I had a CapitalOne credit card in London - after two years of exorbitant interest charges and spiraling costs, I finally managed to pay off the balance and sent them the final cheque with a letter instructing them to immediately cancel my account. Two weeks later I moved house, and a year later moved again.

Six months after THAT, I received a year's worth of mail from my ex-flatmate, stating that he was returning to Australia and would no longer deal with my debts... I thought, "what?" - got my mail, realized CreditOne were chasing me for ~ GBP#290. I rang them to query, and they explained that - despite me "closing" the account - they had continued to honor the monthly payments I had authorized another company to take from that card. Despite having also canceled that authority, which was a whole other problem. SO I had 18 months of monthly charges plus 18 months of late payment fees and overlimit fees, as well as 30% interest charges.

I explained again that I had closed the account and refused to pay the additional charges - they asked me for my current address, "just so they could keep in touch", and again I refused, as I was no longer a current customer of theirs and had no responsibility to provide them with my details. It took 6 weeks of weekly phone calls for them to accept that I would not be paying the charges they had issued since I had officially canceled the account (luckily I had a dated copy of that letter).

Even in desperation I would never ever apply for a card or any other credit with them again.

I am 52 years old and have always had excellent credit. I am never late on a payment and have credit scores from 760-790. I have had a Capital One credit card for years with an interest rate of 9.9%. Recently they sent me a statement that my interest rate would be increased to 16.99%. I haven't paid this much interest on a card in many years and have never had a credit card increase my rate and don't understand how they can do this when I am not in default on anything. A couple of years ago when I checked my credit report I noticed that Capital One was showing 2 30 day late on my account. I knew this was incorrect and filed a complaint and this was corrected and taken off my credit report. I could understand an increase in my rate if I was a credit risk but I have worked diligently to keep a good credit score and do not have to take this. I will be canceling this account.

To my suprise, Capital One raised my "fixed" rates from 8.9% to 13.9% without my knowledge. Yes, I'm sure Capital One has all their bases covered. I'm sure they did send a letter (that looks like every other Capital One promotion letter) giving me the option to "opt out" of an interest rate hike. But who wouldn't opt out of a rate hike? Capital One played their customers knowing a huge percentage wouldn't even open that letter. I get so much "junk" mail from Capital One that I can see how I just ripped up that letter and threw it away not thinking twice.

I'm disappointed that such a huge company has to play games and deceive customers into paying more. Lucky for me I'm down to $1,500 in debt to Capital One. Three or four more months and I'm debt free! I can't wait to cancel my Capital One card. And I will never use Capital One again. And I will persuade others to do the same.