Consumer complaint received 2024-05-24 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments — Problem during payment process
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: FL

Complaint narrative:
I had four credit cards with Capital One for approximately five years prior to this incident and made every payment on every card on time every month. I set up a new bank account ( XXXX XXXX ) as a payment account in XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX. I received an email instructing me to verify the amount of two small deposits made to the account to verify ownership of the XXXX account, which I did. Then I immediately made the payment on one of my four Capital One cards which was due in a few days. A day or two later, I was in the app looking at one of my other accounts and saw that the payment I had just made had been returned. There was over {$400.00} in my XXXX account so I assumed it was because the verification did not process in time since I made the payment less than five minutes afterwards, so I rescheduled the payment from the same XXXXXXXX XXXX account and subsequently received an email that the payment had posted. When the payment was due on one of my other cards the next month I made the payment with my XXXX account and again I received an email that the payment posted. A couple weeks later I was looking at my accounts in the app and saw that the payment had been returned unpaid again. I contacted XXXX to find out why they didn't pay the payment and they said they had no record of any payment to Capital One declined or even attempted to be put through. I made the payment on the card using my boyfriend 's bank account, which is the account I had been using for payments for about a year because I no longer had a checking account of my own since my back closed. Somehow, during all of this, the autopay was turned on ( it only takes one swipe to turn autopay on in the app ). I have never once used the autopay feature on any of my cards in my five years with Cap One because I made my payments using different bank accounts. I didn't know it was on and the next month before I was able to login and make my payment, Cap One had already tried to put the payment through using autopay and it defaulted to the XXXX Bank account and once again, it did not go through. Then I received four letters in the mail, one for each account, notifying me that my accounts had been closed for not complying with their terms and conditions. They closed all of my accounts without even notifying me that there was a problem. It went on my credit report at the same time and destroyed the good credit that I had worked so hard for years to build. I called customer service and spoke to 6 different people, including a supervisor, who told me that XXXXXXXX XXXX  was " nonpayment account '' meaning that it can't be used for payments. They said there was nothing they could do to help me because the accounts were already closed. The XXXXXXXX XXXX account is still listed as a payment account in the app. Why did it let me set it up if it's a " nonpayment account ''? Why did they email me to verify the deposits to the account if it's a " nonpayment account ''? And why didn't Capital One notify me to tell me I can't use that account for payments instead of just closing all of my accounts and then sending me a letter telling me they were closed? Had I known there was a problem with using that account for payments I would have made other arrangements for payments. Capital One was deceptive by setting up a " nonpayment '' account for payments, by making me verify the account as if there was no problem with it, by sending me emails that my payments had pushed even they did not so that I didn't know there was a problem, and by not notifying me that there was a problem and instead closing my accounts and ruining my credit without even giving me an opportunity to correct the problem. I sent all of the paperwork to Capital One with an explanation of what happened but they did not even respond. I relied on those credit cards to sustain my existence because I used the cards when I didn't have much money and then made the payments when they were due. They closed my other two credit card accounts that did not have anything to do with this problem, were in good standing, and were not even at their credit limit. It's difficult to comprehend how a company like Capital One would see fit to screw over a long time customer like this for no reason. They charged me fees that put my cards over the limit and they have charged me late fees on all four accounts because I have not made my payments since this happened. I can't afford the payments now that my balances are so high because of all the fees and I am on a fixed income and now that I don't have my credit cards to depend on when I am in between the times I have money so I have to save my money to survive on in the absence of the credit cards I depended on to sustain my existence during those times. I'm not saying I won't pay what I owe but I can't do it at this time. They have caused me all kinds of problems because they ruined my credit score which dropped almost XXXX points because of this. If Capital One is willing to reinstate my cards ( or issue new ones if necessary ), remove the derogatory entries from my credit report, and remove the fees they charged me because of all of this I would be able to resume making my payments again, on time, every time, just like I used to before this happened. I was just trying to make my payments and had no idea there was a problem. I didn't do anything wrong and I certainly don't deserve this after being a loyal Capital One customer for years.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation