ARRG! Anyone use Capital one Credit Card?  | | | 
December 24th, 2008, 12:25 PM
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#1 (permalink)
| | I do Ouchy-Bleedy.
Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Albany, Ga.
Posts: 10,636
|  ARRG! Anyone use Capital one Credit Card?
Does anyone know if anything can be done about this issue?
Capital One has decided to start suspending accounts. IF you havent used your Capital one CC in the last 6 months your account will be suspended. No other notice has been announced. Just letters sent to individuals. LINK to some of the people who are receiving these letters
Since I only used my Capital One Credit Card for emergencies I received one yesterday telling me that I had 60 days from the date of this letter (Dec 17) to use up my "rewards balance"(24 points-not enough to purchase kleenex to dry my eyes)  . AFAIK We have no recourse in this action. I just got off the phone with them, and All I could get was "Its been decided that Capital One would close all accounts that were not current". No one at Capital One is willing to own up to this decision, and NO PAPERS documenting the decision have been published - which pisses me off! I am current, I have made all my payments on time, I just havent used them lately since their APR is so much higher than the other cards I use.
It seems several thousands of Capital One Credit Card customers will be hit by this "business decision". The good customers who simply kept the Capital One Credit Cards in good standing, but havent used them lately are being hit for not using our Capital One Credit Cards on a daily basis. It dings us in a bad financial spot too - our FICO score!! It burns my A**.
Someone said they were going to put a bunch of charges on the card and carry a small balance so they would be required to do something before they closed the account, but that seems to defeat the whole purpose of having an emergency line of credit - to have ready money for emergencies.
Does anyone have any ideas?
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December 24th, 2008, 12:35 PM
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#2 (permalink)
| | Anime Otaku
Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Tampa, FL USA
Posts: 108,965
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Buy a $1 item. Pay it off in before the next billing cycle. Account active. Problem solved. Rinse and repeat monthly.
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December 24th, 2008, 12:35 PM
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#3 (permalink)
| | Ride 'em Cowboy
Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Dallas, TX
Posts: 8,774
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Odds are your FICO score won't budge on a suspended account if the whole knows about this...
Couldn't you buy lunch with the card once every six months?
As much as you hate this deal - it's their company and they can run off customers if they want 
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December 24th, 2008, 12:36 PM
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#4 (permalink)
| | Pump you sucker! Pump!
Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Sacto, Colliefornia
Posts: 8,634
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I had one cancel on me the other day - I think it was a Capitol One. I didn't even know I had it. Probably some purchase - "no payments for 12 months" or something.
If you need it, use it. Each card is a potential liability floating around out there.
It's a good sign.... However, I think it adversely affects your credit score.
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December 24th, 2008, 12:36 PM
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#5 (permalink)
| | Not Really a Member
Join Date: Oct 2001
Posts: 25,368
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every month buy a candy bar on the card  | |
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December 24th, 2008, 01:21 PM
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#6 (permalink)
| | Ultimate Member
Join Date: May 2002 Location: Stow, Ohio, Sol III
Posts: 1,199
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I have heard of CC company's closing accounts that aren't in use before, ie. no balance for a period of time. Merchants pay a fee every time a CC is processed, not much $0.25 or so. The CC companies make money off of the merchant fees every time you use a card, so if you don't use the card at all they make no money. Sad, but that appears to be the reason.
I have two Capitol One cards and three other MC or VISA cards. I rotate and use a card every month for something. Even something minor like lunch once a week should work towards keeping the account open or as Vass pointed out a candy bar. Use the card for a month like this, say maybe a $30-40 balance, and then pay it off the next month. Most CC's don't charge you any interest if you pay the balance in full within 25-30 days. Then use another card the same way. The trick is to keep track of your balances and be sure to pay them off on time. Not that the CC company minds, they get a late payment fee if you miss a payment and or interest if you carry any balance over.
A somewhat related matter are some debit cards. My bank (US Bank) charges me $0.25 every time I use my debit card as a debit card, enter a pin number. If I use that same card as a credit card (VISA) there is no charge, why?. Because the merchant pays the fee in that situation.
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Last edited by nomaxim : December 24th, 2008 at 01:26 PM.
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December 24th, 2008, 01:26 PM
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#7 (permalink)
| | Pump you sucker! Pump!
Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Sacto, Colliefornia
Posts: 8,634
| Quote: |
A somewhat related matter are some debit cards. My bank (US Bank) charges me $0.25 every time I use my debit card as a debit card, enter a pin number. If I use that same card as a credit card (VISA) there is no charge, why?. Because the merchant pays the fee in that situation.
| Good point. Often the merchants ask you "Is that credit or debit?" always say "credit", even on an ATM card that is not a credit card. | |
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December 24th, 2008, 01:34 PM
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#8 (permalink)
| | Ultimate Member
Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: South Jersey
Posts: 8,729
| Quote:
Originally Posted by nomaxim  A somewhat related matter are some debit cards. My bank (US Bank) charges me $0.25 every time I use my debit card as a debit card, enter a pin number. If I use that same card as a credit card (VISA) there is no charge, why?. Because the merchant pays the fee in that situation. | Close your account and change banks. That's exactly what we did when our bank started charging for debits. | |
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December 24th, 2008, 01:35 PM
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#9 (permalink)
| | Real gangstas sip on Yacc
Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Suckas-ville
Posts: 4,552
| Quote: |
I have heard of CC company's closing accounts that aren't in use before, ie. no balance for a period of time. Merchants pay a fee every time a CC is processed, not much $0.25 or so. The CC companies make money off of the merchant fees every time you use a card, so if you don't use the card at all they make no money. Sad, but that appears to be the reason.
| They make substantially more off of interest payments on carried balances and late fees than the small percentage (usually 2-3% of purchase price) they will take as merchant fees.
Quote: |
If I use that same card as a credit card (VISA) there is no charge, why?. Because the merchant pays the fee in that situation.
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The issuing companies got wise to this. Nowadays the merchant fees on Credit vs Debit transactions are nearly identical. And get a bank that doesn't charge a debit fee...
With that all being said, why should they not cancel the card? If you have not used it in six months you are bringing them *zero* income as a result of you being their customer. Not only that you really have no prospects of bringing them income as either:
1) You are using other cards
2) You are responsible enough with your money to not need to use it
In either of these scenarios the CC company really doesn't want you as a customer. They do have administrative costs and your credit limit is a liability that they have to insure against both of which cost them money. When you are bringing in nothing to them, it makes sense from a business standpoint to cut you loose.
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December 24th, 2008, 01:44 PM
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#10 (permalink)
| | Ultimate Member
Join Date: May 2002 Location: Stow, Ohio, Sol III
Posts: 1,199
| Quote:
Originally Posted by osprey4 Close your account and change banks. That's exactly what we did when our bank started charging for debits. | I already did that a few years ago with another bank. I figure US Bank gets $4-5 a year from me. I use the account, on line bill pay (free, some banks charge a monthly fee for this service), and debit card daily. I don't carry cash or buy stamps to mail bills. Since I don't pay for the account in any way I figure it's a fair amount.Quote: |
Originally Posted by jkrohn They make substantially more off of interest payments on carried balances and late fees than the small percentage (usually 2-3% of purchase price) they will take as merchant fees. |
True, but when you have ten's of millions of transactions a month that small 2-3% adds up. I could only speculate on how many transactions Capitol One gets in any given month. But, I think it's safe to say they make a couple million dollars if not ten's of millions every month from just those fees.
Last edited by nomaxim : December 24th, 2008 at 01:55 PM.
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