Consumer complaint received 2017-01-02
Product: Credit card — 
Issue: Advertising and marketing — 
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION (MD)

I spent some time on the telephone today trying to close a credit card account with Capital One ( account # XXXX ). It refused to close it. I repeatedly and clearly directed it to close the account and it persisted in refusing to close it. I had been offerred so-called " upgrades '' on the card in the past. XXXX of them was to a XXXX Rewards card. Initially, I asked Capital One to honor the terms listed on its website for a new XXXX Rewards card. It refused to do so. Among other things, it insisted that the APR would exceed the advertised rate for the XXXX Rewards card. With considerable dissembling, the representative on the phone insisted on XXXX mutually exclusive and contradictory claims : 1 ) I would no longer have the card I now have but instead would have a XXXX Rewards card if I switched ; and, 2 ) few of the advertised features of the XXXX Rewards card would obtain to my XXXX Rewards account. Instead, a higher APR, no cash bonus, and who knows what else would be different on my new card that was called by the same name as the XXXX described on Capital One 's website. When it became clear what kind of sleazy game Capital One was playing, I just told it to close the account of the card I had if it would not honor the terms of its advertised product of the same name ( XXXX Rewards ) that it falsely claimed I would get. Then it refused to close my current, unwanted credit card. It demanded that I hang on the phone while it read me a bunch of garbage I had no interest in, given that I wanted no further dealings with it, all so that Capital One could evade responsibility for its unethical if not illegal activity. They will try to continue to treat their customers poorly if they can get away with it. I am under no obligation whatsoever to have them make illegal claims on my time ; dealing with them for some time has been a constant headache and I previously complained to the CFPB about other illegal advertising for the only card with them I had. Capital One continues, unabated, in its questionable practices. Finally, when it became clear that I did not want to have any of this untrustworthy bank 's products, in light of its multi-year abuse and habitual efforts at bait and switch routines, it actually threatened me through the following. First, as mentioned, it claimed that it would not close the account as I directed it to do. Second, the representative demanded that I listen to her as an illegal condition of her closing the account. Finally, I think she said something to the effect as I was hanging up, that they would never consider an application from me again, or some other punitive threat all for the purpose of intimidating and manipulating me into accepting their illegal, abusive terms. Why is Capital One allowed to continue to abuse the public and its customers? I think they are based in XXXX. Does n't that State have an office of Financial Services regulation? XXXX does ; what 's wrong with XXXX that it lags behind other large states that have had to deal with abusive banks? This is clearly a case analogous to the illicit activity of XXXX XXXX. Why in the world does Capital One arrogate to itself a refusal to close any customer 's account when requested once, let alone repeatedly? Why is it allowed to persist in its dodgy advertising, by offering a product with the same name and very different terms? Why are its representatives rewarded for executing illegal and unethical acts? Does the State XXXX or the State XXXX care a farthing if residents of their states are pressured to perform illegal acts, then sacked if they fail to comply? Apparently, there needs to be XXXX standard, XXXX rule of law for financial service companies that operate across state and national borders. And the CFPB is needed to enforce it.