Consumer complaint received 2025-02-12 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Other problem
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: OR

Complaint narrative:
In XXXX of XXXX  Capital One offered a balance transfer check. The terms were 0 % interest for 12 months and a single up front payment of 4 % of the check. Additionally, included in the offer was the promise that my bill would include a line called " Interest Saver Payment '' which is essentially the sum total of all new purchases in the billing period that would accrue interest. It was made clear that any time I paid at least the amount listed as the " Interest Saver Payment '' that no interest would accrue. It was advertised as a way to pay off each month 's new purchases and avoid paying interest on them while the interest free balance transfer remained on the account. The following message is displayed prominently beside the Interest Saver Payment : " Pay at least this amount to avoid interest on new non-promotional purchases shown on your next statement '' The way the Interest Saver Payment is calculated, however, is deceptive and tricks the cardholder in such a way that the zero interest balance transfer does not get paid down. Any over payment from the previous month is deducted from the next month 's Interest Saver Payment. For example, if a cardholder spent {$1000.00} on new purchases their Interest Saver Payment and a {$2000.00} interest free balance in XXXX and made a {$1500.00} payment would be {$1000.00}. When a payment was made= it would be expected that {$1000.00} would be applied to the new purchases ( Interest Saver Payment ) and {$500.00} would be applied to the interest free balance. Deceivingly the next month 's Interest Saver Payment will be decreased by {$500.00}. So, in this example, if the next month the cardholder spent {$1200.00}, their Interest Saver Payment would only be {$700.00}. In effect Capital One is rolling over payments forward to pay down the next month 's purchases instead of paying down the interest free balance. If the cardholder then makes a payment of {$1700.00} ( {$1200.00} towards new purchases and {$500.00} towards the interest free balance ), the third month 's Interest Saver Payment will be decreased by {$1000.00} ( $ XXXX {$XXXX} ). 

Included are bills from XXXX, XXXX and XXXX of 2024 as a real-world example of how Capital One applies payments to the Interest Saver Payment. Notice the {$12000.00} balance transfer applied on XX/XX/XXXX. The next bill ( XX/XX/XXXX ) shows an Interest Saver Payment of {$2800.00}, the sum of purchases from the billing period. A payment of {$3400.00} was made to the card, an over payment of {$600.00}. On the next bill on XX/XX/XXXX there were {$3300.00} new purchases. A reasonable person would expect the XXXX XXXX XXXX to be {$3300.00}, the sum of new purchases, but it is instead {$2800.00}, XXXX less than the new purchases, confusingly less than the overpayment of {$600.00} but it still deceptively decreases the Interest Saver Payment. This tricks the cardholder into thinking that if they pay an additional {$500.00} to the Interest Saver Payment of {$2800.00} that the promotional balance will decrease by another {$500.00}. However, since there were actually {$3300.00} of new purchases a {$500.00} overpayment of {$3300.00} would only result in an overpayment of {$54.00}, and that paltry overpayment will again make the next months Interest Saver Payment.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation