Consumer complaint received 2019-03-30
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: VA
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Credit monitoring or identity theft protection services
Sub-issue: Didn't receive services that were advertised

Complaint:
Capitol One sent me dozens of invitations to apply for credit with them, and as a XXXX XXXX XXXX, in late XX/XX/XXXX I accepted two invitations : a small personal card with {$300.00} credit limit ( XXXX  XXXX ), when warnings of the XXXX XXXX XXXX first started here ( XXXX  / XXXX ), and a second small business card, XXXX  XXXX, {$500.00} credit limit ), in XXXX, first month of the XXXX. 

Capitol One advertised on their website and promised to consumers over the phone - and I called them several times, XX/XX/XXXX and then XX/XX/XXXX andXX/XX/XXXX ; and identified myself as an impacted XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX - that for impacted XXXX XXXX that : 1 ) XXXX would not charge or access any late fees or charges and would defer payment due until after the XXXX  ( it was generally assumed this would follow the legislation introduced by Sen. XXXX XXXX XXXX, requiring banks and lenders to not access any penalties and to avoid adverse reporting for the months of the XXXX and for " one month after the end date of the XXXX. '' This would equate to XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX. 
2 ) That the bank would not issue any adverse / negative credit reports for impacted XXXX XXXX.  I was an impacted XXXX XXXX. From my first conversation with Cap One, their call center PROMISED me they would APPLY THIS 'DOCTRINE ' OR INSTITUTIONAL PROMISE, AS PUBLICLY ADVERTISED ON THE HOME PAGE OF THEIR ENTIRE WEBSITE, FOR BOTH CARDS. THEY IDENTIFIED BOTH THE CARDS AND SAID AT LEAST TWICE, IN XX/XX/XXXX, NOT TO WORRY. THEY WOULD NOT APPLY CHARGES OR LATE FEES, I WOULD HAVE NO PAYMENT DUE UNTIL AFTER XXXX AND THEY WOULD NOT ISSUE ADVERSE CREDIT REPORT. 
____ In earlyXX/XX/XXXX I applied for a car loan, to lower payments. I was amazed to discover that Cap One had DROPPED MY CREDIT RATING BY ALMOST 300 PTS! 

They had NOT complied with their promises. They had almost DOUBLED the amount due on both cards, from FEES AND LATE CHARGES - ursury interest, illegal? - and they had made so many inquiries and adverse credit reports in TWO MONTHS, BEG IN XX/XX/XXXX, THAT MY CREDIT SCORE HAD DROPPED ALMOST 300 PTS FROM 'good ' or 'above average ' to very poor. That kept me from acceptable terms on any car loan, so that I could not purchase a car under extremely low or 0 % interest ( XXXX XXXX  ) sales - I would have substituted my current $ 650+ payment for $ XXXX   monthly payments, had not Capitol One either LIED or NOT ADHERED TO ITS REPEATED PROMISES TO ME. THESE PROMISES WERE MADE VERBALLY, AND WERE ADVERTISED ON THE CAP ONE WEBSITE. 

XXXX Inability to reach Capitol One leadership to seek remedy, and comparison to another card : I never use credit, as a single mother, XXXX XXXX. And it has been extremely difficult rebuilding credit after a ) a horrible divorce and an ex-spouse who fraudulently applied for tens of thousands of dollars of credit in my name, using my stolen ids, including HOME EQUITY LOANS IN XXXX, REPEATED CAR LOANS, RETAIL ACCOUNTS - all items after our divorce, or without my knowledge, and which I never authorized. I can not imagine anyone being granted a HOME EQUITY LOAN for a state where I was not even living. The other difficulty and a noted reason - under US federal law - for ensuring stricter individual privacy and protection by banks or other public institutions - I have a XXXX-XXXX XXXX child, and significant XXXX  XXXX endured and XXXX  and XXXX, and injuries including two XXXX XXXX, several horrible XXXX, referencing both my XXXX child - who is a XXXX/XXXX registered case, many times ; a registered case with XXXX XXXX Police ; a registered case with the XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX ; and a registered case with the XXXX XXXX XXXX - my son and I hold JOINT XXXX  - XXXX CITIZENSHIP. AND XXXX GRANTS EVEN STRONGER PRIVACY AND VICTIM RIGHTS THEN THE XXXX ; BUT UNDER BOTH NATIONS MY CHILD AND I ARE PROTECTED FROM UNDUE OR UNNECESSARY CREDIT REPORTING, FINANCIAL INQUIRIES, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, PRIVACY VIOLATION AND ANY OTHER OFFICIAL OR FINANCIAL OR EMPLOYER OR GOVT ACTIVITY THAT JEOPARDIZES OUR PRIVACY, EXPOSES OUR PHYSICAL ADDRESS OR PUTS OUR LIVES IN DANGER. 

But everytime I turn around, this one bank is writing, calling, sometimes 12 or more times a week, and finally I got tired of repeating the same story to them. I have contacted them via XXXX XXXX, via in-person visits to local Cap  One banks in XXXX, where their HQ is located - I am not allowed to enter their HQ without appointment, it is guarded ; but I spoke directly, twice, with the Cap  One branch in the public lobby attached to the HQ. And that female banker and said she remembered XXXX XXXX advertising on its home page that it would honor these terms for XXXX XXXX XXXX. I tried emailing to the CEO and Exec Team of Cap One - I have tried everything I can think of for 6 weeks now. Because the credit rating harms me financially - for housing, mortgage loans if I apply in the near future, as I had intended to, auto loans, any XXXX XXXX XXXX, etc. 

In contrast, the only other credit card I have ever taken out - from XXXX XXXX, did the same thing. I called them - it took ONE CALL - and they immediately apologized and reversed all late fees and rescinded adverse reporting to the credit bureaus. They are in XXXX. Few XXXX XXXX XXXX there. But a nice bank apparently. CAP ONE IS JUST ACROSS THE RIVER FROM DC, A FEW BLOCKS FROM SEN XXXX XXXX OFFICE, AND SEN XXXX WAS THE CHIEF SPONSOR OF XXXX XXXX LEGISLATION ; CAP ONE MAKES IT LIVING PRIMARILY FROM FEDERAL GOVT EMPLOYEES AND AGENCIES ... AND IT DID NOT HONOR ITS ADVERTISED SHUTDOWN TERMS. 

Today I got yet another warning notice from Cap One. 

PLEASE INTERVENE AND MAKE THEM HONOR THEIR TERMS : 1 ) IT IS FRAUD FOR A BANK TO ADVERTISE ONE THING, OR TELL A CONSUMER ONE THING, AND THEN TO DO ANOTHER THING. 
2 ) THEY MADE CERTAIN PROMISES TO THE XXXX XXXX - TO TAKE CARE OF XXXX XXXX ( AND XXXX DEFINED THAT AS BOTH XXXX   AND XXXX ) - SO THAT THEY WOULD 'LOOK GOOD ' TO LOCAL CONSUMERS AND THE NEARBY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OR THE FEDERAL AGENCIES ALL AROUND THEIR HQ. AND ATTRACT OR KEEP BUSINESS. SO THEY LEVERAGED OR USED THE HARDSHIP AND OUR SUFFERING, TO MAKE THEMSELVES 'LOOK GOOD, ' FOR THEIR OWN PROFIT, BUT THEN, DID NOT DELIVER ON THEIR ACTUAL ADVERTISED PROMISES, AT LEAST IN MY CASE. 

CAPITOL ONE EXPLOITED THE XXXX  FOR PROFIT BUT DID NOT HONOR THEIR TERMS AND IN ACTUALITY LIED TO US AND TREATED US IN VERY HARMFUL MANNER. AFTER HAVING NO PAY FOR 2 TO 3 MONTHS ( XXXX, XXXX ) AND HAVING TO 'START OVER ' IN MANY CASES, LIKE MINE, TO FIND NEW  WORK - and on top of the XXXX I also am adversely impacted by XXXX XXXX and XXXX related to my son 's XXXX, locals not wanting XXXX inquiry to proceed, and at least twice this month ( XXXX ), stalking me into new client sites and repeating threats related to my child 's XXXX, and then the work dries up or is cancelled or there is suddenly no funding ; so horrible crime victim retaliation also here - DROPPING SOMEONE'S CREDIT RATING BY 300 PTS (! ) AND DOUBLING THEIR CHARGES (! ) MERELY FROM URSURY INTEREST, IS DEADLY. I did not not accept a $ XXXX card offer ; I did not want that much debt : I took only {$800.00} in debt from Cap One - what I typically would earn in 1 day ; what I was scheduled to be earning in 1 day, before the XXXX. Now, still on very limited earnings, Cap One has doubled my debt - and I believe this is not just unfair but illegal and is fraud - and also removed my ability to lower bills by damaging my prior good credit standing. CAP  ONE HAS EASILY COST ME MORE THAN THE $ XXXX they now say I owe, one card alone, in the 'opportunity cost ' of missing the extremely low car loans I otherwise would have qualified for. I AM NOW PAYING $ XXXX/MONTH MORE FOR MY VEHICLE THAN I WOULD BE HAD CAP ONE NOT MISLED AND BEEN FRAUDULENT AND NOT APOLOGIZED OR REMEDIED ONCE THIS WAS BROUGHT TO THEIR ATTENTION. BEGINNNING IN XXXX. 

I NEED TO ALSO MOVE FROM A CONTAMINATED  RESIDENCE- THE WATER IS NOT POTABLE AND STATE HEALTH DEPT, EPA , AND MY OWN DOCTOR ( XXXX ) HAVE SAID THE WATER, CO2 OFF-GASSING AND OTHER CONDITIONS HERE ARE DEADLY ; BUT DUE TO CAP ONE 'S DAMAGE TO MY CREDIT REPORT, I CAN NOT GET INTO AN APT WITH JUST THE FIRST MONTH BUT WILL LIKELY HAVE TO PAY DEPOSIT ALSO - IN OUR AREA, THAT'S ANOTHER $ XXXX. AFTER A XXXX. SO CAP ONE IS  PREVENTING ME FROM MOVING INTO AN APT AS I DON'T HAVE A SPARE $ XXXX. OR EVEN $ XXXX. AND I HAVE CONCURRENT MEDICAL BILLS DUE TO THE DAMAGE SUFFERED AT MY CONTAMINATED HOME. 

SO CAP ONE IS IMPACTING ME ACROSS MANY LIFE-CRITICAL ARENAS. 
AND IF YOU ARE A XXXX VICTIM, XXXX  OR NOT, YOU LIVE UNDER A CONSTANT LEVEL OF RISK AND STRESS THAT MAKES PRIVATE, AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND SAFE HOUSING AND SAFE TRANSPORT CRITICAL. OR YOU ARE XXXX, TOO. 

Sincerely,

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation