For the past few months I have been faithfully paying CapitalOne credit card bills. I have two cards with them. Both the cards were toward the higher end of their credit limits but were still below the credit limit.
At some point each of the cards exceeded their credit limits, presumably as the result of a combination of the finance charges and CapitalOne's disproportionate minimum amount due.
I continued to pay $5-20 above the minimum amount due as indicated by CapitalOne. During this time the account had exceeded its limit and the minimum due was set far below what was necessary to bring to the account under its limit.
So for the past few months, while thinking I was being the good little bill payer and exceeding what CapitalOne was telling me I owed, I was actually being buried in $39 over limit fees.
CapitalOne is no stranger to manipulating their terms to increase their potential to collect fees. But this in my mind, is unethical. They are creativing lulling consumers into a false sense of compliance and then feeing the daylights out of them.
A minimum payment should include any amount over the limit. It is very obvious that CapitalOne is doing this to increase their opportunity to collect more fees. Fees should be used as a discouragement to people who do not take their obligations seriously, not as the primary source of income for questionable companies like CapitalOne.
Needless to say I will be ending my relationship with CapitalOne as soon as humanly possible.
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