Capital One Platinum Visa: How Many Times Can One Bank Reject Me?
Written: Mar 27 '01
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Pros: Low interest rates, easy application, good reputation
Cons: Poor customer service, incompetent customer information tracking
The Bottom Line: Card had good potential but customer service's inept handling of my account - even after I cancelled it! - will prevent me from ever recommending this company!
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| WorkingMomof2's Full Review: Capital One |
I work full-time, and travel fairly extensively for business. Since I like to keep my business and personal expenses separate, I am always on the lookout for the "perfect" Visa card to suit my business needs. Last year, I thought I'd found it when I received a mailer for the Capital One Platinum Visa Card. Boy, was that every a mistake - a CAPITAL One!
What I need in a card
First of all, I'll put this in perspective. My needs for a Visa card may be very different than yours. My husband, for example, has had the same Visa card for years and loves it. Despite a fairly high annual fee, it has exactly the features he needs, and he pays it off in full - every month - and on time. I'm almost always on time, but I need a card that will let me float fairly large balances on my card while I wait for my company's reimbursement checks to arrive. So the interest rate is significant to me. So are things like balance transfers, and my credit limit. Finally, I need a bank that I can interact with online, so that I can handle much of my banking via computer when I'm traveling, or from home at the wee hours of the morning while my little ones are still asleep.
Capital One appeared to meet all of my needs. They were (at the time) offering a low introductory rate, and a 9.9% fixed rate after that. This rate was valid on balance transfers (I wanted to transfer my existing balance over so I could cancel my other card) as well as on new purchases. They had sent me a pre-approved card in conjunction with a chef's site I occasionally purchased from, with a $10,000 approved credit limit for a Platinum card. Furthermore, the minimum finance charge was only fifty cents (some have much higher minimums). There was a grace period on new purchases (some cards actually charge you a finance charge from the date of your bill, so you can't ever avoid these fees!).
I read all of the fine print. I studied the offer. Finally, I decided to sign up -- It sounded perfect.
My Actual Experience
There was only one problem - which of course snowballed. These things always start when one little thing goes wrong, right? Well the problem was that I lost the pre-coded envelope to mail in my pre-approved application. Here I was, having dutifully completed my application form on an airplane, with all of the surrounding paperwork and forms from Capital One - but no envelope.
"No problem," I thought, "I'll just stick it in a regular envelope and mail it right in." This is where I ran into the second problem - no address to mail it to. That's right - there was no return address, just the logo for the Chef's company that had mailed me the offer. Nowhere on all of the paperwork I had received was either a phone number or a mailing address to send this in. So it sat on my desk for a few weeks, while I searched my briefcase, my files, etc., hoping the envelope would turn up. I think it probably ended up in an airplane garbage can in Denver, or Chicago, or somewhere, because it never turned up in my office.
Finally, I decided that I clearly wasn't going to unearth the missing envelope, so I went online to search for a mailing address. Imagine my surprise when I saw the exact same offer for a Platinum Visa card, with all of the same spiffy perks I was offered, right there on the Capital One Visa website! I realized that I could complete the entire application right there on the website and eliminate a number of steps. Although I was a little disappointed not to get the neat-o card with the pretty spices on it, I decided that the card with the Olympic rings on it would substitute quite nicely - especially if it arrived quickly. I was even able to enter the information for my balance transfer from my old account right there on the site. How convenient! I was on a roll... and thrilled with Capital One!
The Credit Limit Fiasco
Only a few weeks later, my card arrived. It came in a pretty envelope with all my accompanying information, and a nice card with the pretty Olympic picture on it. "Hey, wait a minute..." I said, "This isn't right! They only gave me a $1,000 credit limit! ME! I haven't had a credit limit that low since I was in high school!"
I assumed this was a typo, and set the letter and card aside with a note to call the company and rectify the error. It had to be an error, of course, since I get about 10 pre-approved applications for Platinum Cards and other high-end credit cards per week. I'm very responsible with my credit, and I don't have a lot of outstanding credit cards - we even close out store-charge accounts after we use them.
Shortly thereafter, I got a letter from Capital One. It told me that my $2,000 balance transfer had been denied, since it was over the amount of my credit limit. I snorted in disgust, and picked up the phone. I spoke with a customer service representative, who was polite but uninformed and couldn't tell me anything more than the letter said. Finally, I spoke with a manager who looked into my account. When I explained that I had been pre-approved for $10,000, and was confused why I couldn't even get a $2,000 transfer approved, he was baffled. He promised to research my credit, my history and get back to me within three days. I'm not incredibly savvy about these things, but I was at least sharp enough to grab his name and direct number, in case he didn't call me back. He promised, though, and assured me he'd get "right back to me".
And so I waited. And waited, and waited, and waited. When it became clear after two weeks that he was clearly not going to call me back, I called him. "Whoops, it must have slipped through the cracks,"he apologized, digging up my file. Sure enough - credit in good order, no problems at all, and he would be happy to raise my credit limit to $3,000. While that wasn't enough to handle my business volume, I figured it would let me do the balance transfer, and show Capital One that I was a good credit risk so that I could increase my limit. So I agreed to the deal, and the manager said he would resubmit my balance transfer application.
Fiasco after Fiasco
A few weeks later, my second rejection notice arrived for the balance transfer. It seems my $3,000 credit limit was not sufficient to allow me to do a $2,000 balance transfer with Capital One. I was a little baffled by Capital One's math --again, not being a math major maybe I was just missing something in the higher accounting -- but I did study both accounting and finance in graduate school, and this seemed like a fairly basic equation to me. Nonetheless, I dutifully picked up the phone and called Capital One.
"Whoops," they said, "We don't know what happened.... your credit limit never got raised! We'd be happy to try again, if you want!" Actually, by this point I had already PAID OFF the balance on the other card, and was more than disgusted with Capital One. The hold times were atrocious, and the customer service reps - and managers - clearly didn't follow through on their promises. No thanks, I told them, just cancel my account. And I got the name and number of the person canceling my account, just to be sure.
Sure enough, I got a letter in the mail shortly thereafter documenting the cancellation of my account, with a zero balance. It was a form letter, unsigned and unnamed, but it gave me the documentation I needed to consider my account closed. Surely this miserable encounter with Capital One was over, right?
And Yet, The Pain Won't Stop!
I was a little baffled when I got a letter from Capital One a few weeks later. I couldn't imagine what they would want with me, and almost threw it away - but my curiosity got the best of me so I took a peek inside.
Imagine my surprise when I read that I had been turned down - again - for a balance transfer. Amusingly, though, this was for a different amount, and was dated just days before. Since I had documentation that my account was cancelled, I tucked this away in the "odd but not requiring any action" file.
A few weeks later, another letter arrived. I was still being rejected for a balance transfer. The nerve, I thought, turning me down... after all, I don't have an account there, and I haven't applied for a balance transfer, so why would they reject me? I told my husband this, who listened to me and didn't see the same level of humor in it that I did. "You better call them," he said, "These kinds of mistakes can screw up your credit forever."
I dutifully called Capital One, and for the umpteenth time, waded through the maze of entering numbers to eventually sit, listening to muzak, awaiting a "real person" who could deal with this fiasco.
When I finally got my live body, I explained my situation. I said, as nicely as I could, that "I don't have a card there, I tried to apply but they couldn't get my credit balance anywhere close to what I was pre-approved for, so I cancelled my card months ago and yet I'm still getting rejection after rejection for balance transfers that I never applied for. Can you help me?"
The somewhat stunned customer service rep assured me that my card was indeed cancelled, and clearly I was getting someone else's credit letters. While that was reassuring for me personally (less risk to my credit limit that way, of course) it gave me pause - why was I getting these letters at all? Wasn't there some sort of checks and balances to prevent this type of error? Well... evidently not.
The Bottom Line
For me, this was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back. Or in my case, the straw(s) that took Capital One from being a three-star service that just didn't meet my needs to being a one-star service demonstrating incredible incompetence.
I honestly can understand how a company can choose to be ultra-conservative in who they extend credit to. Truly, I can... although I admit, I'm a bit baffled as to how the exact same qualifications that made me a pre-approved $10,000 Platinum card candidate would only earn me a $1,000 credit line when entered online.
I can even understand how mistakes occur. How someone could forget to call a customer back, or forget to enter their new information in the computer... and more. I am sure that their marketing people never realized that the return address was missing from their sales flyers – after all, most people don’t misplace their envelopes. I do understand all of this - life is hectic, people are human, and errors occur.
It's a huge stretch, but if I really want to, I can even understand how someone could mis-code an account, or mix up a couple of digits in a data entry process, so that my name and personal information suddenly correspond with someone else's account. Mind you, it might have been a lot more flattering if I had been mixed up with someone with a good credit level, but at least I got some wry satisfaction out of knowing that other people were being turned down for their balance transfers too.
What I cannot understand is how all of this can happen in one bank, to one account. The only rational explanation I can come up with is sloppy customer service - poorly entered data, unreturned phone calls, improper processing of account changes, and who knows how much more.
The bottom line for me is that even if I understand this, I do not choose to ever deal with it again. I am thoroughly turned off by Capital One and their inept handling of my account. Understanding that someone makes mistakes - a lot of them - does not mean that I have to choose to take this type of treatment. And in this case, I choose to bank instead with someone who will treat me with a little more respect.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
WorkingMomof2
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Member: Amy
Location: Southern California
Reviews written: 313
Trusted by: 539 members
About Me:
Every time I close the door on reality it comes in through the windows.
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