Consumer complaint received 2022-11-15
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement

Complaint:
To : Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ( CFPB ) This complaint concerns Capital One Spark Visas mishandling of fraudulent, unauthorized, yet repeated charges by XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  for services not rendered. I address Capital Ones fraud-on-fraud profiteering mechanism and failure to provide trustworthy credit card service. In effect Capital Ones purported anti-fraud procedure works to consumers detriment.

The Bases of My Complaint & A Brief Chronicle of Events I became a member of XXXX a gym in XXXX  CA for myself and my wife, XXXX, before the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic caused an extended closure of XXXX  with no re-opening date. Consequently, I indefinitely suspended my membership when we left California on XX/XX/XXXX. ( Enclosure XXXX : XXXX Membership Suspension Request to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Membership Manager ) We did not return to California until XX/XX/XXXX. 
In early XXXX, XXXX reportedly ceased its operation, replaced by a new owner, XXXX XXXX XXXX. Neither entity gave any notice of XXXX closure and I never contracted with the new entity. XXXX  went out of business, and my XXXX  membership expired while in indefinite suspension, when a new management took over. We could not and did not use the XXXX  facility while it was closed, while we were out of state, before and after XXXX termination. Nonetheless, XXXX charged my Capital One account on XX/XX/XXXX for {$270.00} without my authorization. Upon discovering the unauthorized charge, I disputed the charge and had it removed on XX/XX/XXXX. I also requested a new card, but Capital One never sent me a replacement. But, beginning with XX/XX/XXXX statement Visa began to show account number ending with XXXX. I stopped using my Visa altogether. 
On XX/XX/XXXX XXXX  again charged my Capital One Visa for {$270.00} without my authorization. I disputed again and had it removed on XX/XX/XXXX. We did not return to California until XX/XX/XXXX. 
To avoid any accounting confusions, on XX/XX/XXXX I paid off the balance of {$11000.00}. I also paid off previously authorized, but still pending charges of XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, and XXXX XXXX for a total of {$380.00}, cancelling future bill payments. These payments brought to my Capital One balance to XXXX. 
However, on XX/XX/XXXX, Capital One unilaterally reinstated the {$260.00} XXXX  charge on my XXXX without any notice nor explanation to me. I disputed the charge immediately as fraudulent and unauthorized, but Capital One has refused to remove the charge and began piling additional fees, interest, and penalties on the fraudulent charge, snowballing to become {$410.00} as of Capital Ones statement dated XX/XX/XXXX. ( Enclosure XXXX ( g ) ) This and other compounding, exploitative practice of Capital One shown below led to this complaint and my request for protection and relief by CFPB. 
Despite my payoffs of all outstanding balance and charges, Capital One deducted on XX/XX/XXXX {$6700.00} from my automatic payment institution, causing a transfer fee of {$2.00}. I promptly notified Capital One of the double charge, but Capital One did not reimburse {$6700.00} over-payment until XX/XX/XXXX by a check. It did not get credited to my account until XX/XX/XXXX. Capital One did not add interest to {$6700.00}, corresponding to the finance charge Capital One imposes on cardholders late- or non-payment, although Capital One held these funds at their disposal for over three weeks. 
In contrast, Capital One added {$100.00} interest to {$6700.00} as a presumed non-payment in XX/XX/XXXX Statement. When I reported the double payments ( {$11000.00} and {$6700.00} ) and my other payoffs, XXXX, a customer service agent, reimbursed only {$50.00} for the interest charged, stating that she could not make full reimbursement of XXXX due to her computer glitch. 
When I protested the unilateral reinstatement of the disputed XXXX  charge of XX/XX/XXXX in a separate phone inquiry, another customer service agent, XXXX, stated that Capital One did so because XXXX had rebutted my dispute. XXXX also admitted, however, that Capital One never conveyed XXXX rebuttal to me in any form. I requested XXXX for copies of XXXX rebuttal records and she promised to provide them, but never did. I also specifically asked XXXX not to charge the Capital Ones annual membership fee due in XXXX because I was dissatisfied with Capital Ones fraud handling and intended to close my account as soon as feasible. But XXXX failed to honor my request, and Capital One charged the annual member fee of {$59.00} in the XX/XX/XXXX statement. I had no card to use and stopped using my Visa account, but Capital One continued to pile on its fees, interest, and charges, on fraudulent and unauthorized charges, inflating fraud on fraud. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, not having heard back from Capital One about my inquiries and requests, I wrote to Capital Ones Fraud Dept., in accordance with its anti-fraud procedure. ( Enclosure XXXX : XXXX My Letter to Capital One Fraud Dept . ) In it I summarized my telephone inquiries with customer service agents XXXX, XXXX, and others, and reiterated my requests for copies of XXXX  rebuttal, not to charge another annual fee of {$59.00} due to my impending account cancellation, and removal of added fees, charges, and interest piled on disputed charge ( XXXX ). After three months, I have not received any response back from Capital One Fraud Dept. My further phone inquiries invariably met customer service agents who refuse to connect me to the Fraud Dept. and would only discuss the current balance due. Capital One has continued to penalize my account, adding fees, interest, etc. in the meantime, perpetuating the fraud. 
Conclusion From the foregoing, I request CFPBs protection from Capital One Visas abusive and deceptive credit card practice. In a nutshell, Capital One exploits fraud as a profiteering mechanism at the expense of consumers. I therefore seek appropriate relief to nullify and prevent Capital Ones : ( 1 ) Propagating and perpetuating fraudulent charges while promising zero liability against fraud ; ( 2 ) Failing to implement an effective and timely fraud resolution ; ( 3 ) Exacting unjust interest on payments without providing corresponding interest to cardholders ; and ( 4 ) Exploiting fraud process as a profiteering mechanism to add unjust interest, fees and charges. 

I further request CPFB to take corrective action against Capital One to achieve : ( 1 ) removal of all unjust charges, fees, and interest added onto fraudulent, unwarranted charges ; ( 2 ) full retraction of all negative credit reporting by Capital One against me concerning the above ; ( 3 ) appropriate sanctions, penalties, and administrative actions against Capital One Visa ; and ( 4 ) referral ( s ) to other governmental agencies for Capital Ones fraudulent credit card practice, and ( 5 ) a regulatory change to require credit card companies to reimburse cardholders the same interest as the companies charge to consumers for withholding funds for presumed late- or no-payments. A relatively simple change in computer algorithm should achieve an equitable accounting for consumers. As in my case, credit card providers do not credit early payments, but treat them unilaterally as non- or late-payments, and further penalize cardholders by adding unjust fees and interest, in effect profiteering via fraud on fraud. Such an unfair practice generates undue profit to companies without any reciprocal benefit to cardholder consumers. Such an inequitable accounting system as practiced by Capital One penalizes early paymentsa double jeopardy of financial losses to consumers without means to rectify. 

Your consideration and prompt action for the foregoing will be greatly appreciated. 

Sincerely, /s/ XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 
Submitted on XX/XX/XXXX Enclosures : XXXX. XXXX : Membership Suspension Request to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Membership Manager ; XXXX. XXXX : My Letter to Fraud Dept . of Capital One Visa ; and XXXX. Capital One Visa Statements, XXXX XXXX, XXXX. 
( a ) ( b ) ( c ) ( d ) ( XXXX ) ( f ) ( g )

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief