Capital One Mastercard - Capital One Pre-paid MasterCard is a BIG scam. The whole premise it that they have incorporated new "security measures" to "protect me" from fraud. All their "security measures" are is a way to use customers' hard earned money interest free for 30-60 days while customers wait and wait and wait for the card to arrive. By running this delay tactic scam they can have millions in a floating reserve at all time that they are collectively earning big bucks on.

I got the card to buy my plane ticket home for Christmas, but with this effing rip off scam by Capital One, my card won't even arrive till AFTER Christmas. So in the past month I am suffering with the inconvenience of having no card, meaning I missed out on all the reasonably proceed airline tickets for Christmas, so that will cost me a few hundred more and Capital One has made money off the fact. So they probably made $7 so far and cost me hundreds and a lot of frustrations. Corporate Effing Crooks! Avoid these crooks like the plague.

Here's the timeline of my ongoing "quick and easy approval":

I "applied" for the card 2 months ago. I received an "approval" 3 weeks later. (Like you need an approval since it's pre-paid). I was told my card would arrive within 10 business days of receiving a money order for what ever amount I'd like to prepay on the card. I sent in a money order for $500. 2 weeks later I call in since its been 10 days. So friggin' arse gives me the "Congratulations you've been approved" schpeal for idiots again. I sent them $500 and they are kind enough to say I can actually spend it. What a bunch of condescending dicks! The duffus tells me the card will be arriving any day. 1 week later a letter arrives, but instead of a credit card so I can buy my plane ticket, it get a crap load of paper with convoluted instructions about going to the post office to present ID and have the post office mail copies of it cak to Capital One by registered mail. Then Capital One Mastercard is supposed to review it and get around to sending out my actual card eventually. OK. B-effing-S on this. If they would just mail the card to the postal outlet in the first place and have me flash ID there, I could be picking up the card instead of playing stall tactics with my pre-paid money.

HERE IS THE EXACT EXPLANATION I SENT TO THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU UPON FILING MY COMPLAINT, I DON'T MIND SHARING (AND I URGE YOU TO FILE A COMPLAINT WITH THEM BY GOING TO WWW.BBB.ORG):

To preface the current issue, I must say that I was laid-off in Kentucky, therefore I had to re-locate to Florida where I was unable to find work for two to three months. In this time I was unemployed I was unable to make payments on my Capital One credit card, which even at that time was under a closed account. I had already cut up and disposed of my credit card.

So, as I am not the only one this has happened to, my interest rate skyrocketed to 29.99%, and unfortunately, presently, that is the least of my worries. Though a sufficient problem, I cannot comprehend the entire ordeal this company has put me through.

In the process of finding a job, acquiring one, and saving my money accordingly to pay my bills and get things situated, Capital One was calling me every day, all day, sometimes up to 15 times a day. Even on Sundays. That is harassment by any means. They would ask inappropriate questions to the effect of, "Why did you lose your job?", "How long have you been out of work?", "Do you plan on getting a job sometime soon?", "Do you have any plans to work in the future?", "Are there other family members who can pay your bills?"

They even tried to contact my parents in Kentucky, and when they wouldn't answer the phone, they began calling numbers of the addresses on their street asking neighbors if they'd seen my parents at the house. That is beyond harassment, that is extreme stalking. Inappropriate behavior that is inexcusable for no one.

I had explained to numerous Capital One employees to cease the calls and they retorted that I must begin making payments for the calls to stop. I again said I would call them when I had enough money to keep up with monthly payments. My first call to set things right again was on June 29, 2009 in which I asked them when my next payment was scheduled to be due. According the the person in which I was speaking to it would be due the 14th of July. I have bank statements to prove that I made a $69 payment on July 14, 2009. I recorded the ID of the employee who took that over-the-phone payment: NFV122. Please note, because my account is "Delinquent" I am denied access to my online account. I do not receive paper statements anymore and they will not allow anyone to change the email on that account to my current one. So I no longer can receive, nor ever have, received online statements through email. Needless to say, I am completely in the dark and cannot view my statements at all.

I called between that July 14th payment and my next scheduled payment in August because I wanted to inquire about getting on some form of a debt liquidation program. They flat out told me they offered no such service. I explained to them the other credit card company I dealt with offered me not only an incredible program where I have fixed payments, 0.00% interest and no more fees of anything whatsoever, they also offered me sympathy. They were and continue to be supportive and reasonable in my determination to eliminate my debt.

Capital One offered nothing more than extremely less than poor customer service. I finally get on the phone with an employee who I felt possibly, truly was trying to help me. She said there was a loose "3-Month" program where they would basically take my "past-due fees" and divvy them up into three equal payments. Then, after three months my account would be brought current and I could begin making regular payments again. She asked if I'd like to receive a letter stating those specific dates and the amount due and I gladly said yes. The dates were as follows:

Payment 1 - August 20, 2009 $105.67
Payment 2 - September 20, 2009 $105.67
Payment 3 - October 20, 2009 $105.67

Here is where it starts getting really tricky. I have on record my first payment was made on August 17, 2009 in the amount of $105.67, and I was proud, feeling as if finally, I was getting back on track.
So, next month comes around and I had money earlier than expected and decided to pay early, again, feeling accomplished. I call to make "Payment 2" in the amount of $105.67 on September 3, 2009. That is 17 days before their expressed due date in the letter I received in the mail. The employee (ID: UCX826) explains to me that I received a late fee in the amount of $39.99 for my previous month's payment. Her reason was, they told me it was due on the 17th, not the 20th. I asked why? How was that possible when I received a letter clearly showing August 20th was my due date. Employee UCX826 proceeds to say to the effect, "I'm sorry, it was late. Your bill was due the 17th." Well, regardless of this first blatant lie, if they're now telling me over the phone it was due the 17th, it was still paid on the 17th. So 20th? 17th? Who cares at this point, it was still on time. I ask this employee to see that which is the truth and fix the problem, thus waiving the fee. She relented, after about 45 minutes on the phone. She asks if she could help me with anything else and I said yes, I would like to go ahead and pay September's bill early. She accepts my payment, 17 days early, and thus tells me I would need to call back next month and have my late fee waived! She flat out told me I was going to be charged $39.99 again for paying two and a half weeks early!

By this point, as I dearly hope you understand, I was fed up. To say the least.

October. Now it's time for the "third installment" of my payments. I call once again, on October 17th (just to be sure of course!) that even though it technically, by written letter, wasn't due until the 20th, I was paying on the 17th, just to cover myself. I made the "last" payment of $105.67 and I asked if I had received the "I-paid-early-so-I-get-a-late-fee-anyway" late fee and the employee said, "No." I did not take this employees ID because I thought everything was settled.

It is now November. I called yesterday to find out where I stood with my balance. I was told it was $2, 234 - which basically, is around the same amount it was before I made that first payment of $69 back in July! Now granted, I understand with a virtual 30% interest rate, and my account being past-due, this could very well be a legitmate reason for me not having made any break in my balance. But, I was told those "Three Payments" would bring me back into current status and everything would be fine. I was told yesterday, I owed $314 and THEN my account would be current. I said no way, I was taking further action and would not pay them until certain conditions on my end were met.

So here I am, Better Business Bureau. I'd greatly appreciate your help in this matter. I hope to resolve this issue as soon as possible. I would absolutely love to pay off Capital One in the amount that I have borrowed from them. My conditions are as follows:

They allow me to view every statement on that account since the time it was closed, they waive every fee that brought me into overdraft, which caused overdraft fees, late fees, and anything else which is causing my account to be past-due. I want them to lower my interest rate to something reasonable, in the range of 6-9% and once these conditions are met, I will continue to make payments. I do not want any money from this company, all I want is a payment plan that makes sense, that is reasonable and something that doesn't waste my hard earned cash.

Even after writing and explaining most of this situation, I cannot verbally express my absolute and utter DISSATISFACTION with Capital One. I vow to never, in any way, do business with this company again. I should not be punished for something that was out of my control and something I am making a very notable and dedicated effort to correcting. I feel that every time I correspond with them, they make a mockery of me, they insult my intelligence and I want them to know that I will not take it anymore. They have lied, stolen and cheated me. I want it to stop. And I want to fairly pay back the $2, 000+ I owe to them, and be done with it.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
J.J. Ross

I have been harassing phone calls from them for days. Up to 5 at a time, but no one will answer the phone when I pick up. I have called three times and got yelled at on the phone by the "account manager" because I demanded that the calls stop immediately. They said that I would have to deal with it for a month until they got it taken care of. Ridiculous. I closed my card and am currently filing a harassment lawsuit.

I called Captial one and was offered a zero percent balance transfer for 6 months, then it would be 4.99% fixed for the duration of the balance transfer. For two months I received zero % on the third month, I got hit witha 15.9% finance charge and when I called to find out why they tell me that deal was never available. They are now saying I have to pay 15.9% for the duration of the balance transfer. When I asked them to pull the recording of our conversation, they say they cannot do that. I then speak to Mike the Accounts specialist and he says the guys that offer the balance transfers are paid on commission so they might say anything to make the sell. Well now I am stuck with a 15.9% balance transfer. This is FRAUD

In December I called a TV advertisement to plan a purchase of a U-2 Mop. The telephone operator immediately wanted my personal information as well as credit card number. (I will never be that stupid again to give out my number first). After answering her questions about the products I was interested in, ( as well as many more additional items that she wanted to add) I asked the total charges and was overwhelmed by the total as well as exorbitant handling and shipping charges. Also she said it would take 4 to 6 weeks. I told her I was no longer interested to please cancel that order. I did not want the mop. She said 'okay'.

One month later I received the mop anyway. I immediately called the company and was told I would have to e-mail someone. I did but apparently the e-mail address was a bogus one because the e-mail was never opened by anyone at the other end. I was told there was no one I could speak to on the phone.

I then opened my credit card statement and the charge had been put on the same day I talked with the telephone operator. She entered the charge anyway without my authorization!!!.

I called Capital One to see what could be done. The young man I spoke with immediately began lecturing me about how foolish I was to even deal with a TV Advertisement. He explained that was the reason brick and mortar stores do not sell these products so they will not be victims to people like these. He explained the stupidity of believing that your 'taped converstations' would help because of course they are lost or possibly never made or accidentally erased.

I asked if these charges could be stopped since they were to be in 3 payments. He said no there was nothing I could do except possibly ship it back for another charge. I asked to speak with someone else at Capitol One and he said "No, it wouldn't do any good!" I told him I would call back myself to speak with someone else and he sarcastically said "Okay, we'll be waiting for you!"

I called back and spoke with a woman who said she would add to my report that the young man had taken that "I specifically told the U-2 Mop operator to cancel the order before it was ever authorized". However, at that time I should not return it for another charge or do anything until I heard from Capital One. She told me I would receive a letter within 25 days on what to do.

I have heard nothing from Capital One. I have received another statement from them with another charge!!! They did not block the charge or send me a letter or follow up in any way.. I AM AT A LOSS AS TO WHAT TO DO!!! I'm assuming there is no way to fight this because I researched on the internet and found this TV Company(that sells products like these) owns several TV Channels..How unfortunate for the American Public.

I also have now seen this mop advertised in other mail-order catalogs for a fraction of the handling and shipping charges. To make matters worse:

STUPID ME; I gave in yesterday and opened the mop since it undoubtedly is mine with no recourse. OF COURSE IT DOES NOT WORK AND DO THE THINGS ADVERTISED!!!

Now I pray that powerful comanies like Capital One and these companies who own TV Channels will somehow be brought low by our public being informed and enlightened!!!