Consumer complaint received 2023-03-22
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: OR
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Struggling to pay your bill
Sub-issue: Credit card company won't work with you while you're going through financial hardship

Complaint:
Since the beginning of the ongoing XXXX pandemic, my family 's income has been reduced significantly, roughly by XXXX XXXX. I was able to keep things current up until a few months ago when I was struggling to make on-time payments, but was still considered current as these had not been reported to the credit bureaus at that time. However, since around XX/XX/XXXX, I have been struggling to make even a past-due payment. After making a payment, I would still have that current month 's payment due, which of course was not possible at that time. This left me constantly a month behind. 

Capital One, as any financial institution is entitled to do, began calling me to inquire what was going on and if I needed help. Of course, I acknowledged this was the case and stated, explicitly, that I was in need of payment assistance. 

This assistance turned out to be the waiving of XXXX month 's payment. I was told by the Capital One representative that this is only possible XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) months. This was a pretty empty, low-effort offer by Capital One, but given my situation and the alternative ( of which there was none ), I felt compelled to accept the XXXX month skip, fully knowing that this would only postpone my situation until the next month, at which I would not be eligible to skip another payment. 

After this XXXX payment skip, when I was still unable to make even a catch-up payment, I was contacted by Capital One again, before I could contact them myself, about the past-due payments. I once again explained my unchanged financial situation to the customer service rep, who informed me they have options for this kind of thing, XXXX of which was to skip XXXX month 's payment. Being an honest individual, I informed this rep that I had already received this once-per-year option and would likely not be eligible for it. I was then informed that we could make a payment plan, so the Capital One rep and I began that process. After a few minutes, I was informed that I do not have any payment plan options. 

Capital One continues to send me emails asserting payment plans and/or the illusion of XXXX assistance, which is clearly going to be a false statement for some of their customers. I have asked a local attorney to look into if this is the case, and if so, if it makes sense to pursue recourse. 

I have also requested multiple times the email address of someone at Capital One who can help me, but was told each time that there is no way to contact any customer support individual via email. If I XXXX, for a moment, provide some emotion-based feedback : that is absolutely the stupidest thing I have ever heard in my XXXX years, that I am unable to contact -ANYONE- at a company as large as Capital One via email. Absolutely pathetic for a corporation whose net income for XXXX was $ XXXX, a XXXX XXXX increase from XXXX, and with an annual net income for XXXX of {$7.00} XXXX. 

All of this being said, I am more than happy to continue paying on my Capital One accounts, were I provided realistic, workable solutions. I have already informed multiple Capital One representatives of this, but a low-level support employee has little to no impact on those policies, if that rep is even employed by Capital One and not by an outsourced call center. Being that Capital One has displayed to me that they are unwilling or incapable of providing assistance to those customers wanting to continue fulfilling their payment obligations but can not, I am finding it increasingly difficult to justify continuing future payments, even if I were able to afford them. I need proof that Capital One is actually committed to their customers as they so tout in their marketing. In XXXX of XXXX, they received {$3.00} XXXX in XXXX XXXX XXXX funds, also referred to colloquially as a bailout. While these funds were paid back in full in XXXX of the following year, XXXX XXXX is that they were given these funds, essentially the funds taken from my parents and familys taxes, without a second thought, and without consultation or consent from the people from whom they so happily accepted those funds. Through regulatory capture, Capital One enjoys privileges which they do not even extend to their own clientele, and certainly not to those individuals at the lower tier of their client base. After all, why would the most vulnerable need assistance when their shareholders can gain a few more fractions of a percent in profits by ignoring those individuals? 

In conclusion, I would like to state explicitly and unequivocally that I am seeking and requesting, once again and for the fifth and final time, a tangible, meaningful solution to continue fulfilling my financial obligations to Capital One. If they can not and/or will not provide this, then, unfortunately, I can not provide Capital One with the remaining payments and balances owed. It is as simple as that. Should these accounts go to collections, well, my credit was wrecked due to those and other financial difficulties over the past XXXX years, and really, honestly, can not get much worse. But that seems like a rather infantile outcome when another is so excruciatingly simple. 

Thank you for your time.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation