Just venting some steam..... I just got off the phone with a cap one collection agent. Apparently I am in collection after paying on time and in full and only having the card for a total of 2 statements. I say 2 statements and not 2 months because I got and used the card in late February but my first statement came in March stating ABSOLUTELY that my due date was April 02, 2001...I even called cap one in March before I had received the statement and asked "I have not received a statement yet, when is my due date" which was verified as April 02, 2001. I made a payment in full which was received and credited to my account in March (Before the April due date obviously) and I verified that it was received by calling the automated account line. Second statement came, and I tucked it away somewhere, where I don't know...so assuming the last statement was due April 02, my next due date would be May 02 (today) and mailed my payment on April 28th so that it would arrive on the first... WELL apparently the due date was the 1st and not the 2nd for my SECOND statement....and my payment arrived YESTERDAY on the 1st but I am called by collection .... I ASKED WHY am I being called this is ridiculous...she responded to me that payment was received BUT AFTER 1:00PM and cap one considers any payments to be made on the due date, only up to 1:00PM ....my payment was received apparently after 1:00 and will be considered late...I paid by check (in full) but has not cleared...and the LATE FEE PUT ME OVER MY LIMIT until the check clears...AND THAT IS WHY I AM BEING CALLED BY COLLECTION!!!! Then she starts telling me I have been late in the past!!! I SAID LADY THIS IS MY 2nd STATEMENT...HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN LATE IN THE PAST when my payment was received BEFORE my first due date...and I HAVE ONLY JUST THIS SECOND been declared late on my 2nd statement...she said it is because of the charges in February which were in a earlier billing cycle (whatever that meant) I WAS BOILING NOW and asked for her supervisor...who backed her up with EVERYTHING the rep was saying...I WAS DELINQUENT AS OF NOW...OVER THE LIMIT UNTIL MY CHECK CLEARED BECAUSE OF THE LATE FEES...and I HAD BEEN LATE IN THE PAST!!! I got her name...said I will file a complaint and hung up...now my solution will be to wait until my check clears paying off the April charges in full...I will send in another check covering the late fees and bringing my account to 0...and I am closing the card. F@&% THEM!!! Just in principle...I do need the card...but I cant believe their BS for a customer who pays in full and on time (well not EXACTLY on time I guess). ARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! -Dave
Dave, I would contact planetfeedback asap!!!!! I bet they can straighten this out! That really sucks! AnnMarie
Dave, That sucks! I agree with AnnMarie - I would contact Capital One via PFB and see if the consumer advocate can clean up this BS! Good Luck! Gregory
Dave, That is awful!! I can't imagine being treated that way by them. I made my very first payment late. I called them, and acted upset (I was) and they were very nice and took the late charge off. It was kind of similar situation - I lost the bill, and then tried to pay online the day it was due - I discovered the online payment took 3 days to credit. When I called, the rep was really nice, and understanding. Wow! You got the short end of it!! breeze
Sounds like typical subprime hell stuff to me...but why would you mail your payment 4 days before it is due. That is putting a lot of faith in the Postal Service and as you probably know these CC companies love to charge late fees. And the 1:00pm cutoff is probably detailed somewhere in the Terms and Conditions of the card agreement somewhere...so it sounds like Cap One has every right to charge a late fee if the payment is not received by the specified time and date. And my due date changes every month because of the billing cycle is an odd number. So you must review every bill to be sure when it is due. As far as them telling you this is the second time you were late on an account you have only had for two months, I'm not sure what to say about that. Might I digress..... What I suggest is the following. 1. You said you need the card and Cap One was willing to give you a card. I also have a Cap One card and they gave me one when nobody else would. So I recommend that you keep the card. 2. Sign up ASAP for their online service. You can pay your bill online and you don't have to worry about it being late. Make sure you pay it at least two days before the due date because there is some delay in it being posted to your account. 3. After you cool down, call them back and ask them to waive the late fee. They probably will if you sweet talk the rep on the phone. Admit to them that you thought the due date was the 2nd and that you mailed it at least 10 days before the due date. Of course if you already told them you mailed it 3-4 days before the due date, there is probably nothing you can do. Then you might want to do the PlanetFeedback thing as Marie and everyone else has suggested. 4. Get a card from Providian or Aria. The Aria card is kind of ugly so I'd go with the Providian card if I were you. If you qualify then you might consider closing your Cap One account because any balance you carry will result in a high balance to limit ratio which kills your FICO score. As usual this is just my opinion and I wish you luck in getting this resolved.
Thanks for all the feedback. Not sure I want to cool down How does one pay using the online service...using a credit card? or do they direct debit your bank account? I would assume the latter, but I can not think of how an online payment could be made any other way. Anyway BOTTOM line is they should not treat someone who pays in full and happens to be several seconds late on the SECOND statement that way. Once the supervisor picked up the call, she should have offered to make me happy seeing the situation I was in. BY THE WAY I USE CAPS and AM ANGRY you might assume I got irate on the phone...no not at all...I always maintain a civil and polite attitude, I did not fly off the handle at all, never got mad at the rep, or supervisor...I can only assume that being in collections she deals with irate people constantly and took the attitude of NOT making me happy because of that. -Dave
Dave, Cap One online payments are made as ACH transfers from your checking account. You supply them with your routing and account number. Cap One posts payments fast; definitely within two days and sometimes, in my case, the next day. One thing to watch out on the online payment: if you choose to pay the minimum payment, pay the amount listed on the "statement" page and NOT the "pay now" page. Marie noticed a discrepancy between the amounts on her accounts. I did not see the discrepancy with my account, but I don't doubt Marie on this point. I would write PFB and then speak with the consumer advocate as well.
They debit your checking account directly and I have never had a problem with it. It is good to hear that you were civil to them even though how they are treating you as a customer isn't what you expected. But as you pointed out they deal with all kinds of people who don't pay their bills on-time(for a variety of reasons) and until you prove that you do pay on-time they just won't believe you. I am sure it was nothing personal. Every time I have talked to a rep at Cap One they have been very nice and accomodating. But that was after 12 on-time payments so after you get this starightened out in a few months they will be nice to you too!!! : )
Thanks again for the information everyone. I will initiate the online service. Not sure what I expect to get from cap one via PFB except possibly removal of the late fee. So maybe I will wait till after I try a cap one customer rep to remove the fee before I send any letter to PFB. I assume this WILL post to my CR as being late...thats what really upsets me the rest is all simply annoyances. -Dave
I would recomend you pay your capital one statements ONLINE. They are processed much quicker, you wont ever have to deal with mess ups!
I'm not sure, bu I don't think this will post to your CR as a late. I think it has to be 30 days late to actually make it to CR... Anyway online payments are the way to go, right now all my credit cards have this feature and I wouldn't even consider one without it.
1. Try to push YOUR contract to a CC company... then tell us what happens. I bet 5 to 1 they'll laugh in your face. 2. The guy has access to a computer, otherwise he wouldn't be using this board, would he?
One thing that causes this is the fact that creditors & consumers don't know the differences between : 1-date paid 2-date received 3-date posted Nor do they know when each one occurred! Also a bill needs to be presented at least 30 days before it's due!! Also the so called consumer rites laws invalidated our receipts:!
I have a bank CC that gives you 6 days AFTER the due date before your payment is considered late. Why can't the others do this?
In a word? Money (greed, profit whatever). I remember reading about the hey day when the CC banks could count on some nice 17-19% interest and $20-$30 annual fees. That showed up real nice on the bottom line. But then something happened: a bank or two started (gasp!) *competing* for customers--luring people away with the carrot of no annual fee ALSO consumers started getting smart and thought "Hey! Why am I paying a $25 annual fee just to give these people interest?" Then the annual fees started going away and the interest rates started to plummet. And the bottom line wasn't as thick as before. And lets face it, the merchant fees are nice but there's a lot more money to be had out there...somewhere. So, where's a new source of revenue? FEES! Late fees; over limit fees; ATM fees; cash advance fees; fees for "cash-like" purchaces of casino chips, money orders and travelers cheques. Think about it. They have computers so it's a simple database check to see how many people pay their bills late (more than 5 days past due date since some people like my grandmom consider paid when it goes into the mailbox) in a given year. That number times $20-$30 = thick bottom line! Now, how many more people have their payments *posted* only 1-2 days after the due date? A lot more! So, more fee revenues. Plus if you consider what happened to Nave, your payment posts after the cutoff time (someone reported that a CC bank ends their business day at 6AM!) on the due date. SMACK! Late fee--but to add insult to injury, you're now over your credit limit: SMACK! Another fee!
I had a dept store card and their collections people were notorious for calling you on or the day before the due date to remind you your payment is due/find out why you haven't made a payment. They would almost invariable ask "Can you go to the store and make a payment now?" They didn't have a 1pm cutoff--any payment made while the store was open was posted as of that calendar day. This was several years ago and I remember a friend telling me they got their hands slapped for it. They called some state judge's wife or something
