Consumer complaint received 2018-03-09
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest
Sub-issue: Problem with fees

Complaint:
In XX/XX/XXXX, it became clear to me that my husband and I were way in over our heads with too many credit cards carrying very high balances, with correspondingly high interest rates. Our monthly minimum credit card payments in total resulted in leaving us short of cash to pay our rent, utilities, food, and basic needs for our XXXX children. We do not make a lot of money ( under {$4000.00} income combined monthly ). I began researching debt consolidation companies with much trepidation, as the process required us to pay these companies up front with the promise that they at some point would negotiate our debt - a very scary predicament for us as we were already under a lot of stress. 
We decided to reach out to all of our credit cards directly to see if we could close the cards and negotiate a long term payment plan to fulfill our obligation and pay them off. 
We have been successful with many major creditors : XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX in securing a monthly payment that we could handle and a reduction in the APR during the duration of these plans. 
Here is where my complaint begins : When I approached my Capital One credit card over the phone to negotiate a solution ( card was not behind in payments ) in XX/XX/XXXX I did not have any success with negotiating any payment plan, or any reduction in the APR. I went on to explain that we were struggling to pay our basic needs bills ( rent/food/utilities ), and that a minimum payment of {$150.00} where the monthly interest was {$100.00} was crazy as we would only be applying {$52.00} to the balance principal owed, and we would never be able to pay the card off. My conversation went to explaining to the XXXX XXXX rep to please understand that we want to pay this debt, but require the card to enter some sort of payment plan with a reduction in the interest charges ( {$100.00} apr interest a month at that time ). A representative flat out told me that they would not allow any negotiations until the card was 30 days past due ... ... .which meant for the first time, since I had the card, I would have to be the " bad guy '' and miss a payment just for someone to negotiate with me. 
So I skipped the XX/XX/XXXX payment, as I felt I had no choice so I could then negotiate with Capital One. Next phone call I made was in XX/XX/XXXX. The rep asked me a bunch of questions, and told me if I paid XXXX this month, then on a payment plan thereafter I would pay XXXX per month-but he could not confirm the payment plan over the phone - I would have to wait for a letter from Capital One. Well, a few weeks later I did receive a letter denying the request for a payment plan at this time. I then understood that I had negotiated nothing with Capital One, and my next statement asked for a {$480.00} minimum payment even though I had made the payment of XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX, and {$110.00} in XX/XX/XXXX like the representative asked me to. I called again in the beginning of XX/XX/XXXX to try to go higher up in the Capital One bank asking for a manager to review this situation. I received two phone calls from 2 different managers telling me once again that I did not qualify for a payment plan at {$110.00} per month. I asked how much do you want a month for me to qualify? She said " she could not tell me that ''. I asked her why? She said that I would have to tell her how much I could pay .... ( the {$110.00} was not the right answer ). 
I am not sure what to do now with this credit card. It was like they wanted me to fail. I want to pay this card off, I do not want it sitting out as compromised debt, but the willingness from Capital One to allow me to pay off a credit card balance of {$5400.00} on a payment plan with the card closed does not seem possible. Could you please help me. So many phone calls, with no result. I am heavily affected by this situation. I can not seem to get this under control. This is the only bank who I can not negotiate with. 
Sincerely,

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief