Consumer complaint received 2019-09-21
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: MI
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Trouble using your card
Sub-issue: Can't use card to make purchases

Complaint:
CC card was approved on XX/XX/XXXX. 
Received the card on XX/XX/XXXX or XXXX. Registered my online account and activated the card per the instructions ( capitalone.com/activate ). Put the card in my wallet for use. 

XX/XX/XXXX, about XXXX, attempted to use the card at my pharmacy. Denied. Called Captial One when I got home. They asked for the last 4 of my SSN,  my birthdate, and if I recall, my address. They would not tell my why my card was denied and insisted for " security purposes '' that I take a picture of my drivers license with my phone and send it to them. And I could NOT blank out any of my DL #. NOTE : I have NEVER had a financial institution ask me for this for a credit card before nor AFTER approval which this is. Having had my identity stolen by leaks at companies, I was not giving them the entire keys to my identity. 

I tried to go online and they locked me out of access online. I called again and he offered to send my cell phone a text message to verify it is me. Much better. I have this with my XXXX XXXX, banks, several companies. They also include option to send it to my registered email. Capital One could not get it to text me. So he told me the only option was to send my DL. 

I requested to close my account and they said they have to talk to fraud. I called them and they refused to close the account. They wanted some info on my issue and I outlined the info above which I provided and said this is a form of fraud and I'm filing a complaint. He then wants to argue and tell me it's not and my claim is my opinion. 

I call back and get the same message as above. I told them I talked to fraud and they wouldn't do anything. He said it is the only way to get it done. I ended up in Security who of course wants all this detail yet again. He tries to talk about " security. '' CapitalOne doesn't know about security. Me NOT providing all the keys to my identity like giving my full DL with number displayed secures " ME ''. I finally get movement toward closure ( of an account that I can't use btw ). Interesting that they said they will close the account after verifying me ( asks for last 4 of SSN, DoB, ... ). So, did you catch that? He verified me so now he can close the account but can't fix the account. XXXX?!! He reads a long script that does not apply to me since I was never effectively a customer. I told him I don't want him to just close the account, I want my information 'deleted ' from their systems and confirmation it is done sent to me. He said he would do that. When he later tells me the account is closed and I will get notice in 7-10 days, I stopped him and said, " no, no, no, I want my information deleted. '' He came back and said they are required to keep my information for credit reporting. I asked for them to cite where that is a legal requirement. They could not. I went so far as to tell them delete my SSN and DoB. Keep my address so you can send me the letter of deletion. But they better not send me marketing or anything else not related to deleting my information.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation