Capital One card - how long to cancel?

Bluedroog

Hi Guys,

just a quick one as per title. I had a Capital One card to repair bad credit, improved my credit and now it has served its purpose. I did a balance transfer and phone them to close the account.

That was a few weeks ago now and the card is still active. I destroyed it long ago but had a subscription taken with the card which I was not happy about but perhaps it was my own fault for not stopping it at both ends.

I phoned again to make sure that didn't 'reactivate' the account or anything and they assured me not. They said they've sent the request through and it is in process. They said I can pay off the balance (only about £15) before my next due date regardless.

I've worked really hard getting my credit score up and am now in 'fair' on Experian but was hoping having a closed account would work in my favour but now I just have another one which knocked my score back to poor (although since back at fair).

Am I just being too inpatient and is 3 weeks and counting normal? It just seems that when it is the other way round they are very quick, now I want to close the account things are dragging on far longer than they need to. Is two weeks not more than ample time? It must be approaching a month before long. I guess if I had more of a time frame I'd untwist my knickers.

Any ideas on what is a normal time to close? Generally and for Capital One?

On a side note does anyone have an idea on how much of a positive effect having a settled account has on one's score? I know the score isn't the be all and end all but it was always listed as one of the factors counting against me.

Thank you for your time.

dalesrider

Well untill the balance is zero. You can't close the account.

So if you owe interest, then it could still be active till next billing period.

guesswho2000

As dalesrider says, you'll need to clear it in full first.

When I opened my Aspire World card, I waited a couple of months to ensure the Progress card I had was completely clear and no pending transactions. This was a few months ago, I rang two weeks ago to close the Progress card, received a letter confirming this last week.

Same happened with my Classic card a few years ago, it was closed within a week of calling them.

Bluedroog

Thanks. So they lied to me if that is true.

The payment (ironically to Experian) was taken out at least a week after I made the call to close. So now I have to wait till payday before I can afford to pay that off even though it is only £15.

Bluedroog

This really annoys me as I had a balance of zero, closed the account then had a monthy bill taken out some time later. Then when I called again they told me it didn't matter, the account was still being processed to be closed then I could pay the balance off after the account is closed so long as it is before the next due pay date.

guesswho2000

Bluedroog wrote: »

Thanks. So they lied to me if that is true.

The payment (ironically to Experian) was taken out at least a week after I made the call to close. So now I have to wait till payday before I can afford to pay that off even though it is only £15.

Ah yes the recurring payment thing rearing its ugly head again, ensure you cancel that with the relevant company (and any others) as they'll just keep taking money from the account otherwise, even though its closed (although you can now cancel recurring payments with the issuer too).

Bluedroog

Little thread bump and update with this one. So I cancelled the Experian repeat payment and sent a message via the secure online message thingy to complain and yet again ask them to close my account. I got this reply:



‘I’m sorry to hear that your account wasn’t closed when you previously requested. Please accept my apology in this matter.

I’ve now arranged to close your account and when this is done, you’ll receive an automatic letter confirming that it’s been closed. Your credit file will automatically be updated to show that this account is now settled.

If you have any regular subscriptions applied to your account, you will need to contact the merchant directly to cancel. Providing you do this, we will not authorise any further transactions once your account is closed.’


This was about a week ago and it is still active, any idea on how much longer these things normally take? I may seem a bit impatient but it has been well over a month since I first tried to close this account now. I also don’t like the line ‘providing you do this’ in regard to stopping any repeat payments, sounds a bit like they’re waiting for this to happen before they will close which is still another week away (had I not cancelled).

Sheriffsam

so have all the payments been cancelled now?

If so, why not call them again and just ask to close the account again.

If not, I would recommned cancelling the card in writting. I think the postal and fax addresses will be on their website.