Capital One is driving me nuts

[tsmith274]

Name of Card: Capital One
Issuer: Capital One
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Hi, I have had my Capital One credit card for about 4 months now. I am a full time engineering student, so we're not talking about a huge credit line here. When I first got my card, they told me that if I pay my bill on-time for the first 3 months, they would automatically increase my credit limit. No problem there. So as I have been using my card extensively, I pay my bill online several times per month. Here is the problem... they have placed 10 day holds on my account FOUR TIMES!! That is a total of 40 days that my card would have been useless. Two times I called them and they released the hold. The first time, they told me I had overpayed... I had not, so they lifted it. The 2nd time, they told me that their anti-fraud software is extremely sensitive, and had automatically placed a hold on my account. So, they lifted it. I paid off my balance yesterday ($90) online. And what happens? You guessed it... they placed ANOTHER hold on my account... no credit available for 10 days. This is becoming such a hassle. I am tempted to close the account, but I don't want to. I sent them a secure online message, and they told me to call them. But I am tired of this cycle of holds, releasing holds, more holds, calls to Capital One, etc... over and over.

Has anyone else had this problem with any credit card? I have never paid late... ever. In fact, I mostly pay early. I am thinking this is a scam so that interest builds up, and I ultimately pay them more. This is extremely frustrating. Please give me some insight into what could be happening here.

[AJ]

I'm not sure , but you might want to call 1 800 889 - 9939 . That is what is called the "Back door" # It used to get things done that you can not otherwise get done by calling the number on the back of your card, such as CLI's rate reductions, etc. Maybe they can give you some insight as to what's going on.

Maybe they can re issue you a new account number

[cpaynter]

Hi, I have had my Capital One credit card for about 4 months now. I am a full time engineering student, so we're not talking about a huge credit line here. When I first got my card, they told me that if I pay my bill on-time for the first 3 months, they would automatically increase my credit limit. No problem there. So as I have been using my card extensively, I pay my bill online several times per month. Here is the problem... they have placed 10 day holds on my account FOUR TIMES!! That is a total of 40 days that my card would have been useless. Two times I called them and they released the hold. The first time, they told me I had overpayed... I had not, so they lifted it. The 2nd time, they told me that their anti-fraud software is extremely sensitive, and had automatically placed a hold on my account. So, they lifted it. I paid off my balance yesterday ($90) online. And what happens? You guessed it... they placed ANOTHER hold on my account... no credit available for 10 days. This is becoming such a hassle. I am tempted to close the account, but I don't want to. I sent them a secure online message, and they told me to call them. But I am tired of this cycle of holds, releasing holds, more holds, calls to Capital One, etc... over and over.

Has anyone else had this problem with any credit card? I have never paid late... ever. In fact, I mostly pay early. I am thinking this is a scam so that interest builds up, and I ultimately pay them more. This is extremely frustrating. Please give me some insight into what could be happening here.

I can understand your frustration. What you describe is truly bizarre. I've never had such a thing happen with any card. I have had Capital One refuse charges I made outside of the U.S. (and then have customer service deny that they did so). Particularly frustrating, as that's really the only reason I got this Cap One card in the first place (as Cap One charges no currency conversion charge). So I can attest to the fact that their fraud detection can be overzealous. But outside of those international charges, I've never had a hold. So, I'd be demanding a better explanation of what is going on.

I don't understand your suspicion about them doing this to build up interest. How could Cap One putting a hold on your account cause interest to build up? You can still pay the card in the same amount you would otherwise, right? Sorry, that one doesn't make any sense.

I guess I'd say your story emphasizes the point that one credit card is not enough. You should always have at least a backup card or two. But you should also figure out what the heck is up with your Cap One account.

Chris.

[tsmith274]

Thanks for the replies. Yeah that guess by me about the interest was just a shot in the dark. I've done some research, and I've found a couple instances where people have had their account placed on a hold when making online payments, but not with Capital One. It does sound like my situation is pretty unique. What is bothersome to me is that, for instance, this last payment of $90 was taken out of my checking account. It shows on my checking account as a payment. It even shows up as a payment on my Capital One credit card online statement. But for some reason, they have placed a hold on my entire account... not just the payment. I have NO credit available, and my card is almost completely paid off. It is as if they just disable my card for no reason from time to time. I'm going to call them and report back. Thanks for the help!

[tsmith274]

Ok I just got off the phone with them. She said.... and I will quote... "All new customers that have been with us for less than 6 months go into a pool of accounts that may be randomly selected for verification of funds from your given payment account". And that after 6 months, this should stop. I asked her... "Why not just place a hold in the amount of the payment, and NOT disable the entire account?" She didn't understand my question and went off into another discussion about their automated system. But in the end, I told them that the funds have been taken out of my checking, so they need to release the hold. So, they released the hold. That was it. But unfortunately, it sounds like this is going to happen over and over until the 6 months is up. What a first impression to new customers... doesn't make sense.

[manish]

I have 2 cards with cap1 and i've never had any problems. i would try paying them online using your bank's bill pay. see if that helps. i think what they are trying to avoid is a scam where people sell someone else their info to open up credit cards. they pay them for a few months and then max them out and stop paying it.