Consumer complaint received 2022-08-27
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: MD
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments
Sub-issue: Problem during payment process

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX a payment was made from a Capital One checking account to a Capital One Credit Card in the amount of {$200.00}. 

Due to statement cut-off times the payment was applied as an extra payment to the incorrect statement cycle rather than toward the desired statement cycle ( where the payment was due XX/XX/22 ). It is our understanding this was a matter of timing that was just one day. As a consequence, they have shut off availability to my credit limit, charged me a late fee, and began collection activity which has caused me a hardship. 

Capital One was contacted on XX/XX/22 to fix this relatively routine and straightforward issue of a payment being applied to the wrong cycle by one day. When I called I spoke to four different people and go the run around. They refused to refund my late fee and reverse the payment back to my account so it could be applied to the appropriate cycle. They also would not change the effective date. I chose the XXXXspeaking line in that instance. 

On XX/XX/22 at XXXX I had my step-son call and talk to a representative on the English speaking line. She was magically able to refund my late fee despite prior refusal. I believe this is blatant XXXX  that they refused to do on the XXXX-speaking line given my extensive and positive history with them. I would like to know if the representatives are given different authorities to refund fees on English vs. XXXX  speaking lines and understand why there was such a variance in how I was treated with that. 

On that XX/XX/22 call after being on the phone with the representative for XXXX minutes while fumbling to find an answer, she told my son and I that they are unable to reverse the payment to my account because they lacked the functionality to do so. My step son ( who has been in upper-management in banking for over 15 years ) told her that he does not believe they lack the ability to reverse a payment from a capital one credit card to a capital one deposit account or to move the effective date. Rather they are refusing to do so. He asked to speak to a supervisor. 

We were transferred to a very condescending Supervisor or " Senior '' named XXXX, he stated his operator number was XXXX. He repeated that they were unable to simply reverse a payment or apply it to the other statement cycle. He desperately tried to find a reason to disconnect a call due to professional push back to bogus claims. He stated that their internal policies prohibited him from transferring me to an actual manager, submitting a service request to a manager to call us back, or sending a request to another department to have this fixed. He stated he was UNABLE to do so. My step son advised him there are clear distinctions between being unable and unwilling to which he continued to be defensive. He seemed to be more concerned with lecturing about semantics than actually helping or trying to find a resolution. Stating he did not interrupt us and talking about professionalism of the call ( there was no yelling, cursing, or anything... it was just factual because he was giving unsatisfactory answers ). In actuality, he did interrupt several times. After some back and forth he put us on hold for another 2-3 minutes after my son pushed back on his stated internal policies which likely do not exist. He came back and reiterated there was nothing he could do. My son probed what it is that he did during that 2-3 minutes he put us back on hold ... if he consulted a more senior manager, sent a request as asked, etc. He said that is proprietary internal information under his discretion and refused to answer. We believe he simply put us on hold as a stalling tactic and did nothing to help. We also believe no such policies exists and is just a tactic used in the call center to rip off customers. 

I would like Capital One to put in writing to the CFPB that they only allow their customers to talk to a Senior Associate and not a manager upon request to have a routine and highly impactful issue such as this addressed and to let the CFPB know how this policy is universally enforced across their various lines of business. We would also like to know whether that is a policy for just XXXX speaking consumers because my step son has had a very different experience as an English-speaiking SPARK business client. 

At the end of the day all we wanted to happen was to have our payment that was applied on XX/XX/XXXX credited toward the desired statement cycle. Whether that be by a reversal back to the account, applying it to the other cycle, or the like. That is it. Instead we were met with racism, condescension, and lies. I implore Capital One Management to train their staff better. We believe their conduct violates ( or at the very least dishonors the spirit and intent ) of provisions in the CARD act in respect to application of payments. I have numerous accounts and credit trades with Capital One and was treated poorly.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation