Financial Folderol
Posted Thu, 05/29/08
Is there a bank in the United States that does this?
I have yet to hear of an American bank that does such a thing, but I’d be glad to know about it.
Speaking of finances, I had a roundabout with Capitol One yesterday afternoon, wasting about an hour-and-a half of my time on the telephone. To make a long story short as much as I'm able, I cancelled all of my Capitol One accounts last November when I paid them off. Lo and behold, a charge of $29.25 appeared on an e-mail statement I received yesterday, some six months following the account closures. I never received mailings from Capitol One after the closings, including any statements – electronic or otherwise - until yesterday.
After being transferred and having to repeat my information four times (the second "customer service" representative happened to be a rude, insufferable bitch), I was finally told the charge was the yearly fee Capitol One expenses for all of their credit card accounts. Is it any wonder I cancelled all of my cards with them?
How could I possibly be charged a yearly fee when the account was paid off and closed six months ago? I was able to reach a sane person at the end, who kindly apologized for the "clerical" error and assured me the matter would be taken care of.
I wonder how may poor, unsuspecting souls pay the Capitol One fee after an account is closed for fear their credit rating will be besmirched? I was so irritated by the runaround and the intolerable attitude of the second customer service "specialist" that I was prepared to take it to the bitter end, to supervisors and the like, to get the matter resolved.
Thankfully I was finally able to reach someone who does what they are paid to do and I didn't have to go the full intended gamut.
Word of advice: The famous Capitol One logo "what's in your wallet?" really means What can you put in our wallet just for the hell of it?