Capital One and over-limit charges?

earthmother

We recently went over our limit by a couple of pounds - a payment to the card took longer to clear than usual, and so spending overlapped.

At the end of the day, that was a mistake on our part and we accept the charge - the problem is, because we weren't aware any of this had happened until we got our statement 3-4 weeks later, we've gone over again, and been charged again.

Should Capital One have advised us sooner of the first charge, hence enabling us to avoid the second one (or at least argue the case to get it refunded), or do we just have to put up and shut up?

Their customer service (which we have never had problems with in the past) is being decidely unhelpful.

swayze

Thats quite interesting. I only thought companies could charge you once a statement month for going over the limit. If you were still over the limit the following month and another £12 was charged that I could understand. But the way you have worded it is that you have been charged more than once in a month.

As for the charge itself it really is down to you to keep an eye on your account and make sure you don't go over. Although mistakes do happen so I can understand your frustration. I would also have thought that once you had gone over your credit limit that any further transactions would have been declined.

earthmother

Yep - got charged twice - once because of a transaction that went through just before the payment cleared (which was a couple of working days later than usual for some reason), and again because we went over a day or so into the next statement period because we weren't aware of the first charge, and hence thought we had more available than there was.

Initially went over 10th, charge added to statement 11th, Payment cleared 12th (would normally have been 9th/10th), statement produced 21st showing 31p over limit (due to charge), received 27th, by which time another transaction had cleared through making us £4.xx over, hence charged again.


The initial charge, as said, I accept as our mistake - the second one though would not have occured had they told us about the first when it was applied rather than waiting for the next statement to be issued, as we would have adjusted spending to fit the available credit.

GoofyGAT

Are you aware that you can your check credit limit remaining anytime by logging into your Capital One account?

To do so click here, then on Your Card Account in the top right corner.

Some new(ish) transactions may not show up at the time of logging in, but at least it will let you know whether the payments you recently made to the card have gone through or not. Anyway, the all important current credit limit remaining will be clearly displayed.

Something to keep in mind for the future perhaps? G

earthmother

Thanks - I did find out about that a few days ago - hence knowing about the last transaction (the one that's triggered the second charge).

It wouldn't have been much use to me the first time - as far as we knew, there was no reason to suspect anything was wrong and therefore check the account. We send our payments by bank transfer (that way I can send it a little early, or with extra where possible) - it usually clears in 4 working days, but for some reason unknown to Cap One or my bank, this one took a couple of days longer.

I will use the online system in future though - just to be on the safe side.

YorkshireBoy

earthmother wrote: »

...for some reason unknown to Cap One or my bank, this one took a couple of days longer.

Easter perhaps? (if the dates you quoted were in April).

I will use the online system in future though - just to be on the safe side.

Why not set up a minimum payment direct debit and put an end to the late payment charges altogether? Then pay any extra by other means.

GoofyGAT

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Why not set up a minimum payment direct debit and put an end to the charges? Then pay any extra by other means.

That's generally a good way of doing things (DD for full amount even better if one can), but unfortunately it wouldn't have helped earthmother in this case - i.e. going over the credit limit. Or, would it have? G

TBeckett100

anyone else find their payment took lon ger than usual to credit? mine took a week and i sent it from hsbc to another hsbc account

Warriorsith

Capital One are very poor. I use the online facility to track all my transacations and it annoys me..

It takes them atleast 5 days for payment to clear and there 'WORKING DAYS' not the Weekend which I would now call working days as most people work those days. So when you think your payment should clear it takes a couple of extra days.

The Computor system seems to update information really slowly. Sometimes I log in and it shows a balance two days earlier then the current date. I think this is how they make they're money. I once question this process to be told that the online facility was only a referance facility and shouldn't be used for any other reason. I had to ask them that as every other Online Bank/Credit card has upto date information and Barclay's has a facility to pay by a card via they're site which clears within 2 days. Capital One told me they wouldn't do that facility as it's prone to fraud, more like they wouldn't make enough money from charges otherwise.

To the person with the charges, try ringing them again to get your charges back, you too should try controlling your spending if you know your near to your limit then why spend on the card? I personally repay £10 back each month, this keeps near my limit but as I don't have PPI on the account the interest per month is very little.

Perhaps you should ask them to take off the PPI?

swayze

Warriorsith wrote: »

Capital One are very poor. I use the online facility to track all my transacations and it annoys me..

It takes them atleast 5 days for payment to clear and there 'WORKING DAYS' not the Weekend which I would now call working days as most people work those days. So when you think your payment should clear it takes a couple of extra days.

The Computor system seems to update information really slowly. Sometimes I log in and it shows a balance two days earlier then the current date. I think this is how they make they're money. I once question this process to be told that the online facility was only a referance facility and shouldn't be used for any other reason. I had to ask them that as every other Online Bank/Credit card has upto date information and Barclay's has a facility to pay by a card via they're site which clears within 2 days. Capital One told me they wouldn't do that facility as it's prone to fraud, more like they wouldn't make enough money from charges otherwise.

To the person with the charges, try ringing them again to get your charges back, you too should try controlling your spending if you know your near to your limit then why spend on the card? I personally repay £10 back each month, this keeps near my limit but as I don't have PPI on the account the interest per month is very little.

Perhaps you should ask them to take off the PPI?

Yeah well in the Banks eye the weekend does not class as 'working days'. I thought that was pretty obvious.

earthmother

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Easter perhaps? (if the dates you quoted were in April). Why not set up a minimum payment direct debit and put an end to the late payment charges altogether? Then pay any extra by other means.

It probably was Easter thinking about it - although I had allowed for that when I'd worked out the working days (obviously missed something between the bank and Cap One).

We used to DD the minimum with the intention of sending extra, but always seemed to find something more urgent to use it for. Also, Cap One messed up the DD a couple of times - the two things combined made us choose this way of paying. In my defence, it's the first time I've had a problem in 2 years of operating the account this way.

Warriorsith wrote: »

To the person with the charges, try ringing them again to get your charges back, you too should try controlling your spending if you know your near to your limit then why spend on the card? I personally repay £10 back each month, this keeps near my limit but as I don't have PPI on the account the interest per month is very little.

Perhaps you should ask them to take off the PPI?

We have tried to contact them - unfortunately the CSA we got seemed to struggle to understand the situation and so we didn't get too far - hence asking on here if anyone had had experience of a similar situation, so I might have something to go back to them with.

Our spending is under control - we're not usually near the limit, in fact it's the first time the card has been used this year (and if all goes to the DFW plan, the last time ever - makes it even more annoying, lol) but this last month was a rather expensive one for various reasons.

There is no PPI on the account.

Thanks for the information about the reliability of their online system - will bear that in mind.