Consumer complaint received 2017-09-26
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments — Problem during payment process
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION (CA)

This is a complaint in regards to CapitalOne 's handling of cash advance repayment for their QuickSilver card.The main complaints are : 1. CapitalOne 's cash advance fees are hidden from the consumer, and customer representatives communicate them improperly - This leads to deceptive practices that mislead customers into being charged more interest on cash advances 2. CapitalOne 's customer service mentioned they would take actions taken to remedy the situation, and I found out later that nothing had happened when I called in to ask about the follow-up actions. Cash advance interest rate fee are essentially hidden fees that wo n't show up till much later and that even customer representatives are unable to properly speak to. These fees are ambiguous, and also accrue during times that in which transactions are still processing, making it not possible to pay back the amount for some time as well as impossible to know how much is owed. On top of that, customer service in my specific case mentioned actions they would take to provide credit to offset interest for while cash advance could not possibly be repaid, but I found when inquiring in later calls that they had not taken any action nor had any records of the service call, which is deceptive and could have lead to additional charges for me if I had not personally followed up into the remediation. The events are as follows - Note that dates are offset somewhat as I was in XXXX, which is ahead in time from the US : XXXX ( US ) - called in for cash advance details as I was traveling abroad and may need the emergency funds, and was told about {$10.00} XXXX XXXX fee and 25.99 % APR which accrues immediately that customer representative said would come out to 0.072 % daily, and that I could call in after taking the cash advance to pay back the amount. Also told CapitalOne 's system specifically disallows users to push " credits '' into the account to allow for offsetting a cash advance. 
XXXX ( XXXX ) - Took a cash advance and called in to pay back the amount ( {$230.00} for the foreign currency and {$10.00} for cash advance fee ). Was told that since my existing balance was {$0.00} and the transaction had not yet posted, I could not pay back the amount. Also told it could take potentially 5 days to post, during which time interest would accrue. Talked to a supervisor who, in clear language, offered {$1.00} in credit to specifically offset the unavoidable interest rate charges, and that it would show on my account within 24-48 hours. The supervisor also mentioned setting an alert for my account for when the transaction posts. Neither of these seem to have happened. 
XXXX ( XXXX ) - Checked account and saw transaction still pending. 
XXXX ( XXXX ) - Saw that transaction posted and issued a payment for the full amount ( {$240.00} ) and called in to task about interest rate fees. First customer representative insisted I would have no interest rate fees. I also confirmed from the customer representative that there was no {$1.00} credit on the account nor any record of the previous supervisor 's conversation. I called back because the response from the first customer representative did not sound right, and the second customer representative confirmed I would be charged interest rates. At first they quoted a {$2.00} a day fee, but checked with their colleagues and said {$0.00} ( which still did n't seem to match the daily interest rate ). They mentioned they would not really know the amount I would be charged. At this point I opted to put a 10 % " credit '' ( extra {$24.00} ) to cover any hidden interest rate fees. At this point I also opted to speak to a supervisor and communicated the same issues mentioned here, and re-confirmed that the original actions of the first supervisor were not on record on their end nor was there a {$1.00} credit issued. 

The complaints I have are : 1. Cash advance may not post for up to 5 days, during which it accrues interest - these are unavoidable increases in credit card charges. 
2. Payments made do not stop interest rates until posting, during which time it accrues interest - these are further unavoidable increases in credit card charges. 
3. No ability to " credit '' or pay in advance on a {$0.00} balance statement to avoid cash advance fees for CapitalOne, which is possible on some other credit cards. 
4. None of the above information was clearly stated, which affects the interest amount charged. There is also no clear indication of the interest amount to be charged, which means interest would be charged on top of the interest leading to future additional credit card charges, and consumers have no idea how much this amount will be. 
5. Staff had no clear understanding of the interest rates and gave conflicting information - some said no interest, some said up to 2 % interest per day - this could easily mislead customers into paying incorrect amounts that lead to additional credit card charges. 
6. Supervisor statement to give credit turned out to be false and they stated they had no record of conversation occurring existed on their side ( though I believe that the call would have been record ). I feel this is deceptive for consumer facing support, as if I had not specifically called back to follow up on the actions, I would have been charged additional interest fees. Finally, I believe the cash advance repayment process is ambiguous, and needs fixes to protect consumers from being misinformed and incurring additional credit card charges.