Consumer complaint received 2026-05-20 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Trouble using your card — Can't use card to make purchases
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: NY

Complaint narrative:
Let me preface by saying my wife and I are seniors, CapitalOne customers and were put under great stress and humiliation by the actions of the CapitalOne fraud department. In XXXX I was issued a CapitalOne Venture card with a XXXX credit limit, I applied in my name but as with all our accounts I used our joint income in consideration for approval. I used the card for a XXXX purchase, to make sure it was active then paid the balance immediately. On XX/XX/XXXX I was in an emergency Auto repair situation, I attempted to use the card ( the only one I was carrying ) to pay for the repairs in the amount of @ XXXX. I received a text asking to call as they thought the large purchase was suspicious. I initially took this as a good sign as they needed to insure I was making the purchase. At this point the fraud specialist said I needed to verify my income and fax or submit 3 months of bank statements to verify my income. I explained that I was in the repair station and would do that when home. They denied the request even after escalation to a supervisor. I was lucky in the fact that I was only 10 miles from home, as I took a cab home, retrieved a new card then took cab back to station to pay. After returning home I attempted to contact CapitalOne customer service to register a complaint, all calls were reverted back to the fraud department. Again with the insistence that I verify my income, with the last 3 months of bank statements. We have 5 separate joint savings/checking accounts. So I scanned ( with some difficulty ) all the pages 15 in total, they needed to show monthly deposits from our federal retirement pension and social security. On XX/XX/XXXX I received a call saying my submission was invalid as it was incomplete, because I did not sent every page of every bank statement for the 3 months previous. I explained, having the documents in front of me that they had all the information needed to verify my income, as it showed the monthly deposits from XXXX and XXXX. I escalated to a supervisor, employee ID RTM XXXX. I asked her why the documents were unacceptable as they showed necessary information. She could not answer what was missing, first citing consumer protection guidelines then when pressed insisting that I had to send every page, pertinent or not, of my last 3 months of banking. Again when I explained that it was difficult enough to scan and send the 15 pages I send and unnecessary to send 30+ pages, she then said they also needed to verify that the accounts were truly attached to me. This confused me as they were insisting at first they just needed to verify income now saying they needed proof that accounts were legitimate. I offered a simple resolution, I would submit my XXXX tax return to verify my income, she denied the offer. When I pressed her exactly why XXXX XXXX could not or would not explain why. She then asked if I was recording the conversation, which I was not and told her so. This question was puzzling and unnerving, I asked to speak to a different supervisor she would not comply with that request, She kept stonewalling after repeated attempts to go over the information that I sent, as she said she could see the documents I had the papers ( all the information I sent them from all 5 accounts ) in front of me and was reading the deposit timelines she refused to engage. I told her I wished I was recording this call at this point she stopped responding and terminated my call. At no time, although being forceful to force her to stay on topic rather than deflect, did I use any abusive tactics or language. I asked her specifically were they just looking for my deposit information, or did they want to analyze my spending and track all my outgoing payments. A previous fraud representative told me that CapitalOne does this with most accounts, which I called out as a lie, as between me and my wife we have a checking and savings with Capital One and at least 8 or 9 other credit accounts affiliated with them and never has this occurred. I have no doubt had I used this card for small purchases and run up a {$1400.00} tab over a month or two there would be no such nonsense that occurred with this XXXX XXXX card. This has been upsetting and draining for us,2 seniors who are trying our best. My thinking is XXXX should have approved the purchase, as it was well within the credit limit given to me. Then by all means, if they needed more info, and limited the further use of card until I complied with their terms, I would have been understanding. I repeat they put us in an embarrassing and humiliating spot, and I scare to think had this happened when I was far away from my home and unable to simply get another card. I see no caveat in the user agreement sent with card that foretells this situation

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation