When banks go wrong part 3

Call it harassment

There comes a time when you just really have to shake your head at what you either have to call: stupidity, dumb, stubbornness, or simply refusing to face the facts.  Here is some history:  Back in January of 2006, Capital One Bank actually failed to acknowledge a minimum payment due of $61.00 on one account, capitalized on their failure to acknowledge such a payment and for the next four plus years, “created debt” on this account.  Oh yes, they received sufficient payments to satisfy the original credit line of this account and refused to acknowledge that they received this amount of money.  So they hold this account for about a year after they had received the final payment and proceeded to charge around $200.00 more in interest and sent it out as “delinquent debt.”  Of course I sent the “debt” back to the Richmond, Virginia office in question. Because of sloppy bookkeeping they were not owed a debt “past due” or otherwise.  Sometime later, this same bank sends out a “debt collection notice” from their Salt Lake City, Utah office in an envelop addressed from their Richmond, Virginia office.  For anyone who is interested, the Fair Credit Billing Act of 1999 is supposed to inform banks such as Capital One that if the bank is questioned about a payment or billing error; and indeed it is proven that one exists, the bank  has 45 days in which to correct the matter.  For if that proven error is not corrected, then it must be written off.  Capital One spent better than four years not writing off their billing and payment error, tried to collect on their billing and payment error, and now in the year of 2010, would still like to collect on it.  However, after all of this time, it is a violation of the law.  And sending out collection notices with case numbers becomes a violation of another law:  that of harassment.

What’s in your wallet?

On yet another account, Capital One Bank basically committed fraud by deciding that payments meant for two different accounts proceeded to make a lump sum payment into one account.  And proceeded to continue to do so for around three months.  They chose to ignore written directives.  They chose to never correct the matter.  And also spent more than four years trying to capitalize on their billing and payment errors.  In 2010, they had certainly received enough money to satisfy the account.  However, they held it a few months, charged further interest out on it and sent it out as “delinquent debt.”  Of course, it was sent to their North Carolina office with an explanation of why no debt was owed on this account. Owing to the bank’s track record of not servicing debt payments correctly.

You see all the ads?  The barbarians who can visit the Grand Canyon with a Capital One card?  The Venture Card in which people aren’t charged for their miles?  Now, how about re-reading all of the above.  The ads serve as an enticement.  To encourage the latest sucker to sign on to their card, and then potentially getting the sort of treatment from this same bank as I am describing here.  Shouldn’t a bank honor its own ads?  Shouldn’t a bank be unwilling to mistreat its costumers if it wants their business?  Just as importantly, shouldn’t a bank honor the laws?  Capital One Bank has no interest in doing so.

Which would certainly argue that the bank’s ads are not in sync with their actual practices.

Should a bank encourage bankruptcy?  If it “settles” the debt it created through illegal practices to $600.00 and then presents a 1099 of same to the IRS (maybe my readers should send a link of this post to the IRS and actually ask them about it—can a bank do all of what was described above, creating the conditions for bankruptcy, and having used quite fraudulent measures to arrive at this point, actually be able to send a legitimate 1099 to this particular agency?)  It would be interesting as to the response.

But of course, this is the same sort of form letter that they have sent out any number of times.  As though this bank doesn’t seem to realize that bankruptcy really wouldn’t be possible until the credit card debt was paid.  The law that the GOP passed back around 2005 that favored banks such as Capital One.  And of course, Capital One Bank has worked with due diligence to prevent the full payment of credit card debt as described above.  If they can keep “adding debt” or “creating debt” by means of the practices described on this post, then the “debt” can never be “paid off” as rather abruptly, their company policies would come into play.  Company polices of this particular bank that are contrary to consumer protection laws.  So, under the circumstances; we now have a bankruptcy reform law that Capital One has capitalized on, and on the other hand, a customer protection law such as the Fair Credit Billing Act which this bank has simply ignored.  The problem is, this is a law.  In trying to capitalize on the one, you do not violate the other.  Especially, if you are a bank that wishes to be accredited.

If the bank’s billing and payments staff (Richmond, Virginia and City of Industry, California) had done their jobs right, why would I need to discuss this in a public blog?  I would have no need to.  If they had done their jobs right; they couldn’t claim a “delinquent debt” of some $3,000.00 on one account and almost $7,000.00 on another.  In each case, both were the consequences of billing errors, payment errors, and the refusal of the bank to correct this in a timely manner.  When the bank makes this kind of mess, no they do not foist such a mess onto the customer, as it is for them to correct.

Check your billing statement.  It is because of the bad practices of banks like Capital One that changes in credit card laws were passed into law by 2009 and implemented in phases from September of 2009 through February of 2010.  So, hopefully this blog post will provide some help to other people who are contending with banks that absolutely do not care about their customers, especially when it comes to treating them right.  Capital One:  What’s not in my wallet!