     anonymous (Zcraws) | Wednesday, August 16, 2000 - 02:05 pm 
I am currently in the process of trying to negotiate a debt with Capital One. A little history, this account was a secured account with a $200.00 secured deposit. I became ill and bedridden, thus becoming delinquent on a number accounts. After months of futile attempts to make payments on this account, (the o/l and past due fees, overrode the $20.00 payments I was making)I let it charge off. My last payment was 1/98. The ending balance is $1175.00. UNBELIEVABLE!!
I wrote Capital One Collections and offered $500.00 to settle and explained the reason for the delinquency. I told them I thought $500.00 for a $200.00 card was very fair. They responded with a payment of $500.00 but a "paid by settlement" with a rating of r9. Did they think I was crazy? So I wrote them again..and told them again explaining the reason for delinquency and advising them that there are no laws that point to the issue of changing, removing a debt. The reply I received in the mail today read:
"We are unable to ALTER the original settlement offer" because "a review of the rating on your account and the circumstances which led to your delinqency shows to OUR satisfaction that we have conformed with the requirements of the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. As a result, we are unable to change your rating."
What are they talking about?
What should my next step be?
I was thinking maybe offering the $500.00 with a confidentially clause, but I do not know how to word a letter. I am not talking to these people, they INSIST on having my telephone number. But I will only correspond in writing. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Thursday, August 24, 2000 - 06:55 pm
I don't know what you can/should do. Sounds like you've really tried, and Capital One just won't budge.
I don't know of any legal rights for you other than to pay them.
It really disgusts me TREMENDOUSLY that a $200 debt can legally go to $1,175 in less than 2 years. I can't even imagine how that happened.
I'm sorry I don't have a magic solution, not even any suggestions ...
Would love to see on the web the Capitol One accounting itemizing each charge from the day you became delinquent. It won't help YOU, but it might keep some people like you from getting a Capitol One credit card. |
| Shylock (Shylock) | Friday, August 25, 2000 - 03:37 am
Well, I did some calculations of my own assuming:
$200 initial debt
$29 late fee
23.99% interest
and after 24 months I came up with the amount owed as being ... $1,168.61 so it certainly is possible.
I don't have any magical solutions. Do you think it's likely that they'll sue you for it? If they will sue, you should definitely settle it for $500 and if they won't then you should definitely give them nothing... where's my crystal ball? |
| Michael Bardelli (Bull22) | Friday, August 25, 2000 - 07:44 am
Read my thread in the credit card section titled "Avoid Capitalone Like the plague" They practice deceptive advertising to lure people into attractive offers that you must have a VERY high credit score to be able to obtain. Once you apply, they hit you not only with the inquiry but a higher interest rate than that which is in the offer. Stay away from them!!!
Mike |
| Zachary1 (Drcredit) | Saturday, August 26, 2000 - 07:17 am
If you are reading this from Canada, all of the above doesn't apply, IMO. Capital One gives out an intro of 6.9% for 6 months, then 17.9% has been level solid for 4 years. Everybody I talked to have had especially good experiences with them, and even people with not-so-good credit have had their platinum credit card offering with permanent APR of 7.9%.
They have stricter laws here about the above-mentioned bait-and-switch tactics. |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Sunday, August 27, 2000 - 06:00 am
Shylock, if a consumer does nothing, will the account stay open and have those late charges added indefinitely?
Should the consumer close the account ASAP and will that lower the total? |
| Shylock (Shylock) | Sunday, August 27, 2000 - 10:14 am
Well let's "take a look around" and see what we can do a) To prevent this and b) To cure this type of a situation.
Prevention:
Scenario 1: Perhaps Zcraws did have the money available but because he was bedridden he wasn't able to write and mail the checks to get the money out. The solution? A bill payment service. That way no matter WHAT happens to you personally those checks get sent.
Scenario 2: Ahh, but what if he didn't HAVE the money? Well, you should keep enough cash on hand between your checking account and your overdraft protection to cover any emergencies. Some experts recommend keeping 3 months worth of cash on hand. Another option is insurance -- like the insurance most cards offer in case of involuntary unemployment, etc. The problem with the insurance that the cards offer is that the rates they charge are outrageous compared to what you can get in the public market.
The Cure:
Your best bet, in this circumstance, would be to contact the credit card issuer and tell them you'd like to close the account, cash out the security CD and have that money considered to be a PAYMENT on your account. Now there's no guarantee they'll agree to this, but if they do your account is no longer delinquent (no more late fees) and (hopefully) no longer overlimit.
Do they refuse? Try getting CCCS involved and have them negotiate a payment schedule for you that is free of overlimit and late fees. I should emphasize that CCCS should be considered a last resort.
Your other options are charge off and/or bankruptcy. |
| Senator (Senator) | Sunday, August 27, 2000 - 11:27 am
Let's get real. You need one year of cash to cover emergency situations if you are laid off, fired, re-orged, trashed as you most likely experience over a lifetime. Illness also. We have been cautioned to have 3 to 6 months but I speak from personal experience that it isn't enough. Again, start socking it away in 401ks or whatever but sock it away, pay yourself first. Then pay the bills, choose the ones to allocate for more than the minimum but emergencies are getting longer and longer; it takes a while to find a decent job. Really try and live on a strict budget. It is hard but it can save grief a lot later.
Do a search here on the CCS--don't do them. Contact the company, get creative and offer them an incentive to get it paid. Tell them they get paid if they won't verify. that is the trade off. No get paid if verification occurs. they don't care --all they want is the money. get any promise s or negotiations by either party written and on paper. go for it. you have nothing to lose. don't talk with them. write and fax them. they all lie. |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Sunday, August 27, 2000 - 12:26 pm
I agree with Senator. There's only ONE little problem for a LOT of people: To put money away, you gotta have something to take it away from.
I was basically wondering if sending a fax with the message: "please close my account immediately" will be the end of FEES and what Zcraw's total would be if he had done so. |
| Shylock (Shylock) | Sunday, August 27, 2000 - 12:29 pm
I don't see why they would stop levying fees just because he closed the account. He still owes money, he still isn't paying it in a timely manner and probably he is still over the limit. Chances are excellent that they'll continue to accrue as much as they can for as long as they can and they'll eventually issue a 1099C to the IRS with his SS# on it. |
| anonymous (Zcraws) | Sunday, August 27, 2000 - 01:15 pm
Oh yeah, in my post dated 8/16/00. I left out one small detail. A couple of months into the account being delinquent, I could see that I was getting in TOO deep. So I did ask Capital One to apply the $200.00 security deposit. In writing and in several of their collection calls.
IT WASN'T APPLIED UNTIL 8 MONTHS LATER. So the balance of $1175.00 is even AFTER the application of the security deposit. |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Sunday, August 27, 2000 - 02:19 pm
Something isn't right there. When I get back I'm gonna do some research on this. Something reeks!
If what Capital One did here isn't illegal, it should be.
I think Zcraws should dispute the debt and request an ITEMIZED statement of all charges since the first delinquency. |
| Scott (Scott) | Monday, August 28, 2000 - 03:19 pm
That can't be legal. Zcraws - get a lawyer. |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Saturday, September 16, 2000 - 04:57 pm
So, what happened? The settlement attempt in the other thread didn't work out, or did it? |
| anonymous (Zcraws) | Saturday, September 16, 2000 - 05:07 pm
No it didn't. Capital One will not negotiate a credit rating change at ALL. BUT they say they'll take the $500.00 though... |
| Christine Baker (Admin) | Sunday, September 17, 2000 - 12:34 am
So I still suggest "I think Zcraws should dispute the debt and request an ITEMIZED statement of all charges since the first delinquency."
I would dispute the amount owed with Capitol One and copy the the CRAs. |
