Capitol One
Pay off your monthly balance (if you get your statement on time)- and still get a finance charge

I obtained my Capitol One credit card in 2006. I followed my usual practice of paying the full balance on my monthly statement. No problems, no fees, nothing.

I arranged to have my statements handled electronically rather than by postal mail. This was a fine state of affairs until July when Capitol One mysteriously chose to revert me to paper statements. Nevertheless, I paid the full amount I owed, and incurred no finance or interest charges.

The paper statements were replaced by electronic ones in November again not at my instigation. I arranged to pay November's balance through my bank. On the due date for the bill in mid-December I was aghast to see that the payment had not been received. Whether this was my bank's or Capitol One's fault is hard for me to discover.

I paid the next statement, which included a finance charge for late payment, in full, and on time. As far as I could tell by looking at my account history on Capitol One's Web site, I owed nothing. I was all squared away according to their records.

On January 19, I received my usual statement from Capitol One. It included a finance charge, despite my having paid all those assessed for my inadvertant late payment for November's statement. According to the needlessly condescending, obviously offshore customer service rep I spoke to, this new charge was for the interest accrued during some period since mid- December. It didn't matter that I had paid my charges in full and well in advance of the due date on the subsequent statement. This interest charge was only assessed now.

This whole encounter has convinced me to close my Capitol One account. I choose not to deal with such greedy dishonesty.

Company: Capitol One
Country: USA
State: Virginia
City: McLean
Address: 1680 Capital One Dr
Phone: 7037201000

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