Consumer complaint received 2015-06-04
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: IL
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Other bank product/service
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Complaint:
Capital One has violated these laws, as explained below : Consumer Financial Protection Act, FTC Section 5, Truth in Savings Act, Electronic Funds Transfer Act, Maryland Consumer Fraud Protection Act. 

Capital One forced open our safe deposit box and liquidated its contents without notice to us. Through mishandling, they lost the contents. They insisted that they forced the box open because we did not pay the rental fees. In fact, our checking account was set up such that the rental fees were automatically debited from the account each year. At some point, due to a security concern, we changed our checking account number. Capital One failed to link the new account number to the safe deposit box, which is what led to the perceived nonpayment. At no time did Capital One give us notice that there was an issue with the fees, nor did they give us notice when they forced the box open and liquidated the contents. 
Our box contained irreplaceable jewelry that my parents purchased for us as wedding gifts from XXXX. As is common in XXXX families, these pieces of jewelry have incredible tangible, not to mention, sentimental value. The box also contained some legal documents concerning my uncle 's estate, which are irreplaceable and difficult to re-execute, considering he lives in another country. 

Capital One claims to have sent the property to the Maryland Division of Unclaimed Property, despite that documentation the bank itself provided to me showed that nothing but " miscellaneous documents '' were sent, despite also giving us an inventory showing that the box contained several pieces of jewelry. The Division has conducted exhaustive searches and has confirmed that it never received, nor does it have, any of our property from Capital One. Rather than address the merits of our claim, Capital One has been " searching '' for our property for nearly a year, with no success. We have impressed upon them that the injury was inflicted when they failed to link the new account number to the box and failed to give us notice, but they continue to attempt to shift the blame to the XXXX. 

Capital One has further indicated that they do not believe we ever signed up for automatic debit form our account to pay the box rental fees. However, they in fact debited our account for the fees for approximately XXXX years. If they do not believe we had signed up for automatic debit, then debiting our account without our consent constitutes a violation of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act, 15 U.S.C. 1693a et seq., as well as the NACHA rules. 

We sued Capital One in federal court on an individual basis. Again, rather than address the merits, they chose to fight us on jurisdictional grounds. This is what prompted us to file a class action in Maryland, to fight for our rights and those of others similarly situated. Ultimately, the bank will have to address the merits of our claims and those of others. It puzzles us that the bank wo n't simply admit that they did something wrong, and chooses instead to force consumers to jump through hoops like this, when it is their own wrongdoing that is in question. 

We have attached the relevant pleadings for your review, which contain a more detailed description of Capital One 's offenses.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation