Consumer complaint received 2019-05-13
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: NY
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Privacy issues

Complaint:
It is with regret that I am compelled to submit this grievance in the form of a formal and multi-pronged complaint against Capital One, where I own a credit card account. I have been a customer since at least XXXX of XXXX, per my records, so there is a well-established account history and lengthy relationship. Recently, I had several authorizations declined which was embarrassing enough, a payment that somehow didnt get applied on time leading to a late fee being assessed ( which I believe to be Capital Ones fault but they wont allow me to discuss it in order to dispute it ), and other issues that Capital One ( a financial institution ) has refused to deal reasonably with me to resolve. Upon calling for assistance, I  have been pushed towards the fraud team which has been impossible to work with, despite multiple attempts do nothing but make unreasonable demands in a completely non-transparent manner. At this point my account appears to be in a " restricted '' state, which also will not allow me to receive accrued rewards, which amounts to theft as it will not be released. I am seeing others complaining of similar sudden restricted account status, but XXXX focus on my own situation. 

One such call was on XX/XX/XXXX at night going into XX/XX/XXXX, first with someone offshore and then to XXXX XXXX employee # XXXX ) in the XXXX upon my demand, which resulted in no movement forwards. She said its above her pay grade and no person was available who could do anything further to discuss or resolve. She pushed me to schedule a call with a XXXX for XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, which Capital One failed to follow through on, as promised to me. I called again on XX/XX/XXXX, first speaking to someone offshore, then to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX # XXXX ), who passed me to the supervisor XXXX ( employee # XXXX ) that seems to have violated my rights, denied corporate obligations, and violated law and regulation while proving completely unhelpful to resolve anything. 

A list of my complaints which I feel need to be addressed : -Utter refusal to discuss anything about my account with outrageous demands for ultra sensitive Personally identifiable information ( PII ) without cause : I have been told repeatedly that they refuse to acknowledge me as the account holder unless I produce a drivers license, with pictures front and back text messaged to them. There are multiple concerns here : XXXX ) No just cause or explanation as to why they need and are demanding such sensitive additional PII from me to begin with. I must refuse to provide such additional information on principal for my own security and privacy. However, more so and by law plus regulation this is improper behavior to demand PII without true cause seemingly with intent to collect more than what should be reasonably needed to begin with. 
2 ) Mention of for verification :, They do not possess my drivers license or the PII it contains besides my name and address. Its clearly not something they possess to verify against, so again the demand of my drivers license is thus uncalled for and a violation of my privacy, law, and regulations just to obtain more of my PII for themselves.

3 ) Unencrypted data in transit ( insecure transmission ) demand : The fact is that I was told numerous times by multiple employees/agents of the company that I must photo the front and back of my drivers license and TEXT message it to them is an outrageous demand and again against regulation that requires encryption in transit ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ).

4 ) Inability to formally give notice [ potential fraud or unauthorized charges ] and/or challenge fees and charges This goes against their own policy and my customer rights, which in turn becomes another legal and regulatory infraction. 

- Utter disregard for my safety, privacy, and personal security 1 ) Lack of notification if there is some fraud, identity theft, etc. that will do harm to me they have a duty to notify me. They have not done so in any manner and refuse to provide any information when I have directly inquired of them via phone. Again, this is abuse of my customer rights with the company noting a quote directly off their web site and elsewhere of we will alert you if we see anything suspicious. This violation of my consumer rights and regulatory rules is a major concern.

2 ) Putting me in harms way By requesting further PII if my account is compromised in some way puts me significantly further at risk for identity theft and other likely and foreseeable repercussions. Capital One refuses to reveal anything about the situation and purposely have made it a mission to keep that from me. At this point, I am forced to believe that they are likely causing me not only indirect but also direct harm. I will have to consider them a co-conspirator or at minimum an accomplice should they have failed to help prevent a dangerous and negative outcome ( s ) as a result of not only clear negligence to notify of me proactively but also refusal to answer upon direct inquiry. This seems to be malevolence by starting and/or adding fuel to a fire which too is a privacy, regulatory, and legal matter. 
3 ) Due to privacy concerns, I even offered to go into a Capital One location in XXXX in person and was told that wont suffice. See notes above of ( a ) insecure communication demands where TEXT messaging is inherently insecure by itself ( ignoring the complete lack of transparency how many 3rd parties may be in the middle of said communication too ), ( b ) no defined justification in demands of additional ultra sensitive PII from me, and then why they have no ability to accept other proof of identity/verification evidences but a drivers license. Apparently federal government ID is considered inadequate, which would constitute PII for verification that they actually have in their possession already that would not add to the stack of sensitive PII that they already have and from where I stand have no reason to demand more.

4 ) When calling in, despite having apparently high risk concerns [ fraud and/or other ] on the Capital One side, my calls are routed to what I deem as insecure and unacceptable offshore locations ; likely 3rd party locations with non-Capital XXXX employees involved but they wont speak to that matter either. In fact, XXXX XXXX employee XXXX ) and XXXX XXXX XXXX # XXXX ) admittedly confirmed that their offshore center ( XXXX ) should not be handling such matters like mine, yet I was routed multiple times to there anyhow. I was told I was speaking to someone in the XXXX on XXXX such call. 
XXXX ) I have accrued rewards and am being denied access to rightfully redeem - This amounts to theft by itself and ironically they are coming after me and demanding all sorts of payments, including assessed overdue/late fee plus interest XXXX past due fee of {$25.00} levied on XX/XX/XXXX + interest charge of {$10.00} XXXX without the aforementioned ability to dispute or rectify it. Shouldnt all funds in and/or out be locked if the account is truly in question of fraud/hacked/other? Its a XXXX sided and contorted game that they are unfairly and maliciously commanding ; another regulatory and legal issue that seeks to deny my consumer rights and abuse my finances and likely my credit score ultimately if I dont bow down to their every demand. 
XXXX ) Apparent issues with payments issue of overdue/late fee plus interest ( past due fee of {$25.00} levied on XX/XX/XXXX + interest charge of {$10.00} ) to be resolved where I believe I scheduled a payment Other grievances : XXXX ) XXXX XXXX XXXX # XXXX ) began to inquire if I was recording the call ; I refused to answer and he refused to continue iteratively ( not that we were getting anywhere due to the drivers license matter ). Per NY XXXX XXXX, as a resident of NY XXXX plus making a call physically within NY XXXX, etc. where legal consent to record is dictated by a participating party of XXXX ( which would be me ) is a legal right. This constitutes illegal action and clear violation of my rights, where Capital One sought to fight and restrict my right to record a call if I so pleased. 
2 ) Promised a scheduled call with a manager/supervisor on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX : Someone with enough seniority and authority was not calling me and this constitutes operating in bad faith and abuse of consumers such as myself who are at XXXX XXXX mercy. Not only was I called late, but then put on hold, then told to just wait indefinitely for a XXXX. After ~10 minutes I finally hung up in disgust. My only recourse when they wont come to the table in good faith, as promised, is to not this in a complaint here. I see it as a despicable tactic just want to waste and use up my time in an effort to tire me out so XXXX simply roll over or give up, rather than working with me fairly and ethically. 
3 ) Via web site requested a copy of the customer agreement on XX/XX/XXXX that did not arrive as stated - The web site stated it was going to be sent to my email in a matter of hours and surely wasnt. I wish I could quote and cite from there regarding other flagrant violations, but Capital One has not furnishing a current version of all of the customer agreement, customer rights, etc. and I dont have a copy laying around. 

In any event, this has gone way too far and I need assistance against the 800 pound gorilla that is Capital One, that seeks to trample all over me, my privacy, and my rights as a XXXX citizen, NY XXXX resident, and financial account holder/customer.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief