Consumer complaint received 2022-10-16
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: MD
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Savings account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Banking errors

Complaint:
Before submitting this complaint, I ( 1 ) contacted my bank ( Capital One ) on two occasions and escalated my complaint as high as I could ; and ( 2 ) I searched for similar complaints in CFPB 's database. I found multiple other Capital One customers with the identical complaint to mine, so am curious as to how the complaint was handled/resolved. 

My complaint is that Capital One apparently, at some time in the past ( I don't know when - but other complaints in the CFPB database date from XXXX ) introduced a new savings account product and then set existing savings accounts at a very low interest rate. Capital Onerefuses to provide me with a market rate for my " legacy '' savings accounts and they also refuses to migrate my accounts to the new one, stating that they are different products with different terms. I find this answer to be nonsensical, because on the same day that I received this written answer, I also received a notification from Capital One that they were changing the terms of my checking account. 

When I signed up for the account years ago ( under ING ) it had a very competitive interest rate- which was one of the reasons I took the account in the first place. The rates continued to be ok with Capital One ( though generally were low at the time ). It wasn't until the Federal Funds rate started ticking up that I kept checking my account savings rate and noticed it wasn't moving. Then I looked online and saw the higher advertised rate and called. The explanation I received from the first " manager '' person I talked to was that there was essentially no difference between the old and new accounts, only the name and the interest rate. 

I find it highly dishonest and disingenuous of Capital One to change accounts like this with zero notification and no option to migrate accounts. I've had many financial products/accounts migrated over the years, including this bank account from Capital One. It seems plausible that this ploy by Capital One allowed them to save on paying interest to old customers with high savings account balances while recruiting new customers. At this point, I've likely lost out on hundreds ( if not thousands ) in interest payments. I had also supposed that my account with Capital One would earn a high and fair interest rate, as that was the product advertised. 

Capital One 's proposed solution to me was to just create new accounts. First of all, this does not provide compensation for the lost interest. Second, this is a difficult and time-consuming proposition. I have multiple savings accounts with direct debits and direct deposits set up. Creating new accounts and re-linking them would take hours of time across multiple weeks to have all the linkages re-done. I realize there may be some responsibility on me as the consumer, but I feel like here the bank changed terms without notifying me or providing reasonably accommodatingoptions forward. 
Moreover, there is no guarantee that Capital One might not do something similar in the future. What if as soon as I were to create new accounts, they follow the same playbook? 

I would be curious what the answer to the other complaints/cases was. It seems to me there is a possibilityCapital One 's policy in this regard was intentional to defraud its customers of interest. 

I have two emails from Capital One that I can share with CFPB as well. My phone conversations with Capital One occurred in XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation