If you have been a long time Capital One High-Yield Savings account holder, be aware, your balances may be on their way to your friendly local state agency.
Here's my story.
I use my account actively...making 6-7 transfers IN and 1-2 transfers out per month. Last week, I scheduled a transfer OUT of a little over $5K to bring my balance down to $0. Last night I scheduled 5 transfers into my account with no problems. The only concern that I had was that I couldn't see any of my pending transfers in the Pending Transfer tab. I also found no history of my past transfers in the Transfer History tab. Very strange, but I figured it was probably a midnight maintenance sort of thing or a bug in the new user interface... I figured I'd just call them in the morning and find out what happened.
This morning the $5K transfer should have been completed, but the balance on my target account hadn't changed. WTF? Still no history, no pending transfers. I call them up and they tell me that as of the 15th, my account was closed because it had been "dormant" and that the balance of my account has been forwarded to my state's Unclaimed Property department.
Huh...? Why wouldn't it be sent to me directly? What happened to the various transfers in and out of the account...why would it allow me to schedule them without a complaint if my account truly had been closed on the 15th?
Edit: It appears that the new interface is a bit less tolerant of $0 balances and aggressively closes these accounts. Whenever your balance is at 0 for 72 hours, the account will be closed, and the UI will no longer list your CapitalOne account information. Your account number, transfer history, everything will be gone. I'm still wondering where my $5K is. Still holding out hope that it'll show up in my Dime Bank account where it was originally destined.
Edit #2: As of 9/28/06, my $5K transfer to Dime has arrived, but I still haven't seen the funds from my other accounts yet. Funds totaling $130 disappeared from four account three days ago an until today, haven't yet arrived in my account. I have no doubt that it'll eventually arrive, but it's just a painfully long wait -- more akin to the HSBC lag times -- when compared to the quick system used previously. Fund used to disappear from external accounts and show as credits in my CapOne account simultaneously. Now we have the 3-day disappearance B.S. to deal with. *sigh*
I also talked to CSRs this morning and managed to get my account reopened, but he confirmed that the new system DOES close your account immediately once your balance goes to $0. This is a change from the old behaviour. I've had my balance at $0 plenty of times without so much as a hiccup. The new system is completely agressive.
At this point, I'll probably leave $0.01 in the account so they can keep sending me statements, but I won't use it further. There's no advantage over HSBC. The lag time is the same, the interest rate is lower, and I don't want to have to deal with crap like this ever again.
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Sorry to hear about your troubles. I just closed my account since the 4.8% wasn't competitive with Citibank's 5% e-savings account with many similar features (including shorter hold times and allowing lots of withdrawals despite the official 6/month limit).
mbaker4096 said:It appears that the new interface is a bit less tolerant of $0 balances and aggressively closes these accounts. Whenever your balance is at 0 for 72 hours, the account will be closed... It's not a bug, it's a feature - now if you want to close your account, all you have to do is move out all your money and poof! it's done.
No, easier than letting Cap 1 hold on to a dollar, I'd just rather not do busines with them. They obviously think that I need them more than they need me, so why bother.
Closing an account after that short a time is absurd.
I also have to ask, why are FWers generally so receptive to abusive techniques by financial companies.
"They don't report my limit...sure if violates my FCRA rights, but I can just max my card and then they will report my high balance..."
"They treat me like last weeks garbage, but I just HAVE TO have that high yield savings, as if there aren't literally 1,000 other high yield products available, No, Cap 1 is really doing me a favor here, so I'll just put up with it"
"Oh Chase just chopped my Credit lines from 50k to 300 bucks, because I applied for a checking account and had "too many inquiries" I guess I'll have to be more careful next time."
I'm not receptive to abuse. Bank of America pissed me off with a spurious charge 12 years ago. As a result, I've repeatedly signed up for new accounts and have received many, many sign-up bonuses (ranging from $50 to $125) every 3-6 months and consistently leave $0.01 in the account in order to force them to send me paper statements. I'm surprised they haven't blacklisted me due to the number of old lingering accounts I have in their system.
And for the record, Cap One hasn't been too bad to me. When I openend my account with them, they gave me $14-15K for a credit line. Currently, I have a credit limit close to $20K and I've had it maxed out with my balance at 100% utilization every month for the last 2-3 years without paying a dime for BT fees or finance charges due to their generous propensity to send me purchase checks.
I liked my Capital One HYS account because I preferred their ACH transfers to HSBCs. Their may be a 7 day hold on incoming funds, but I'm still earning a reasonable rate during those days and at least I'm earning it instead of wondering where my money went for the 2-3 days of no-interest limbo that HSBC's transfers always include. Ugh.
And Chase closed two unused $500 credit lines of mine, but I really don't care...I'm still happily enjoying the $50K+ 15-month 0% loan. I can always apply for new Chase cards later.
mbaker4096 said:This morning the $5K transfer should have been completed, but the balance on my target account hadn't changed. WTF? Still no history, no pending transfers. I call them up and they tell me that as of the 15th, my account was closed because it had been "dormant" and that the balance of my account has been forwarded to my state's Unclaimed Property department.
I don't know who you would complain to or what recourse you might have, but that's not the way unclaimed and abandoned property law works. Of course every state's law will vary, but, in general, almost all property cannot become "unclaimed" or "abandoned" until after at least 1 year. Some types are not reportable until after 3 years. Certainly, 72 hours or only a few days is outrageous. The holder of the property is generally required to document attempts to contact the owner and report that info to the state once they submit the property to the state.
The problem with unclaimed property is that, even though crap one may be in violation of the law, the state is not likely to complain that funds are received earlier than required. Indirectly, however, it does cost them (you) since they now have to administer the funds rather than crap one and you will, most likely, lay claim to your property quickly. Anyway, you can either go to your state's dept of revenue/taxation or HERE to search for your funds. It may be too soon since reporting for it to be posted, however.
Most hilarious Cap1 complaint site ever - I now see why credit cards make so much money. People applying for credit cards with $100 limits and monthly fees...how sad.
* Friday, the 22nd when I initially called to find out what was going on, the second CSR I talked to indicated that the account had been temporarily closed and that when the pending transfers posted to my account, the account would be reopened automatically.
* Yesterday morning, when I called to find out why funds hadn't arrived and why my account was still closed, the CSR was able to reopen my account and she indicated that the funds I'd transferred in should appear when their systems updated between 10am and 2pm (my guess was she meant 10pm and 2am).
* Today, I called to find out why funds *still* hadn't show up in my account and was told that:
1. I had initiated the inbound transfers on the 22nd (evening of the 21st). 2. My account was closed on the 22nd. 3. Regardless, they debited the funds from my external accounts and those funds disappeared from my other accounts on the 25th. 4. Since my account was closed, they reversed the transfer on the 26th. 5. Funds should be showing up in my external accounts sometime next week.
Bravo, CapitalOne. Well played (not).
I'm closing my account and will never bank with them again. I don't need this kind of heartburn. I'm just thankful they were dicking around with roughly $130 and not holding a much larger sum in limbo.
Also, another reason to stop using them... I sent message to them using THEIR e-mail message service last week and have not received a reply. I am closing my account today!
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