# Capital One. You suck. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 30, 2005, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-one-you-suck/310580 "2005-06-30T19:31:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-one-you-suck/310580/21 "2005-07-01T17:43:32Z")
Actually, the CapOne card I got was the fee-less card. So now I have reported a maximum balance of $900-ish and current balance of $0. Is this somehow going to figure into the score? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-one-you-suck/310580/22 "2005-07-01T17:45:22Z")
> [@stpauler](#): > > Read the link in my OP: > > \*Capital One says the information is proprietary but if their good customers have artificially lower scores, it may keep them from being cherry-picked by other credit card companies. \* Yes, but that’s just what one TV stations has \*supposed. \* ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-one-you-suck/310580/23 "2005-07-01T18:03:37Z")
Every postage paid envelope I get from Capitol One goes straight back, with as much crap as I can shove into it within the limits inferred from the Master’s commentary on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-one-you-suck/310580/24 "2005-07-01T18:05:51Z")
> [@swampbear](#): > > CapitolOne is a great big [del]poo[/del] shit flinging monkey in my book. Their many times weekly “offers” don’t even make it from the mailbox to inside the house. A trash can beside the garage is a good thing. I hope that trash bag has a shredder or burn bag in it – my name for these turdlets is “E-Z Identitheft Pak”… ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-one-you-suck/310580/25 "2005-07-01T18:07:20Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > But- just because FICO or whoever the hell it is has no common sense and sues a silly-assed and meaningless system to assign you a “score”- why is this Capital One’s fault? Er, because they game the system by using this bug to artificially lower their customers’ credit scores, thereby making it more difficult for them to escape? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-one-you-suck/310580/26 "2005-07-01T18:10:46Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Yes, but that’s just what one TV stations has \*supposed. \* Given that 1)we have multiple independent reports of it happening, and 2)it is a predictable result of the known fact that credit scorers use your actual balance in lieu of your credit limit if the latter information is withheld, this is kind of like _supposing_ that a guy sticking a slim jim into a car window while trying to look everywhere at once is up to no good. ---
**Author:** ![GKW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@GKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GKW)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-one-you-suck/310580/27 "2005-07-01T20:08:39Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > This was my thought as well. We have 3 corporations that pretty much control the quality of your life when it comes to the big things. Housing, car, employment. And if they get something wrong? Now you’re fucked. > > You have to figure out which hoops to jump through to see what they have on you. (Free once a year, _IF_ you know where to go) If something is wrong and really drags you down through no fault of your own? Fuck you. Spend the next year trying to fix it. Meanwhile, we’ll continue to trash your financial standing until we get around to fixing it. Recompense for our screw-up? Fuck you. Make enough noise and we’ll, ahem, make a few more mistakes. > I don’t know what the book’s plot device was, but based on the end goal protrayed in the movie, I’d blow Tyler Durden. I’d even swallow. One of my useless daydreams is that some altruistic hacker will avail themselves of those three companies’ data bases and press the reset button _voila_ everyone gets a do-over. That would be better than winning the lottery! ---
**Author:** ![dbly1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/91b2a8/32.png) [@dbly1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dbly1850)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2005, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-one-you-suck/310580/28 "2005-07-02T00:06:42Z")
Not only does Capital One ding your credit rating, they make money off the start up fees, to the point they turn profit, the next month… Let’s say you get a 300 dollar card, you pay fees about 60 dollars, just to get the card, plus first month interest… Cost to Capital One less than 10 bucks in setup fees and to make the card, pay postage to mail it etc… So Capital One is already making money off you… So you move or never use the card, Anyway you didn’t close it. 5 years later, Iget dragged into court for non-payment, the balance of 300 dollars is now 11,234 (that is not a typo) of course they’ll settle for 6000 if I pay them in cash… Funny, if I ask for a credit limit of even 1,000 they told me to go to hell… Yet now I got over 10,000 in credit… I lost my house, but I paid the Capital One Blood suckers off… Of course the credit report doesn’t reflect the fact I paid them off… Iam S.O.L Thank You Capital One… I’d love to go on TV and tell my story… ---
**Author:** ![Elza\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Elza\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elza_B)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2005, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-one-you-suck/310580/29 "2005-07-02T17:15:25Z")
Speaking as a former Capitol One employee… They are out to screw you in any way possible. Okay, I can’t comment on things like your credit score being dinged because I’m still learning that stuff myself, but I will say that when I worked for them in Customer Relations, I saw the following things: Things like **dbly1850** just described - charging $60 just to get it going, so if people called after 2 months when they’d closed the card, they’d have $180 in FEES alone. A payment posted ONE DAY AFTER the closing date, so of course, they had a late fee - and the CRS wasn’t allowed to remove it (we had a button to click that told us if we could or not). I saw this so often that I was starting to suspect that payments were being held an extra day. The stupid programs and products that we offered were immediately charged to a client’s account EVEN IF THEY SAID NO. I had so many people call in who said they NEVER authorized these things and were being charged for them anyway. I felt like people were getting screwed. But whatever you do, please don’t take it out on your CSRs. As newly-hired CSRs, we were NEVER told that there would be selling involved - so the offering of products when you call in was unexpected by US. I won’t even tell you how shocked I was to get into training and learn (after being specifically TOLD prior to being hired that there was no selling) that we had to market products over the phone to clients. And a CSR probably feels about as helpless as you do when it comes to certain aspects of your card. They have absolutely no ability to make judgment calls - it’s all right there in the system. E. ---
**Author:** ![boofuu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f4b2a3/32.png) [@boofuu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boofuu)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-one-you-suck/310580/30 "2005-07-03T23:23:18Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > [www.annualcreditreport.com](http://www.annualcreditreport.com) > > I’m going to set it up to get the reports every four months, so I’m never more than four months behind on my information. I was under the impression that getting your credit report too often is detrimental to your credit score. I will have to look this up after dinner. I should know all the ins-and-outs of credit. When I was a telephone surveyor (no tomatoes please, I managed to leave while I still had a soul) my company was contracted by the government to collect data surveying the average American on his knowledge of credit reporting. From the calls I made, that was very very little. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2005, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-one-you-suck/310580/31 "2005-07-03T23:48:17Z")
> [@boofuu](#): > > I was under the impression that getting your credit report too often is detrimental to your credit score. I will have to look this up after dinner. > . Not AFAIK. Nor does it say anything about that in the CR report in this month’s issue. I want to say here that it looks like the OP is right. :smack: I read the CR report today on creidt scores, and it specifically mentions this practice of not reporting your limit as a way of reducing your score to keep you with them- although they did not mention Capital One by name. Note that I still say that this is partially the fault of FICO who could simply adjust for this. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![ScoobyTX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@ScoobyTX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScoobyTX)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2005, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-one-you-suck/310580/32 "2005-07-04T00:03:28Z")
> [@boofuu](#): > > I was under the impression that getting your credit report too often is detrimental to your credit score. I will have to look this up after dinner. Reports that you get for yourself do not count. Reports that go out to potential creditors at your request (i.e. authorized by a credit application) count against you. Reports by current creditors to keep an eye on you don’t count against you. ---
**Author:** ![GaWd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2005, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-one-you-suck/310580/33 "2005-07-04T00:13:16Z")
> [@](#): > > I was under the impression that getting your credit report too often is detrimental to your credit score. I will have to look this up after dinner. Having _inquiries_ into your credit history can hurt your bottom line. You as a consumer receiving a copy of your credit will not. When a credit card company/background investigator/Mortgage Co. _“Run”_ your credit is what may _possibly_ lower your score. I say _possibly_, because only if you have many inquiries(probably something like 3 in 6 months), you begin to look like a liability because you are attempting to obtain credit from different sources in a short period of time. Please get your credit report. It’s a wonderful help to a consumer who is concerned with their credit score. It will point out potential problems and even some activity/cards/accounts you might not even know you had. Sam ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2005, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-one-you-suck/310580/34 "2005-07-29T14:50:44Z")
Interesting Update. So I just ran my credit report with Experian again. Well, before I get to that, in the last month I’ve gone on a couple mini-vacations, a weekend in Vegas and then a weekend in the UP of Michigan. I paid for almost all of the stuff on the Capital One card. Hey, I’m getting the 0% APR and getting my credit score reemed for it, “why not?” I thought. This is when I found out the credit score trick. Well, Capital One did report my new high limit of something like $800.00. It also reported the payment I made of $400.00. So my high limit then became my surrogate credit limit. Apparently since my balance is less than my high limit when a credit limit isn’t showing, this improves the score and it actually hopped back up to where it was before this whole thing started. Now, I’m not sure if that high limit will carry over all the time or if I have to make big purchases and return 'em. Still, a big hearty fuck you to Capital One. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2005, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-one-you-suck/310580/35 "2005-07-29T17:43:04Z")
I dropped Cap One when they sent me a letter telling me they were going to start charging me $48 a year for the privilege of using their card. I said Screw You and got one from my bank with a higher limit and lower interest. I will _never_ pay an annual fee. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2005, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-one-you-suck/310580/36 "2005-07-29T18:11:16Z")
> [@Steve MB](#): > > I hope that trash bag has a shredder or burn bag in it – my name for these turdlets is “E-Z Identitheft Pak”… I take mine to work and toss 'em in the radioactive bioharard bags. Steal my identity out of that, leeches! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2005, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-one-you-suck/310580/37 "2005-07-29T18:25:52Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > What’s my best option now? I suppose there’s no way I, as a consumer, can directly report my credit limit to the credit agencies, I suppose? And with a 666 score and recent ping for the CapOne credit check, I don’t think CitiBank or BankOne will be lining up to do business with me, will they? > > Is it wise for me to close this account immediately? I’d like to have an extra $3K in case of emergencies, but not if my FICO is being completely screwed. I suggest closing CapitolOne ASAP and getting an American Express Blue card instead. My Blue Cash card has a $7500 limit, no annual fee, and doesn’t need to be paid off every month. ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2005, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-one-you-suck/310580/38 "2005-07-29T18:45:21Z")
Just to make sure I understand this: Am I being punished if I spend, say, $1,200 of my $1,400 limit on my credit card, even though I pay the balance due in full every month and never pay interest or fees on the card? 'Cause I’ll just cancel the motherfucker if that’s the case and use my debit card for everything. My credit card doesn’t do anything except delay the payment by a month anyway. ---
**Author:** ![randomlyblanks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@randomlyblanks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randomlyblanks)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2005, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-one-you-suck/310580/39 "2005-07-30T17:15:30Z")
> [@SanibelMan](#): > > Just to make sure I understand this: Am I being punished if I spend, say, $1,200 of my $1,400 limit on my credit card, even though I pay the balance due in full every month and never pay interest or fees on the card? 'Cause I’ll just cancel the motherfucker if that’s the case and use my debit card for everything. My credit card doesn’t do anything except delay the payment by a month anyway. Actually, yes you are being punished. The credit bureaus don’t distinguish between the balance you carry from month to month and the current amount charged to the card; they just take a snapshot during that month and report whatever balance is currently only the card, even if you plan to pay it off at the end of the month. If you routinely run up close to the credit limit in a given month, you might want to look into a card like I have. I carry a Citibank Diamond Rewards card which has some pretty decent rewards, but more importantly you can make online payments directly from your bank account up to 4 times in a given billing cycle. So you can just pay it off with the click of your mouse at the end of every week in order to keep the balance that would be reported fairly low. If you’re not interested in rewards and want to go back to just using debit, don’t cancel your card. That actually causes your credit score to drop, because of the decrease in available credit. Keep the card and use it to make a small purchase or two every year to keep the account open and reported. [Cite](http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Banking/Yourcreditrating/P38052.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-one-you-suck/310580/40 "2005-07-30T17:19:37Z")
> [@Steve MB](#): > > Every postage paid envelope I get from Capitol One goes straight back, with as much crap as I can shove into it within the limits inferred from the Master’s commentary on the subject. Dear \*\*SteveMB \*\* You have given me something to do that is constructive, malicious and vindictive. If this is not too untoward, I think I possibly adore you in a platonic way. Yer pal, Shirley [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-one-you-suck/310580.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-one-you-suck/310580.md?page=3)