Consumer complaint received 2021-12-18
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: MD
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Closing your account
Sub-issue: Company closed your account

Complaint:
I applied for and received a XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX from Capital One bank- it came with a {$10000.00} limit and offered cash back rewards. After using the card once ( perhaps twice ) for some very small routine purchases, it was frozen. When I called to inquire why, I was told that there were concerns about fraud on my account and I needed to provide copies of my signed social security card, drivers license, and a non-Capital One bank account to verify my identify. It took me some time to get the documents together to comply with this very specific request. I submitted the documents on XX/XX/2021. Then I waited, and waited, and waited. My card remained frozen. 

On XX/XX/2021 I called the bank to find out why my card was still frozen. After providing several excuses, on that call, I was finally told that the documents in the images I had sent were not fully in frame and I needed to re-send the documents. I immediately did so. 

On XX/XX/2021 I received an email notification containing a link to a document which I needed to access by logging into my Capital One account. To my shock, dismay, and great surprise it was a letter informing me that my account was being closed because they had been unable to verify requested information. I immediately called to explain that I had re-sent the documents only 12 days earlier. 

However, this time the problem was apparently that someone had tried to call me to verify my identity and had not been able to reach me. Therefore, they had apparently concluded, they were unable to verify my identify ( despite having spoken with me a few days earlier ) and needed to close the card. The letter is titled less than 24 months close letter. 

Only upon logging into the account from the email notification of that letter did I see for the very first time two letters, this time titled less than 24 months warning letter and dated XX/XX/2021, and XX/XX/2021, purporting to inform me that they were still not in receipt of information needed to verify my identify and the account would be closed in 45 days. It is worth noting that I received no email notification of the XXXX letters. Nor was I told that this was an issue or informed of these letters when I called on XX/XX/2021. And the letters are not at all visible or accessible simply by logging into the account In my very long and frustrating exchange with the bank personnel with whom I spoke on XX/XX/2021, I was told that two phone calls had been made to my phone numbers so that they could verify my address. Its unclear to me how or why a phone call was necessary to verify my address after I had already submitted my drivers license, social security card, and bank statement from another institution all using the same mailing address. I was told that because they were unable to get me they decided to close the account. When I checked I found XXXX voice message left that simply said we need you to call about some documents and the other had shown up as spam. 

Up until this point, I had been a very satisfied Capital One customer for many years ( I cant even remember how long ). I have six ( 6 ) active bank/credit card accounts with Capital One and my name is on a seventh ( jointly with my ex-husband ). All accounts have exactly the same contact information. I find it unfathomable that there was any genuine concern about my identity. In any event, wouldnt the time for those concerns to have manifested before the card was issued? I made one or two transactions with the card before they closed it, both near to or in connection with my mailing address. The documents they requested all confirmed my identify. 

Even if these concerns were genuine, the attempts made to contact me were half-hearted, at best and full of half-truths of miscommunications when I did reach out myself to find out what was causing the delay. Why was I not told on XX/XX/2021 of the XXXX XXXX letters? As those letters were requesting that I contact them, why wasnt my phone call to them on XX/XX/XXXX adequate? Why was the only email notification that I received of the letter telling me the account had been closed? Capital One is almost overzealous in communicating about every transaction, something I have appreciated in these days of heightened security concerns. Yet surprisingly, very little effort was made to communicate with me about their own purported identify concerns about one of their long-standing clients. 

It was also very frustrating that no one could explain to me what these " identity '' concerns were. 

Finally, in closing the account the bank has damaged my credit history, which was lowered by XXXX points after the closure. On top of the mistreatment, this just feels mean spirited and undeserving. Had I misused the card after receiving it, or totally ignored the requests for information, perhaps that might have been an appropriate action to take. Instead, I was cynically put through a cycle of disrespectful treatment that has left me feeling battered and with a very bitter taste in the mouth. 

I would like to have the card reinstated and the negative impact on my credit history reversed. The Bureau should also launch an investigation to find out whether a pattern has/is emerging of denying credit to XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX or to women, of retracting services offered to customers that they no longer wish to offer, or both.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation