Me Vs Captial One Bank (UK) & it's not for PPI..

[Repayment time]

Hi Folks,

 

This site has been an absolute wealth of information for the situation I currently find myself in with Capital One Bank (UK)

after many hours researching and reading through the hundreds of threads,

I think I'm now ready to start my own post in preparation for what's ahead.

 

I'm at the beginning of what is no doubt going to be a very lengthy, drawn out and frustrating process.

 

 

First of all, here's the low down,

I have been a Capital One customer for over thirteen years,

initially, I applied online and was given instant confirmation,

back then I had been living in the Republic of Ireland for a number of years

and previous to that I had run up a few different debts with loans and credit cards in the UK

and was genuinely looking for a fresh start credit wise,

 

 

I laugh at how naive I was back then in my twenties

how eager I was to sign up to whatever credit product they were offering & honestly believing that I would be able to pay it all back,

I was wrong and learned that lesson the hard way! The Banks are most certainly not our friends!

 

a credit card that opened with a limit of £200 now has a credit limit of £3350 but I'm jumping the gun here slightly

because this is where it may become a little confusing.

. It's also the point where I'm asking myself how am I going to organise the following..

 

I have been in contact with Capital One & recently received THIRTEEN YEARS worth of paper statements

after expressing profusely that I wished to have the statements delivered on a disc as I'm currently out the Country,

not to return until early March

 

 

I was keen to get started on doing my sums

I've taken the advice of many on here and I'm starting to get organised early lol

 

Originally, I had requested these statements because I wanted to calculate exactly how much interest I have paid Capital One over the years

& seeing as the repayment percentage was a whopping 34.9% after 13 YEARS so if you're keeping up with what I'm telling you

here you can begin to see that an obscene amount of money has been made off me for well over a decade and it has to stop.

Now!

 

Over the year's I have contacted Capital One about the high-interest rates and the fact that I'm a long time customer

and surely there much be some reduction I was entitled too?

but I was always fobbed off with some schmooze talk or other, in the letter I will write to Capital One in regards to this complaint

it will include in more details those conversations but for the benefit of this post I will omit those details.

 

Here's the thing,

do I approach Capital One with a completed analysis

shall we say of how the account has been managed in general including the facts;

the credit limit keeps increasing but the interest payments do not,

that even though I declined PPI it was still added to my account,

paid back admittedly but according to recent reports Capital One amongst others have admitted to underpaying PPI claims,

 

 

that unfair over the limit charges have been added to my account plus more facts

including the past year in which I have been upping the amount I pay each month

but yet my balance never reduces to something that is manageable.

 

 

An account opened to help restore my credit file has yet after 13 years moved above low fair???

 

 

How is that fair trading??

 

 

Surely this means that Capital Ones marketing is pure lies and with a little digging and more investing a kick arse letter

and also being as I am absolute proof that their product does not work or benefit me the consumer but the Bank! oh the Bank!

 

 

I can't wait to get hold of those statements to finally have some idea of just how much we are talking.

 

 

As if I'm not mistaken the maximum amount through the small claims court is £10,000

& I'm wondering what I'm to do should the figures I come out with be much higher than is allowed?

 

Do I break it down for Capital One into 3 major complaints along with figures

to empathise the legitimacy for the claim or do I contact them separately for each complaint?

 

 

This kind of seems pointless as my complaint is generally about mismanagement

and all 3 complaints are covered by that.

 

 

Although my instinct is telling me to hit them with it all at once be fair and give them maybe 6-8 weeks to come back with a sufficient reply

and hopefully an offer before I start proceeding in taking them to court,

should I mention in the initial complaint letter that I am ready to take them to court?

 

 

I do plan to be ready for whatever Captial One throws at me when the time comes and will take them to court if need be.

I'm thinking of maybe getting the press involved the likes of thisismoney, BBC watchdog, The Guardian etc

should I also mention this to Capital One if the press decide they have a story they like, for better or worse,

could this affect what happens in court?

 

It absolutely stuns me to think of how much the likes of Capital One have stolen from us over the years,

makes me sick really and I'm like a dog with a bone now after reading so many success stories I know it's going to be a struggle

and with the help and support of this community Capital One will be forced into acknowledging their blatant day-light robbing practices.

 

I have taken into consideration that in the past I have contacted Capital One in regards to PPI repayments /unfair Bank Charges

and both complaints were paid but on reflection

after reading through these forums I may actually be entitled to claim back more than I initially intended.

 

 

Again in terms of fairness as I'm lead to believe the court shows favour to fair compromises

I am going to ask for a 50% refund of all interest paid after my account limit reach £1250

as this would bring my account into line with figures offered by banks for use of their credit facilities

but who services I cannot avail of because my credit score is below average,

even though I pay more than my minimum repayment each month and rarely if ever have I missed a payment,

 

 

I think I'm being fair but again I can't be sure, it remains to be seen how fair I will be feeling once I start organising the figures

and it starts to sink in just how unfairly I have been treated!

 

Thanks for reading ..

 

To the long road..

[Repayment time]

This morning I had hoped to receive scanned copies of some of what I thought were statements of my account, what I actually got was more of a transaction list with money going in and coming out and balance info but no information on interest paid. It does have information on over the limit fees which is where I am going to start but I have a question, can you also claim back "Cash Interest"? This pay out appears after the "Cash Advance Fee" or am I just claiming for the Over the Limit fees?

 

Thanks

[neil6534]

slightly confused....you are looking to reclaim unfair interest charges on a card specifically designed for people with a poor credit rating and you suggest that by using this card and keeping a tidy history with them that your personal credit files should have improved....your personal CRA's are subject to various aspects and not down to one creditor.....if you have or had PPI in place then yes go for a reclaim on that and although I totally understand why you think their interest charges are high I doubt you will have4 any success claiming these back......but if they have hit you with fees for going over your limit then you may be able to claim some or all of these back....the problem i think you have is that you have been a good client always repaying on time etc etc

[Repayment time]

Hi Neil 6534

 

Thanks for your comments, let me explain a little more as I appreciate I wrote a lot in my initial comment.

 

First of all the only debt I have in the UK, is with Capital One, this means I have no; mortgage, loans, other credit cards, store cards, HP, CCJ’s or anything else that could somehow affect my credit rating. I bank with Halifax using their easy cash account, I can set up direct debits standing orders etc and I have a visa debit card that I can use abroad, which is convenient as I travel often. It has been this way for years, so, yes I do expect that a card I signed up for in the beginning to help rebuild my credit rating to have actually achieved that, giving that the account is 13 years old! All my credit rating shows is Capital One.

 

I have just started to go through my statements (beginning in 2008 until present day because this is all I have been sent so far) and in the 2 years between 08-10 there are numerous months that had it not been for the excessive charges my account would not have gone over its limit of £600 and generated a charge, that’s just 2 years!! If I am understanding correctly Capital One would have to readjust my CR I have with them, potentially for the last 13 years if I were to be awarded those charges back meaning that my credit rating I’m assuming, if all is above board, would most definitely have improved significantly!! This would then improve my chances of applying for and getting a better credit card product, something I cannot do at the moment.

 

The fact that I have been a “good” customer” should surely, I’m hoping, stand in good stead if I threaten them with court taken into consideration the amount of money they have made off me! And it will be a big part of my upcoming arguments with them!

 

2 years ago I approached Capital One again about reducing my interest payments, I was advised to open another credit card account that would have a similar credit limit to the original card, I would be able to transfer the balance onto the new card using the more favourable rate, ok I thought and I went for it. When the card arrived it came with a balance of £500 I called Capital One to be told by a different employee that Capital One does not allow for balance transfers between cards held with them. To say I was unhappy was an understatement as now I have 2 cards. Now the interesting thing about the new account is that the interest % is apparently reviewed on a 6 month basis for a total of 36 statements & if you have been behaving the interest payable per month comes down from an initial 34.9% to 27.9% even though I have hardly used this card I have only received 2 reductions so far. It was this whole incident that lead me towards court if need be.

 

An article I found dated 2012 wherein Cap One had been fined for selling customers unnecessary products jogged my memory, I was advised to take the second card in 2013, after they had been fined!!! Unfortunately, I have not posted enough posts to be able to link ya'll to articles - type in Capital One fined for misleading millions of customer and google should lead you to the BBC and an article all about it.

 

Why if an apparently new customer/account can get a favourable rate can't a “good customer” get the same? I’ve been robbed & I've been lied too & I’m not happy about it.

 

So my first contact with Capital One will be concerning refunding the over the limit charges that have been made to my account. This should bring my balance down greatly and it will be interesting to see how far £150 per month minimum goes towards reducing the reduced balance.

 

My next step is to approach them using these articles as my reference - PPI compensation is becoming 'a bit of a lottery' & PPI: Compensation payouts could have £1bn shortfall, they are the article headlines again via google to the BBC.

 

I have already received a PPI repayment from Capital One but according to these findings along with MBNA Cap One have been underpaying repayments! So I will request for the payout to be recalculated and for the explanation of where that figure came from.

 

And then I’m going to go after them about the amount of interest being applied on my account, The FCA are currently investigating credit cards and they’re creaming from “good customers” like me they aim to release their findings in the spring - FCA credit-card-competition-working-fairly-well-but-concern-for-customers-in-longterm-debt again google and to the FCA.

 

I am preparing to take this all the way to court, hopefully, it won’t come to that but I think I have a case!

 

I do welcome any comments about this, I’ve never taken anybody to court before but I think it’s the only realistic way I am going to have a chance of getting my money back and any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

 

I'm sick to death of the banks and they're blatant thievery