Consumer complaint received 2022-07-25
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: IN
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:
Re : Account # XXXX - Active, Paying as Agreed @ 100 % payment history Re : Account # XXXX - Disputed Charge off, Paid in Full, failed promises by Capital One To Whom It May Concern : I have been in contact with Capital One numerous times since I fell on economic and health hardship in late XXXX due to the COVID-19 pandemic and rampant layoffs, of which I was a victim. I became XXXX  in XXXX of XXXX and continued to pay toward my Capital One Secured Platinum until it became impossible. 

The account ending in XXXX was established in XX/XX/XXXX as a secured account in an attempt to rebuild my credit after the XXXX Economic Recession and a personal bankruptcy. From that time until early XXXX, my payment history was very good, but the card was never upgraded to unsecured or given added benefits. 

When I began having financial problems in XXXX, I contacted Capital One for assistance to no avail. I had an auto payment scheduled for my account and I no longer had the funds to supply the payment and the website was not allowing me to cancel the auto payment. I called dozens of times for assistance in this but could not reach anyone via phone. I was given a recorded message that due to the volume of calls I had to call later. 

By XXXX of XXXX, I had to inform my banking institution to not allow payments from Capital One because of this issue. Due to this, Capital One began hitting me {$50.00} for returned ACH payments, plus additional late fees and compounding interest. The situation was spiraling out of control but I had no due course. 

I finally received a mailing in XXXX of XXXX advising me that my account was nearing closure and was given a number to call to speak with someone. The contact was successful. I was given a minimum amount to get up to date which I could not make and was told that due to the health crisis and my prior excellent payment history I qualified for a relief program to prevent closure. I simply needed to submit information to prove that I was receiving unemployment and I was told that I would receive a form in the mail to file. It never came. 

In XXXX of XXXX after not receiving any further word I reached out to Capital One again and did reach a representative. I asked about the program, why I had not received the form and I was told it was because my account had been closed. I was quite rudely told that I had until XX/XX/XXXX to contact Capital One and did not. I contested that I had contacted Capital One in XXXX and was waiting on a form for the referred-to relief program. I asked the representative if my account was going to be charged off and was told that it would not be if I apply for the relief program so I requested the forms be resent. She retorted that she could not send me the relief forms because my account was closed. I couldnt believe the lack of professionalism or compassion I faced. 

I attempted to call again a couple of days later and speak to a different representative. I was told the same thing. I asked to speak to a supervisor and was put on hold for 45 minutes, then told that none were available. I made a plan to call again in one week to see if I could find further motion. 

At this time in XXXX of XXXX, my health XXXX. I was XXXX for several weeks and on XXXX XXXX XXXX for several months after that. I attempted to contact Capital One again with no luck ( no representatives were available ) and I continued to receive statements that referred to owing but that my account was closed. I never did receive any forms for a relief program of any kind, nor any further options to make good on my account. 

In XXXX of XXXX, I received a statement that my account had been charged off. Immediately after that, I received a notice from XXXX XXXX  that they were representing the debt and made me an offer to pay a reduced balance in exchange for a mark on my credit report that I would be charged off, settled for less than full amount. I asked for alternative options. I was told that I could pay off the balance in full and the charge off would be removed and the account deleted from my credit reports. 

Neither of the options was acceptable to me, as the charge off would hurt my credit, but a full deletion would erase nearly a decade of positive payment record. I did not know what to do, so I contacted Capital One again for support. Customer service said that the account ending in XXXX was now in the hands of a third-party collections company and that they could not speak to me about the account. 

Facing that Capital One would not work with me, I opted to pay the account in full with XXXX XXXX. This was completed on XX/XX/XXXX. I waited for the record to be removed from my credit report, and found that it was not. Instead, it was and still is marked as Closed by credit grantor, charged off, paid in full. Essentially, a closure and charge off with deleted payment history and no context. Horrible for my credit score. 

At this point, something seemed off. In XXXX of XXXX, I was invited to apply for an unsecured Capital One Platinum account and was approved for a minimal limit. Since late XXXX I have used that card, account XXXX and have a 100 % payment history and a minimal, if not less than, 5 % utilization to date. I have attempted to request increases and been declined with the reason being that I owe Capital One on other unpaid accounts. 

I reached out to Capital One on this, I have attached that correspondence. I have been bounced back and forth through the system, between the QuickSilver customer service and the charge off department. One side says that Im good to go and it shouldnt be a charge off, the other side says I never paid for account XXXX. 

After over 18 months of Capital One failing on their promises, Im now bringing this to the attention of the CFPB. In trying times like these, customers can not be treated this way as it hurts them. Capital One committed to the nation in whole to have relief programs in place and, who knows, maybe gave all of us the run-around. 

Account XXXX is paid in full. I request that the account have the charge-off removed and all positive payment history restored from before XXXX of XXXX. As an alternative, delete all records of the account from all three major credit bureaus. And absolutely review account XXXX internally. It is paid. Stop saying its not. 

Please assist as soon as possible in this matter.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation