Ms. Jagdmann let massive consumer fraud take place under her nose. Not good.

The Attorney General of Virginia referred the matter to the Bureau of Financial Institutions of the State Corporation Commission of Virginia. They sat on it for a while. Then Locke H. Trigg, Regulatory Compliance Analyst, responded almost as if he was acting on behalf of Capital One telling me that everything was fine and there was nothing to be done. This smells. People will think they cannot trust businesses operating out of Virginia because their whole regulatory apparatus appears to have been bought and sold. AOL is headquartered there and has also pulled some stunts.

By doing research, and by people contacting me, I discovered that there are an extraordinary number of people are being ripped off by Capital One. One thing they do is treat people with past credit problems particularly badly, taking advantage of their shame. They may also take particular advantage of people who are in a financial bind. I believe that they do this on purpose. I believe that they have done this to thousands of people.

Capital One has been the subject of several class action lawsuits. Two were by Attorney's General of states. Capital One has so far appeared to be able to defeat most of the class action suits against them.

Capital One was selected for the Rogue's Gallery of ConsumerAffairs.com. They are the subject of numerous complaints at consumer websites.

These are some individual complaints:

http://consumeraffairs.com/credit_cards/capital_one.htm

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff134507.htm

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff138460.htm

http://consumeraffairs.com/credit_cards/capital_one_late_posting.html

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff105413.htm

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff140806.htm

These are some grievance sites about the Capital One:

http://www.cap1sucks.com/

http://fight-back.us/forum/index.php?showforum=7

I tried to get the media to cover this story but they wouldn't touch it. I believe that this is because Capital One is a heavy advertiser. I tried Lou Dobbs on CNN, all the network news departments, Sixty Minutes, Primetime, Nightline, and the National Enquirer, among others. No luck.

You can file complaints about your experiences at consumer websites like these:

complaints.com

ConsumerAffairs.com

BadCreditCard.org

RipOffReport.com

epinions

my3cents

consumerist.com

There are addresses of some regulatory agencies to whom you could cc your letter to Capital One's CEO. I would not expect a lot of action from these agencies, but I believe that a cc to a law enforcement agency heightens concentration.

The Honorable Bob McDonnell

Attorney General

State of Virginia

Office of the Attorney General

900 E. Main Street

Richmond, VA 23219

Commissioner of Financial Institutions

State Corporation Commission

1300 East Main Street

Suite 800

P.O. Box 640

Richmond, Virginia 23219

Good luck. You deserve to be treated better than people are treated by Capital One, even if you do not have perfect record. No matter what your record looks like, theirs is worse. I wish you better times in your financial affairs. May Capital One be exposed and brought down by their own evil.

June 7, 2005 - Consumer Message:

CONTAINS MAILING ADDRESS FOR CAPITAL ONE CEO Basically, I think the letter below covers the lowlights of my four year experience with this company. Three years building up good credit, and one year after I closed the account in disgust I'm still waiting for them to report the good credit I built up with them. If you are being charged suspicious late fees, they are fraudulent; they do this to a lot of people. When you decide to close your account, the games begin. If you intend to pay off the balance, send a certified letter return receipt requested in with the right amount on the day they will receive it (they play games with the interest). Send it in plenty of time. Below, you can find the mailing address for their CEO. You can find the mailing address for the Attorney General of their home state, Virginia, on line. I'd say that sending copies of your letters to them to her sounds like a good idea. LETTER: May __, 2005 Mr. Richard D. Fairbank

President & CEO

Capital One Financial Corp

1680 Capital One Drive

McLean, VA 22102 NOTICE OF INTENT TO FILE COMPLAINT WITH VIRGINIA ATTORNEY GENERAL

REASON: HOLDING GOOD CREDIT HOSTAGE, OTHER VIOLATIONS Dear Mr. Fairbank: Capital One is holding my good credit hostage through lies and subterfuge. There is currently a housing crisis where I live and the loss of the asset of the good credit I built up with you is serious. Multiple attempts to get you to report my use of credit had no effect. Your employees claimed twice that you would at least sent me a letter confirming my account history and use of credit but they never did. This is not an accident. I’ve found many accounts online of similar behavior by your company intended to prevent your customers from leaving you and getting credit elsewhere. You also charged me for late fees even though I mailed my checks in time(and there are plenty of complaints about you doing this online) You preventing me from closing my account by subterfuge (and there are plenty of complaints about you doing stuff like this online.) Dealing with Capital One has wasted incredible amounts of my time. You’ve for sure lost a customer for life and I’m not the only one. I WANT: My good credit reported accurately under BOTH my organization’s name (and employer ID number) and my own name and social security number. That report should say that I paid my bill on time for three years, except for one thirty days late payment, and that the account is it now closed and paid in full. This should all be reported to the three main credit reporting agencies under both names and as well as Dunn & Bradstreet for the organization. You made me personally guarantee this account and if I assume the liability, I deserve the credit too. I want $1,000 for the loss up to now of my good credit history, stress, much wasted time and punitive damages. This includes roughly a hundred dollars for improperly charged late fees. This amount is symbolic and in no way reflects the true losses involved. I will ask for more later if I have to file a complaint or lawsuit. If my credit has not been accurately reported within 30 (thirty) days from the receipt of this letter, and I have not received a check for this amount, I will file a complaint with the Attorney General of Virginia. Sincerely, (this customer) cc: The Honorable Judith Williams Jagdmann, Attorney General of Virginia

The Honorable Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General of New York [Although I don't live in New York, this Attorney General is tough on corporate criminals and I want him to know about Capital One] Good luck to anyone in dealing with this company. Based on my life experience including this episode, It might be best to get a card from your own bank or a large reputable bank in your area. Click this link to e-mail the message author: Email User

Comment On This

Our business was shopping for a better deal for our business card. Capitol One's offer was insulting at best and we told them we did not want their card. They evidently opened an account anyway but never issued a card. I phoned to tell them that we had no account. They said they needed to talk to my husband on the phone and my husband and I refuse to talk to these people on the phone because of their crooked background and law suits. We sent letter to them demanding that there be no record of an account with them. They signed for the correspondence but refuse to acknowledge it. I've got my senator on it and he's taken it to the Office of the comptroller of the Currency since it appears somehow Capital One came out from under the Federal Reserve's control on March 1. (???) Now they're phoning twice a day and hanging up. Harassment.

I just wrote my senator that now they're harassing our business by phone.

So, this is to let everyone know these people are equal-opportunity dirt bags. We do NOT have bad credit and were shopping for a better rate for our business cc, which is now at 9.9% with a $20,000 LOC. They offered a lower rate but only attempted to approve a $500 LOC at 19%+++ which is nothing short of insulting. So they don't just rip off people with credit issues - they rip off EVERYONE.

Comment On This

The Masachusetts Attorney General's Office is being notified by mail of a pattern of 'unfair and deceptive business practices'by Capital One, in violation of MGL Chapter 93A which provides a treble damage award and attorny fee and costs remedy for business who do what Capital One does (e.g. refuse to permit advace payments and charge a fee of approximately five dollars a month which ads on a late fee when you do not use a platnum credit card, then if you pay on last day for a $10 electronic transaction bank fee, they do not credit your accound until the following day and add a late fee, before ruining a persons credit).This company promises zero interest or low interest rates because they know that in the near future they are going to scam customers/new victims with late fees of five dollar for service charges when they do not use the credit card, then raise their interest rates as high as possible, or ruintheir client/victims credit.My best friend has a career win rate of two out of every three cases he gets involved with and is the founder/owner of Paralegal Associates,michaeldupont AT paralegwerewolf.com and paralegalassociates AT hotmail.comso I get a free draft complaint for myself to prosecutr pro se (pro se means by myself with my best friends help) or a free draft Civil Rule 23 class action complaintfor me to prosecute Capital One and fully litigated pro bono (pro bono means without a chage) by lawyers who owe him huge favors.Any specific information from other victims of thiscompany who have been scammed into late charges, had theirinterest rates increased or credit ruined.I am sending Capital One a demand letter for moneary damagestomorrow and they have 30 days to respond. Any response shall be posted here.SincerelyFrancine

Comment On This

I don't recommend getting a Capital One credit card. Capital One Bank�s has structured their credit card business to extract excessive finance charges and late fees from their customers. This strategy should be exposed, to protect customers. Here is my experience:

1. Capital One restricted me to an unbelievably low credit limit of $2,000 even though my credit history has always been flawless. I realize that this is their prerogative, but no other credit company I have ever dealt with discounts prior credit history. This strategy makes it easy for customers to exceed the credit limit.

2. Capital One�s website does not accept early payments. At Capital One, early payments can only be made over the phone, for which a $10 fee is assessed. When I made an early payment over the phone to avoid exceeding my credit limit, their computer system flagged my early payment as "suspicious activity� even though my payment was immediately and successfully drafted from my bank. Even worse: my credit account was not credited with this payment until one week later after I called and complained to four people in Customer Service. Holding my money because I paid early is a strategy that should be against the law.

3. Capital One�s notified me that electronic funds transfer from my checking account would begin on December 4th . On my statement that was due on December 4th was printed the following information:

�Capital One�s automatic payment service is in effect for your account�. As requested, the New Balance shown on this statement will be debited directly from your designated bank account on your Payment Due Date. You do not need to send a separate payment�.�

My bank account was NOT automatically debited on December 4th, and finance charges of $11.88 as well as a late payment fee of $39 were imposed. I was $70 away from reaching my credit limit. I had to call a customer service representative to have the problem corrected.

4. After just the ONE late payment above (which was THEIR fault), Capital One�s website threatened me (in bold, red text) that the national credit bureaus would be notified of my delinquent activity if it continued. I can only imagine how much trouble it would be to have to correct my credit report if it had been wrongfully tarnished.

5. Capital One inquires against your credit report every month, looking for any delinquent activity on any account you have. They have the option of raising your interest rates if they find anything they deem unacceptable to them.

I hope this helps someone!