Consumer complaint received 2022-06-24
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: NC
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Other problem

Complaint:
I had a Quick Silver One credit card with Capital One. In XX/XX/2022, I closed my primary bank account and opened a new one. I thought I had updated my bank account information everywhere in the Capital One app that required it. ( I also have my car loan with them. ) Apparently, according to Capital One, if you update your bank account in your Account Settings, it doesn't flow through to ALL of your accounts. In the case of my credit card, that meant when they attempted to run my monthly auto-pay ( I pay the balance off every month ), the payment was rejected because they were using the closed bank account. ( No problems at all, funnily enough, on the car loan side. ) As a result, they charged me a late fee, an interest fee, and my credit score was docked. I believe this was XX/XX/2022. 

I called them, obviously upset because I didn't view this as my error, I raised my voice, and I said to them, " You're making me feel like XXXX  trash for this. '' ( To their credit, they waved the late fee and interest fee. ) That comment appears to have been flagged as " abusive. '' Consequently, Capital One sent me a letter on XX/XX/2022, to say that because of my abusive language, they were closing my credit card immediately. I called them the day I received the letter to figure out what was going on, and the representative on the phone told me not to worry, this happens sometimes, and she encouraged me to re-apply. ( In fact, the letter I received made no mention of being banned from having an account with Capital One. Quite the opposite. It said, " Please refrain from using abusive language in future communications. '' ) I applied over the phone, and I was approved the next day- for the same Quick Silver One card, and with a higher limit. I was also immediately charged a {$39.00} annual fee. 

Yesterday, XX/XX/2022, I received another letter from Capital One, informing me that they were canceling my NEW card immediately because of the PRIOR incident. I called back, spoke to a Senior Customer Service Manager named XXXX, and she confirmed that this was actually happening. I asked her if there were any solutions available to me -- from my perspective, the only abusive language I used was directed at myself, not at her colleagues, and the entire review process they conduct seems very one-sided and without due process. She said there were none, and that it was impossible for me to appeal to the team that conduct the reviews. She also said, cryptically, that while she can not tell me that I am banned from having an account with Capital One, she can tell me that I am encouraged to keep applying, but with no guarantee on whether I'll be approved. I said, I did re-apply, and I was approved, and you charged me a {$39.00} annual fee. What's more, I said, because you ran a credit report to approve me for this new card, my credit score took another hit, which is going to make it even harder for me to go elsewhere to get credit. She had no reply. 

In my opinion, this is an illegal racket. Not only is Capital One 's review process for alleged abusive language without due process, but they are encouraging victims of this sham review process to reapply, knowing full well that they will have their accounts closed again, but only after incurring another annual fee. Because this specific product ( Quick Silver One ) is designed for customers who may have a lower than average credit score, they are clearly targeting a specific economic class of victims in this racket.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation