I had a secured credit card ($200 limit / $200 sec. Deposit) with Capital One that was closed in mid-1997. My balance at the time the account was closed was below the limit (approx. $175), and they were told to apply the security deposit to the outstanding balance, close the account, and send me the refund of the balance.
Upon my husband's inspection of my credit report (before applying for our first mortgage), he noticed that this account had been listed as "charged-off." The rip-off here is that the security deposit was apparently not applied, nor any refund issued, and Capital One TO THIS DAY is continuing to add late fees, overlimit fees, and continues to charge off the debt.
An original balance of $175 has become $957 as of 7. Outrageous!
It appears that the company continues to charge off abounts on a rolling basis, as it was listed on my Experian report 11 (yes, ELEVEN) times as being charged off. My TransUnion report shows the amount being charged off entirely in 1997, but with a $957 past due balance.
Contacting Capital One regarding this account has been to no avail. They state that the account has been sold off, and is no longer active, and that we need to contact the collection agency handling the problem. They offered to settle it for 1/2 the amount, but then it would stay on my report for an additional seven years. Furthermore, the account is listed as being a Capital One account, not a collection agency. They continue to increase the balance and report on the account, even though it's been inactive for nearly five years.
What's even funnier, is that my husband and I have current, unsecured accounts with Capital One, since they offered us the cards with no annual fees. How can that happen?
We've since launched an investigation into the matter with TransUnion, but haven't received any disposition on the case yet. We don't really know what else we can do in this case, other than to make others aware of this scam.
This website has several other stories of this happening, and it would be interesting to see how Capital One treats this from an accounting perspective.
Any suggestions / help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading.
Ellie
Evergreen Park, Illinois
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