Fuming! - Capital One

RodBell

After wiping out my Capital One by offering to set my payment at £50 per month (far more than the minimum payment) and my wifey at £50 (changed to £100 when mine cleared).

Imagine my surprise when I looked at our credit rating and discovered it has dropped through the floor due to Capital One marking us as 'Defaulted Payment' every month, even though we hadn't.

I phoned them at the end of the week, the apologised and said they would ring back in 48 hours. 96 hours later I ring them back and give no apology for not ringing back and insist that as we agreed a long term payment plan we accepted the default mark against each payment.

Now this wasn't mentioned on the phone when we set it up, a recent letter doesn't indicate that a default is being placed against our rating, but the rather arrogant telephone operator says we signed a form in August 2010 agreeing to it.

I explained that we had an excellent rating and we where paying more than they asked and now were being penalised for it.

She couldn't help further and has given me a address to write a letter too, even though she says when defaults are applied they only come off after six years and no one can take them off. Which I know is hogwash.

So now it's time to write an angry letter.

Any ideas what to write to make it sound official a get this off?

InsideInsurance

You say you were paying more than agreed, presumably then you were on a repayment plan rather than paying the normal 2.5% of balance (or whatever Capital One's rate is)? Was interest frozen/ reduced as part of this agreement?

When did you set up the repayment plan? Was it before or after the August 2010 form? Do you have a copy of the form that you signed to read what it says? If not the first step is to get a copy of it.

Generally, if you are in financial difficulties as to need to get into a repayment plan then I'd certainly argue that you'd have to expect the lender to mark you up as such rather than saying everything is fine when your not adhering to normal terms

RodBell

We initially enquired on paying more to get it cleared faster and offered to pay on both £50 each which was nearly double the minimum amount they were asking freezing the interest (if I remember rightly) We did the same with Virgin credit card too. Virgin set it up there and then and Capital One asked for an income and expenditure form, which we considered odd, but we filled it in and sent it off.

I even have a letter here from June when my wife raised it to £100 a month instead of £50 as my card was paid off and no mention shows that a default will be marked against the account.

We were offered by Credit Expert 30 days free so we took it up and noticed the only red mark that is effecting us is Capital One (Virgin is green and no default).

If I knew Capital One intended on defaulting us I would never have agreed to it. I have located a letter on the site and am now in the process of using snail mail to communicate with them. For whatever reason Capital Customer Contact Response have no email address.

Furious.

balmk

Just for clarification -

Were you in arrears/facing financial difficulties and did you therefore ask them for a payment plan?

OR

Were your payments up to date and you asked them to take a fixed payment every month by DD instead of the minimum payment

OR

Did you set up a standing order for £50 per month

RodBell

This is what we asked for.

balmk wrote:

Were your payments up to date and you asked them to take a fixed payment every month by DD instead of the minimum payment

balmk

RodBell wrote: »

We initially enquired on paying more to get it cleared faster and offered to pay on both £50 each which was nearly double the minimum amount they were asking freezing the interest (if I remember rightly) We did the same with Virgin credit card too. Virgin set it up there and then and Capital One asked for an income and expenditure form, which we considered odd, but we filled it in and sent it off.

I even have a letter here from June when my wife raised it to £100 a month instead of £50 as my card was paid off.

We were offered by Credit Expert 30 days free so we took it up and noticed the only red mark that is effecting us is Capital One (Virgin is green and no default).

If I knew Capital One intended on defaulting us I would never have agreed to it. I have located a letter on the site and am now in the process of using snail mail to communicate with them. For whatever reason Capital Customer Contact Response have no email address.

Furious.

In this case as you had a payment arrangement, they are entitled to mark your credit file as such; you have defaulted on the original terms of the agreement. If you had asked for the account to run normally and make a fixed payment there would be no issue, but as you asked them to freeze the interest they have taken it that you are having financial difficulties and have defualted on the terms of the agrrement (% per month minimum repayment, plus % interest on outstanding balances).

RodBell

Gob smacked.

If I was made aware of this I would have stuck at the £20 or so pound a month instead.

It feels like I've been penalised for wanting to do the right thing and get the card clear quicker.

balmk

Rather than send then a snotagarm, I think that you need to appeal to their better nature; if you believe that you were not advised of the consequences of this payment arrangement then this should be your first point.

You may want to post your letter on here before sending it off in order to get some advice/guidance, but as a general rule -

1) Don't use exclamation marks
2) Be clear and concise when adding any background/circumstances
3) Avoid inflammatory language
4) Be clear about what you expect should happen next

BugsyBrowne

If you've got an AP or default on your credit report bang goes your credit rating for 6 years.

InsideInsurance

You have been penalised for not paying the interest rate you agreed in exchange for the "loan"/ credit facility not for the amount you are paying.

If your finances had improved such that you could go back to the normal t&cs you could have notified them and potentially have reinstated interest etc and avoid the default notices.

Obviously this doesnt necessarily excuse their behaviours if they have failed to explain things correctly. The questions you didnt answer were when was the agreement made in relation to the Aug 10 form? Secondly, have you a copy of the said form to see what it says about defaults

RodBell

The letter is so prim and proper I was tugging my forelock and wringing my cap as I read it.

The arrangement was made around the August 2010 and were requesting a copy of the signed form (we're inc. a postal order in the envelope to cover return postage).

I feel this has not been completely explained fully to us, as if I was told that I would have been marked as default then we would of declined it straight away.