In April, I was super excited when Capital One finally approved me for a credit card. By some miracle, I got in on the 100K Venture offer despite the fact that Capital One had rejected all of my previous card applications year after year.
Capital One finally liked me.
The offer I had signed up for was for up to 100K “Miles”: Earn 100K with $20K spend in 12 months, or still earn 50K with $3K spend in 3 months. Once the card arrived, I used it for all of my daily spend except when other cards offered good bonus categories. In other words, this became my go-to “everywhere else” card when I couldn’t earn 5x for dining, 4x for grocery, 8x for gas, etc. To-date, I had earned the 50K portion of the signup bonus, but I was still working towards the full 100K. I had many more months to complete the remaining spend. I thought.
I never used the card for anything anyone would consider questionable. Really. I know you don’t believe me because Nick didn’t believe me when I told him. But it’s 100% true. I never used the Venture card to buy a single gift card or to pay friends or to fund a gambling account or anything else remotely sketchy. I’ve gone over and over my statements, and seriously can’t see a single purchase that a card issuer wouldn’t like.
But Capital One found something somewhere that it didn’t like.
On June 25th, Capital One unilaterally closed my account without warning. I discovered the offense on July 1 when I received an email from a subscription service saying that my card couldn’t be processed. I then logged into Capital One and saw that my account was labelled as “Restricted”.
I called Capital One. I didn’t learn anything from from the call other than that my account was closed and that I would receive a letter. And that the result was final. End of.
The letter, when it came a week later, said that they didn’t like activity observed on a past or present Capital One account:
We’re writing to let you know that this Capital One credit card account has been closed for the following reason:
Capital One has observed activity on a past or present Capital One account that is not consistent with the bank’s expectations for account activity.
Unfortunately, it can’t be reopened, and we are not able to offer additional information about this decision.
The worst part of all of this is what Capital One did with my rewards. Rather than letting me transfer the “miles” to airline miles or hotel points, they automatically used my points at a half cent each to partially pay my credit card balance. Yep, they converted nearly 60,000 hard earned “miles” to just short of a paltry $300.
Why was I shut down?
I don’t know. I didn’t use the Venture account in any questionable ways. And I don’t have any other Capital One products. The only Capital One product I’ve ever had was an ING Orange online savings account that was bought by Capital One whereby it became a Capital One 360 account. Years ago (Jan 4, 2015), Capital One forcibly shut down that account too. That time I did do some weird stuff completely by accident and so they shut me down without giving me a chance to explain my error. Fair enough. Today, are they continuing to punish me for my (accidental) sins from 6 years ago? That’s my best guess. That’s my only guess.
What’s next?
I’m not going to try to get my account reopened. If Capital One doesn’t want me as a customer, then I don’t want to be their customer. But I’m not happy about what they did with my rewards. I’m going to push back to see if I can get a different outcome. A half cent per mile is just not okay.
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I had an account closed by capital one during COVID 19. I contacted them for payment assistance. They said they would help by closing my account and I needed to destroy my card and was responsible for each and every payment. I asked if this was how they are helping and she said yes sir it is will there be anything else. I hung up, and suffered with the negative info on my report still today. I reapplied for a card and was told the same as others when denied. On a previous account they witnessed activity not consistent with their expectations for account usage. I have many letters sent and a FTC complaint. They have refused to tell me the account activity that was a problem and now say this phone call never happened according to records they have. So my previous account was closed for reasons unknown and I’m denied credit for the same reason and expected to deal with the harm they have caused to my credit. The sent a statement that the well being of their customers was important. I think it’s important that they smear the customers name while protecting thier name with consumers using any means necessary. They have refused to answer in writing and evaded answering the question every single time. They will not explain the activity they are speaking of. I think it was bullet purchases but I’m also going to say it’s because of a donation I made to a black church and use the racist card for an answer. I thought of that anyway. Looks like we going to court though. I’m not giving up
Thats my best guess, too…Approved you and THEN realized they didnt mean to play nice after all.
Capital one did the same to me, except they said the account was not consistent with their expectations for usage. They are so full of it. I used those cards on a weekly basis for over a year. If I didn’t consistently use them then why do I have a balance of $1200 on one card and $1180 on the other? And had used both cards 3 times each just before you closed them. You and I know darn well why you did that and it’s because of the 1099A that I filed to get my credits owed to me from your Company, and the “Accepted for value” coupon I provided. Since that’s exactly what your statements provide at the bottom part of the statement that says ” tear here”. People incase you don’t know this, the statement is a coupon that you are suppose to endorse correctly and send back as the credit the owe you for taking out a bond under your ss# and trading it. That credit they give you is from your own bond. I know this because i was 15 years inside the trade world and was the person who provide the contracts for these bonds to these Corporations, banks, and Government agencies. Yup, they have been making a killing from your SS# and signature. Read the back of your statement, you will see the word “Coupon”. Now look up the definition of coupon. These greedy Corporations take the coupons you submit with your payment, and they send them to the IRS for credit, which means they get paid twice. DO YOUR HOMEWORK, THEY HAVE BEEN RIPPING US OFF FOR YEARS. THEY ARE THE DEBTORS, NOT US. LOOK UP HJR- 192 PUBLIC LAW 73-10 to start with
I tried using UCC codes just as you’re describing and the same happened to me! Can anything be done to dispute?
Capital are the most backwards company I have ever seen they literally kept 1,7888.00$ of my money and you can never reach anyone unless it’s credit card related.So me and my husband have our own business and customers sometimes pay with checks so I’m usually the one to make the deposits well my step son had got into his account stealing thousands of dollars so we just used my capital one account well I deposited several checks and on accident I had deposited 2 old checks simple mistake.So I called immediately to let them know the error I had made which it didn’t effect me nor capital one,so I’m speaking with the gentleman telling him what’s going I hear cows and chickens and a child screaming I’m the background yes you read thatsright out of nowhere he says well we as capitol one are going to go ahead and just close your account I was like huh for what u serious then he hung up on me. So I read after account is closed you will receive the remaining balance in 10-15 business days.Well I have called and called only to have to leave a voicemail it’s been 2monthes what do I do
Between BOA and Cap1 both are crap banks. My 2 cap one credit cards were just shut down without notice after making a payment to 1 and now I have to wait til tomorrow morning to sort out why. It’s probably because my BOA account took so long getting Cap1 their money something else came out and returned the d*** payment. Smdh.
*returned my first payment I made for the month …I meant
Greg, do u have an update of this issue? Any outcome
I have the same situation as you, the account was suddenly closed yesterday after open for a little over two months. I have met the bonus requirement and total 140k pts were turned to $700. The only business with them is the same as you while back to 7 years ago, their old 360 account similar as yours was closed by them without any explanation. I did not know any reason but do not care much because no big deal.
this time is a huge loss, do you have any suggestion on how to fight for this unfair case?
Greg, do u have an update of this issue? Any outcome
I have the same situation as you, the account was suddenly closed yesterday after open for three months. I have met the bonus requirement and total 140k pts were turned to $700. The only business with them is the same as you while back to 7 years ago, their old 360 account similar as yours was closed by them without any explanation. I did not know any reason but do not care much because no big deal.
I called cap1 and no one can explain the reason and $395 fees can not be refunded though I have not use single penny of those $300 travel credit yet
this time is a huge loss, do you have any suggestion on how to fight for this unfair case?
Ugh sorry to hear that! Your case lends a lot of support to the 360 shutdown theory. I never got anywhere with any escalations unfortunately. Instead I moved on to other opportunities. And when my wife got the 100k bonus for the VentureX I made sure to use all of the points ASAP
Capital one stole my reward points when the closed down ourone account because of inactivity.They said they sent a letter which we definitely didn’t receive. We go online ever day to pay and check our balances as we have other credit cards and savings accounts with them. Why they wouldn’t send a notice or e mail to us online is beyond comprehension. Wasn’t even aware there was an issue till one day we went to sign on and saw the account was closed and still no notification. Called and was told to bad thats just they way we operate and they weren’t kidding. Closing our other accounts and financials as we just don’t trust the many more please beware of their practices. I know whats in my Wallet nothing as they sold our hard earned money.
I explored Cap One’s pre-authorization offer and received an “offer” for only a “secured credit card”!!!!!! I have (and have had) 3 800+ credit ratings. I understand that credit decisions are not solely based of credit scores. However, to receive a secured card offer (which, in substance, is not really a credit card at all) was such an insult that I immediately realized I would never want to do business with that institution in any event–so I haven’t. Your article clearly indicates I made the correct decision.
Greg, Chase did this to me last year, closed my account n took away my earned n bonus points.. without explanation..a year later, I reapplied n was denied no reason given..I was not late on the card.. what can u do?
By mistake I paid Capitol One MasterCard instead of my President Choice MasterCard $4203.09 Oct 19/21. It took 6 phone calls n much of my valuable time to get them to finally return this money to my Scotia Bank Acct which took place Dec 31/21. Each phone call was a promise it would be back in my acct in 5 working days but didn’t say how many 5 working days this would take. Talk about frustration n I’ll never deal with Capitol One ever again
That’s why I never “upgraded” my Capital One Quicksilver 1.5% cash back for the Venture 2x “miles”. Cash back is more tangible than fictitious miles.
Welcome to Capital One. The card company that doesn’t understand what disputing a charge or fraud protection means.
I’ve had a Cap One Venture card for over 10 years. Got it when had 100,000 point matching bonus for little spend. Have some use each year, but not much. Never had any problems. Have 60,000 points in account so am bit nervous now.
I have been in the points and miles game for decades. My wife and I have checking and investment accounts at Cap One. We have had their cards a number of times in the past, but frankly, to me, I don’t see that great a value in them. I can rack up hundreds of thousands of miles via the old Ink Plus and Ink Cash and other Chase cards way faster. Of course I have a ton of other accounts as well which I keep stocked and use. But, Cap One to me is blah. On the other hand, I recommend them to a buddy of mine who has a real AC/Heating company with large spending each month and he loves the card for it’s simplicity. He used the Cap One Spark 2% cash business card. My son own a film production company that does a ton of spending on their Cap One Spark 2% cash business card and their business Venture card product as well. They love it and 3 partners use the points for their personal travel use. So, for big spending real companies, these are good products and very popular. Many businessmen and women simply don’t have the time and energy to mess with anything very complicated.
chase did the exact same thing to me and closed down my 3 cards. i was at least able to cash out all the points/miles and forced them to prorate refund me my annual fee. (they had refused so i filed a CFPB complaint) they refused to tell me the reason for shutdown and the wording of the message was almost word for word. Spoke to their executive communication department and several others and they said they are not required to tell me the reason. the executive communication person wasnt even able to get an answer when she tried to find out. she said she wasnt provided a reason. 1 of the 3 cards i really wanted to keep but the other 2 i could care less about. After they closed my cards, i closed my ira investment account and specifically mentioned their handling of my cards as the reason. their loss, i’m sure they could car less
When a bank closes a credit card account without warning nor explanation, it’s because they believe money laundering is involved. I am a former banker no longer bound to secrecy nonsense.
This crap happens more often than they’ll admit to; it’s easier to dump the customer that make a true determination as to whether money laundering is being done or not.
That’s certainly one reason they shut down accounts, but it definitely wasn’t the reason in this case.
Funny how this card went from top of my list to NEVER apply. Silly of Capitol One to do this to a beloved travel and miles blogger. Thanks for taking one for the team, Greg.
Im glad you are going to push back. I hope they give you specifics.
I’ve been shutdown by Capital One twice. Once over a decade ago, and the second time a year or two ago. When I talked to their executive customer service line, they explained to be why my account in 2019 was shutdown. Their explanation was that they have two separate IT systems and that it took several months for one system to see the ban/shutdown status from the other.
Wow! Sorry to hear it FM! Sounds like you had bad blood.
You don’t say what a fair resolution would be. If I were you, I’d ask for at least 1 cpp (USB did something similar to me) and the rest of the bonus under the benefit of the bargain. So $800. As others said, Cfpb/Ceo, Arb, and/or SCC are your friends. https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28243997-post117.html https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/in9m7b/guide_to_arbitration/
CapOne is not at all a good bank, without substantial bonuses nobody would bank there.
I bank there even though I don’t like them, because of their no-FTF debit card. I only keep enough on deposit to cover a trip to Europe, though.
The account is easier to set up than Schwab’s.
Greg, the exact same thing happened to me. Some years ago, I had a Capital One 360 account and one day added a couple external accounts for ACH. They didn’t like that (seems so innocuous?) and shut down all my accounts with them. I decided to try last year to re-establish a relationship by opening a Venture card. I was approved, then my card was cancelled a month or so later (unfortunately I didn’t hit the bonus yet, ugh). Seems once they ban you, they ban for life, even though they will still approve you for cards. For anyone in our hobby, I don’t think it’s worth the risk to have a checking account with them. There’s no telling what will set them off.
So weird. If they hadn’t bought ING way back when, this would never have happened.
[…] Capital One shut down my account and gave me only a half cent per mile by FM. […]
I think Capital pedals to the consumer that does not pay their bill every month. That is the message I get from their commercials. You paid your bills each month. Therefore, they do not want your type, or mine.
Here’s the thing though, he had just gotten the card a couple of months ago. It seems strange to me that this would be that quick of a business decision that Greg is unprofitable. Seems more likely it is connected to his savings account issue.
Thanks for sharing. I hope you file with CFPB as we all should if/when this happens. Applied in the past with 800+ FICO, always denied. Starting thinking about it again, but not anymore. Makes me think of Verizon and a list of other companies I’ll never do business with again…
Cap1 is sub prime. Everyone should know that. You paid off every statement and were likely on track for 100k points. They dug up your file and killed you. Don’t deal with those peasants.
[…] applied them against his existing balance at a half cent per mile; half of their published value. You can read all the gory details in this post, because the aggrieved cardholder is Greg Davis-Kean, founder of […]
Crapital One makes the Amex RAT team look like angels.
At least with AMEX you know the rules upfront. Folks who get burned by RAT usually are doing something at minimum on the fringes of acceptable and at worst blatant abuse of the system.
If you can file online I would send a complaint to your state attorney general and the one in the state Capital One has an HQ. CFPB first.
You are not a fighter on this clearly. I suggest a formal complaint to CFPB on this. If they are shutting your account you should get full value of those points. Dont just walk away! You did legitimate charges, you paid the bills in full. They have the right to close you down, but not devalue your 60K points to $300.00. If CFPB shut you down you could file a small claims case against them and also recover court costs. I know you wont mess with that. do CFPB. They will pay it.
Why do you think I’m not fighting this? At the end of the post, I wrote ” I’m going to push back to see if I can get a different outcome. A half cent per mile is just not okay.” So far, I’ve tried escalating through phone calls (no luck there), and have submitted a complaint through the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. If that doesn’t help, I’ll look into other options.
That was my mistake. The reason they do this is a sort of bully tactic (typical of Chase BTW) Its for something like this that I think there should be federal regulation. Even if they didnt want you they should have paid out 1.cent point. Capital One is one of the weirdest card companies. On one hand, they have huge 2% cashback business credit cards. Then they have the Venture cards targeted to A credit from what I can see. Then they have subprime sky high cards. I htink those cards carry much lower limits so they make a fortune and limit their exposure. In the past I found Barclay very picky about multiple cards and I still think US bank is also conservative like that.
Someone probably caught up to the blog. They do track this, not saying its right at all, just that your name is out there. I actually thought this site gave them a fair shake though. Consider, other then signup bonus and some weird transfer partners (others for cap one dont give full credit to points), really what does this offer? 2% back that has to be used on travel redemptions? Wells fargo, Citi, fidelity, and many others will do that for no annual fee (albeit with reduced sign on).
Not sure I could get to $20K on one card without some odd-looking charges. Wonder what caught their attention (if not this blog)?
C1 is nuts
Sounds like you got 6% back on 5k spend. Too bad it cost a hard pull. It’s bizarre because from CapOne’s perspective they just locked in a loss (assuming they make 2.5% average on interchange, and ignoring fix costs), their marginal profit is $125 – $300 statement credit – ~$2 card and mailing costs = -$177… they should have waited until you had spent $19k to make a profit of $475 – $440 statement credit – $2 card cost = $32.
Now that’s what the RAT at Amex would do…cut you loose after 19K of spend
If you ask me the unusual activity was not buying any gift cards lol.
LOL!
Definitely not applying with that bank. I think the takeaway for existing cardholders is to transfer out the “miles” immediately.
This is such disappointing news, and I feel for ya.
I applied for this card a year and a half ago and, despite maintaining an excellent credit rating, was not approved. I called. Asked why. Got no explanation.
After reading about your earlier success, I considered trying again for this card. Now I have absolutely no interest. I use my cards for organic spend only. Never MS or anything even remotely sketchy. After reading this, I think I’m just gonna leave Cap One alone. What they did with your account seems unethical to me, and I don’t want to take the chance that they might do the same if I got one of their cards. I simply don’t think they can be trusted.
” Capital One has observed activity on a past or present Capital One account that is not consistent with the bank’s expectations for account activity. ”
You must have paid your bill in full and on time every month.
Cap One hates that.
Seriously though… this really sucks and I’m really sorry it happened to you.
Yet still nobody believes me when I say Chase closed all my accounts and all my wife’s accounts with the only “off the record” explanation was to do with our points.
Based on that, it seems earning points on my wife’s cards and redeeming them on my sapphire was the problem, I had no activity on my cards, wife had all the multiplier cards. No gift card activity for at least 6 months prior, even then, less than $1k a month.
I believe you. 4 members of our family Churn Team—including my wife and I—got canceled without warning last Fall during what I unaffectionately call “The Purge”. Zero explanation from Chase. No chance of reinstatement.
We never even churned, two of my wife’s cards were 20+ years old. The only thing we canceled was our 12 year old Disney cards and that was three years ago. All our cards were keepers.
Fortunately, Amex has been great to us since the Chase cancellation. I quit MS a long time ago anyway so it was actually a net positive at this point.
Capital One screwing over their potential/existing customers…what is this world coming to??? One more reason to avoid them entirely. You guys have been trumpeting how great their revamped points program is, however I remain unconvinced given the difficulty in getting approved, mediocre sign up bonuses (100k for $20k is ok, look at their other current offerings), bizarre issuer actions like above (or dropping cardholders spend limits dramatically, without warning and for no apparent reason), plus I still think the Wyndham/Vacasa transfer option is a niche win at best. Maybe if they increased the rest of their transfer partners to 1:1 and started offering better bonuses I’d give them another look, but your experience with them (and my own) makes me apprehensive it’s worth the effort.
I guess color me fortunate that I at least got in and out of their bank bonus with no scars. Esp that I have the Venture that is about 10 years old and gets no attention. So perhaps I should scrap that second time applying for the Savor. Since they already turned me down once.
It’s well-known that this happens with Cap1. They’ll give you a card and then close you in a few weeks to a few months if there is any history of previous bad relationship. So hammer it hard to meet spend right away. They give bonuses as promised, but you need to cash out quick before the inevitable shutdown.
I think a midlevel executive at the bank should fix this. You have the ability to influence credit decisions for thousands (tens of thousands?) of people, and they should have you in their camp, not outside of it, steaming.
Your suggestion is coming from a good place, I know, but FrequentMiler doesn’t operate like that. In a way, it would be currying favor with Capital One, and could be construed as bias on a blog that has a reputation for independent content.
He could talk with a manager, sure, but not imply any threat of retaliation.
I read through the comments and I’m not tracking with everyone. The banks are all trying to make a profit (albeit at our expense!) and we’re operating several standard deviations outside their profit zone. We almost always cost them money. Would any of you running a business want any of us as customers? I’m consistently amazed that the banks let me sign up for all these cards and I don’t plan to stop (I say this having just flown my whole family first class from Orlando to Hawaii yesterday with points so I’m in the game)
which business expects 100% of their customers to be profitable? that’s simply not realistic.
Yes we are profitable if we continue to use the cards post bonus and sometimes even with the bonus. How much do you think cap1 pays, say, American, per mile? Do you know how much cap1 charges merchants who accept the card? There are sound financial reasons the rule isn’t “you already have 2 cc so we won’t give you another. “
Meh, you’re fooling yourself if you think any meaningful percentage of us are profitable for them. Unless there is some benefit to us to keeping a card longer the very great majority of us cancel after a year. If you find an exception that just proves the rule. The point is, these companies sign up people in mass quantities knowing that enough of the people are not like us and don’t pay off their cards each month, don’t get multiple sign up bonuses per year, don’t sock drawer or cancel the card once it’s no longer as profitable to us, etc. I feel incredibly fortunate that I get to continue to operate on the margins and take my family on trips of a lifetime every year…I have never once fooled myself into thinking that they are making a profit off of me. They aren’t. And I’m OK with that.
they are profitable from churners because those churners tell others about the cards, and those people, most people, hold onto cards. Generally these cards have some reason to hold onto them (cash back, good earnings on where you spend, etc.)
C1 makes the rules. Greg complies with the rules. C1 screws Greg.
Explain.
Their Bat and Ball !!!
It’s fine if they turn my application down. It’s fine if they close my account IF I can transfer out the points. They can ban me. But it is not OK to simply steal Greg’s points and then cash them out for a pittance.
Michael
Most wise person, U could have an AbbyNormal brain like I do. I did this in the1980’s but the kid(25) next store bt a new house next store then took 8 people to Hawaii for TWO weeks on points . He was working for P&G selling to Walmart not Rich yet but I’m sure today .
CHEERs
The most interesting part of this post is that its getting negative votes.. I just don’t get that. Michael is on our side. He just understands the realities of the game.
I was seriously considering the Cap One Business card and then the personal one at the end of the year … not now. I just looked up and see I had a Cap One card many years ago and I did buy something from Simon Mall … so I will not bother with them now. This looks even worse than AMEX.
Chase is much safer, so they get the bulk of my spending.
Cap1’s gonna be Cap1.
I think FM readers should cancel all their Cap1 cards and accounts immediately, in solidarity with Greg.
I’m sorry Greg, that’s absurd! Another reason I would never do business with bottom of the barrel banks like Capital One.
One more reason not to mess with CrapitalOne…
I think it’s time we all make sure to spread the word about Greg’s experience. It will be on my blog by this time tomorrow. I have never been a Capital One fan for many reasons. Now you can take that remaining $14k you were going to put on this card and allocate it to four other cards, collecting at least 400k miscellaneous points in the process!
Seems like exactly what Cap1 wants… spread the word to non-profitable potential customers that it’s not worth applying for cap1 products.
What’s in your wallet?
Not Capital One!
I really liked ING and had a good sum there. When Cap1 took over I could quickly see things were going downhill. I moved out all funds, I got one credit card from them and didn’t know at the time that they did multiple pulls. Later I closed that account and haven’t looked back.
I agree. In days past when they paid higher interest than other banks I had opened ING and Emigrant Direct accounts. Eventually I closed the ING/Cap One account when they got bought out. ED is also almost empty as well since banks like Marcus or even Amex pays as much interest.
I won’t do business with Capital One. They are the worst “bank” ever. I’ve had nothing but terrible experiences both with credit cards and checking, even in the branch. I still don’t know how they are in business.
How does this appear on your credit report?
Account closed at credit grantors request
Not Good !! ur FICO ?
@ Greg — How long had the rewards been sitting in your account? It sounds like you had earned 50k for $3k spend. It would be nice to know for those of us working on that same bonus, as it may be wise to transfer them out immediately. Did you ever have a chance to do so between them posting and your account being locked?
My question too, Greg. Do you think we should preemptively transfer all points out as soon as they’re earned, especially from a SUB?
If you’re scared that this will happen to you then yes. Unfortunately that approach takes away the best feature of transferable point programs: the ability to get the type of points you need when you need them
I’m not sure how long ago I got the 50k bonus. I’d guess that I probably had a few weeks to transfer the points out before the shutdown if only I had known
Hi Greg, I am wondering if your claim with CFPB resulted in a less negative outcome ? Thanks.
No it didn’t help at all
I applied, got approved, got my card, got immediately restricted, have called 3 times to understand why, been asked to resubmit supporting documents each time, still restricted over a month later and frankly over it. Never had an issue with Chase, Amex or Citi.
Exactly the same thing happened to me. After providing the supporting documents, was told there was an “issue” with my phone number and it was suggested that I get a new one! I just cancelled instead and will never do business with Cap1 again. Total waste of time and effort and a 5/24 slot.
The same thing happened last year to P2 for a Cap1 biz card. He already had a personal Venture, checking acct & savings acct. He got approved, got the card, and Cap1 froze everything. It took weeks to get someone to tell him what was going on. They wanted supporting business documents. Then it took more weeks. They finally lifted the freeze 2 weeks before the 3 month SUB deadline. Luckily, our son was putting a new roof on his house. We met the min spend with his roof. I made sure to spend all the points. He closed the Venture card already. As soon as the AF posts any day now, he’ll close the biz card, checking and savings accounts. Good riddance, Cap1!!!
Awful this happened to you. Worst part of this to me isn’t just the theft of hard-earned points, but the brazen fact they don’t seem to think they owe you the customer any explanation, any evidence, just the firing squad. Have seen this more and more with ‘merikin corporate behavior in recent years, the attitude that they can be prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner, and we the customers have no rights to know anything that prompted such draconian behavior.
I still have two largely sock drawer’d accounts with Cap1. Am inclined to inquire with them to see if they will admit this is standard corporate practice, that they can shut me down at the slightest whim, or accusation, and I will have no recourse.
It’s making me think I should shut down my cap1 acct. before they screw me over too.
Every card company has language that says they can do as they wish whenever. I wonder if there will be some regulation on these programs. They are so big and huge money is involved.
Maybe so….. (and of course, few if any actually read, much less comprehend, those hundreds of lawyer written paragraphs, thousands of lines)… Then again, one of the most egregious supreme court decision in US history declared that corporations are people (sic), soooo maybe, just maybe, we can shame them (like the “people” they hide behind) before the courts of public opinion….. and then listen to ’em call up their media pals to change the subject, to shriek “socialism” and all that. Here’s to shining light in the darkness. 🙂
If I were Cap1 I’d be worried. Greg is going to go full Michael Corleone on them. Of course Greg will “renounce Satan and all his works.”
Piano wire will be involved.
Now you know why CapOne can offer so much better points bonuses than they used to. 60k in spend isn’t 1x for airline miles it’s 1/2 cent cashback, nice. Seriously though how stupid could they be. I was “almost” getting tired of all the blog conversation about how CapOne is the new game in town and how much better than are. I bet dozens if not hundreds of listeners pulled the trigger and got a card with them. So silly on their part. I recently had a similar experience with Commerce Bank. I had an MLB rewards card with them from the mid-1990s that I didn’t use much but some and they just shut it down one day and wouldn’t even think of re-considering it.
Easy. They linked your current account to the reason they shut you down before. They don’t want you as a customer. The approval for the CC may have slipped through the cracks but they figured it out.
After 10 years as in Don’t they read his Posts ??
Nope. And I think some of the impressions that a blogger has special privileges is way overplayed.
A CFPB complaint will definitely get their attention. Thy might tell you to pound sand but it only takes about 10 minutes and its all online.
I agree with you 100%. He will get full value of the points.
I think you are over confident in the power of the CFPB. I know plenty of folks who were closed by other banks who were basically told to pound sand by the bank after filing a CFPB complaint. While not guaranteed arbitration or small claims courts are more likely to be successful. Basically, you have to incentivize them to buy you off.
First. Each case is different. You won’t find a tougher fighter than me. I used CFPB to bat 1000 2-2. Years ago I busted Chase. I play it all 100% straight. No MS nothing no games, no giftcards, And I fight nonstop. State attorney generals, you name it. So I never had to go to court. And also I was able to exert tremendous force on Chase at the time via the NY state atty general. And I live in Florida. I can’t vouch for what other people did that you know, or in fact what they really did. Because I have been in miles and points 25+ years and sometimes there is far more to the story. This case here is crystal clear. Its a clear devaluation to a customer they don’t know is willing to fight. Also Ill throw in something else. CFPB might be getting sharp teeth again. That does happen from time to time.
I would even contact the office of Elizabeth Warren. Claiming this could be widespread. What does it cost. An email or a .50 stamp.
Does Cap1 know who you are? (Hands on hips with a “listen young man” look)? Seriously they are Messing with the wrong hambre. None of this makes sense. I have spark card. Wife has venture one. Mom has new venture card. No problems. Poor PR.
Hambre means “hunger”
Perhaps he was thinking of jamón…?
😀
Wow that sucks, Greg! $300? Yuck. I am sorry for you.
Synchrony Bank shut my card down and sent me a similar nasty gram saying they didn’t want to hear back from me ever again. I had a weird experience too in that I got this letter about 30 days after I received the card, but never even activated the card. They may not have appreciated that.
Comenity once closed my account immediately for paying it days before the 0% APR expired haha
XD
I read this initially through feedly and 100% thought it was a Miles Per Day post until I saw the letter.
I had a capital one card back in 2011 that may still be open, but I don’t think I’ll ever open another one. Their business practices are not consistent with my expectations of how a bank should operate.
Good luck in small claims court!
What a frustrating experience! Thanks for the warning about Capital One. It sounds very time consuming to pursue any of those remedies, so I’d say the smarter course of action would be to preserve your valuable time for something else. I wish some other bloggers would stop promoting those cards! My husband received a “pre-approval” mailer for a card several years ago, and even though our bank account was with the bank with a sizable balance, he was denied, while routinely approved with other banks.
Nice, I also had the ING Orange account years ago, and had missed that Capital One purchased them, until I opened a checking/savings/definitely not credit card account only to find that I already had an account configured for ACH. Naturally my paranoid brain thought something was amiss, so I contacted them and they explained it had been sitting there all these years. And they being who they are won’t let me remove it (you apparently have to have one). I promptly changed it to an account that never holds a balance, so at least it cannot do any damage so the next time I forget that they require one, at least it won’t provide access to other funds…
The bank’s “expectations” for account activity may be they wanted you to carry a balance and pay them interest? Cap one doesn’t seem to want high credit score customers that pay their bill in full.
Actually, if I recall correctly, Greg mentioned that there was a question to that effect during the applications process (“Do you expect to carry a balance?”, or something similar). If Greg answered Yes and in the event did not actually carry a balance I wonder if that would be “activity on a past or present Capital One account that is not consistent with the bank’s expectations for account activity.”
Absolutely not.
Good riddance. I was sick of all the Capital One posts. It’s a garbage bank.
All big banks are garbage. Why do you think our economy and the stock market are so volatile? Did you see what Wells Fargo did today?
Banks extending credit in many forms is why the economy and stock market have been so prosperous for many lately. The median income for a household is 61K compared to 27K€ in western Europe. I don’t like so of the moves banks make, however, they are the life blood of the economy. Without big banks, we’d all be worse off. Little banks can easily fail and not have the multiple diverse revenue streams to stay afloat.
The lifeblood? More like the opium. Especially the Fed
Nope I had 4 mortgages from the same bank, Very Nice (Fr.) to me. U have to know how the Other person Thinks before u do a Deal. Very Happy @ BMO like 30 years.
Them Banks is how I can travel now..
I’ll bet you can’t wait for that Cap1 premium card!
Also, quick question: what card(s) gives you: 5x for dining and 8x at gas stations?
Wyndham Business Earner gives 8x gas. 5x dining could be Citi Prestige, Citi Custom Cash, or it could be any of the rotating 5xers in the appropriate quarter.
Cap1 did the same to me years ago. Shut down my credit cards for no reason and no warning. I suspect it’s because I stopped using them after getting the signup bonus. They had no rewards and no balance so no big deal. I have no interest in any of their products anyway.
Wow. I was considering this card but I think this is a warning sign I will heed. File a complaint with the CFPB about the closure, specifically noting that Capitol One cash your points out for less than the terms of the card provided for. I don’t know if CFPB will investigate but if they aren’t aware of behavior, they definitely won’t investigate.
I did this recently and they just acknowledged my complaint and said they do not do anything beyond keeping it in a database for anyone to see.
“Capitol One cash your points out for less than the terms of the card provided for”
The “miles” are worth $0.005 each when treated as a cash statement credit. The issue is whether the contract allows Greg to use the “miles” differently after the account closure or if the contract grants Capital One the authority over the “miles” at that point.
I’d buy this if they were proudly proclaiming the $0.005 rate in their ads. But they’re not.
Small claims court is your friend. Works every time when banks do stuff like this.
Mark is 100% correct. File a claim in small claims court. Also contact your state AG’s office. I also can’t believe that Capital One shut down your prior account for a mistake, that’s absurd.
It works most of the time maybe? I know at least one case in small claims court against a bank (not Cap1) to recover lost points post closure and the judge ruled for the bank and yes the bank sent a lawyer. YMMV as always.
I also had a high-interest ING Orange online savings account that was bought by Capital One in 2012. A couple years ago, I noticed the current interest rate Capital One was paying on that account was 0.6%, while Capital One was paying 1.8% on their equivalent featured high-interest online account. My fault for not following the new rate, but that enlightened me about Capital One’s ethics.
This. I had the same thing happen. Only noticed I’d been getting the pauper rate for years when I opened a new savings account with them for my teenage daughter.
Yeesh.
You’re probably well aware of this, but there’s a bill pending in the the NYS lower house (already passed the State Senate) to guarantee a 90 grace period to use points if a credit card account is shut down. It’s not law yet and wouldn’t help a Michigander anyway but if Michigan has consumer-friendly bank regulators that might be a point of leverage in any discussions you have.
Larry – I’ve been following this bill closely, and as I’ve written to the bill sponsor, there is a loop hole the size of the Grand Canyon in there wherein the issuer can claim improper activity and not give you the grace period. I suggested there should be some standard or standard of proof of gaming, etc (but of course received no reply).
You probably spoke poorly of them on your blog. Youre lucky they gave you anything.
Let’s dogpile on Steve, like lemmings.
Steve
Good post but ur not WOKE Sorry Sir . I tried to get this card like FIVE x’s with a 820 FICO no way as I have had No hotel points for years. FM has cost the CC company’s Zillions $$$ so I would have canceled EVERYONE with his last name .
Good Luck posting but Don’t unless u like Crying Babies..
CHEERs
Let’s hope I can do better then -66 ..