Consumer complaint received 2025-01-04 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest — Problem with fees
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: CO

Complaint narrative:
I have a credit card with Capital One, and on XX/XX/XXXX my bill was due. I went to pay at just after XXXX XXXX, and saw that my minimum amount of {$25.00} was greyed out and I was no longer allowed to select it, and was only allowed to select the {$50.00} option, or a higher amount. 


All of my " payment due soon '' notifications, via email and push notification from the mobile app itself in the days prior, had only indicated that I needed to pay by the XXXX. They only stated the date, and said nothing about any specific time. 


Only upon reaching the payment submission page was I able to see the specification that {$25.00} was due by XXXX XXXX. The only point at which I'd seen this indication was at the point when I had opened the app and gone to the specific menu to pay my bill. 



I called support and spoke to an agent, who didn't seem to fully understand what the issue was, and she said that on her end my minimum option was still showing up as {$25.00}, and said that if I called the phone payment line and posted payment via phone, that everything should be okay and I would be able to pay the normal {$25.00} minimum without any late fees. 



I did as she instructed, and sure enough, the phone line allowed me to pay {$25.00}. The following day, I checked my account to be sure that everything went through, and I only saw the {$25.00} payment charge. 



Now, XX/XX/XXXX, I checked my account to confirm my next due date, and saw that my upcoming minimum amount due had been raised to {$32.00}, and I was charged a " PAST DUE FEE '' of {$25.00}, effectively exactly what I had just paid. I believe this to be blatant theft. 



I called support to explain my situation and ask for my minimum to be brought back down to the normal {$25.00}, as well as to have the past due fee waived, and they staunchly refused, saying there was nothing they could do. I was escalated to a supervisor who said there was no one higher I could speak to, and told me that since statements and the XXXX  include the XXXX XXXX  deadline that I was considered fully aware of the cutoff. 



I don't believe this to qualify as informed consent. I believe that if every single instance of payment notification does not include the necessary terms of that payment, then it is far too easy for consumers to fall between the cracks. 



There are plenty of people who don't receive email notifications, plenty who don't have cell phones, and physical mail is highly unreliable. I believe this definitely falls under the category of " junk fees '' that the CFPB has been trying to combat, and the lack of proper indication to the consumer of specific terms at every point of sale is in my opinion, frankly insidious. 



I do believe I have been blatantly stolen from, and I am certain I am not the only one who has been through this issue. I believe this to be a pattern of behavior that Capital One, as well as other credit card companies, engage in intentionally in order to keep people indebted, endlessly profiting by keeping their balances high, through charging back the same amounts the consumer has already paid.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation