Late charge incurred

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-18-2003
Late charge incurred
11
Wed, 03-22-2006 - 7:48pm

I have had so many problems with Capital One and am wondering if this isn't a common problem.

Sheri Ann

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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-22-1999
Wed, 03-22-2006 - 8:14pm
Hi! Can you get your statements online to review? If you've lost the statements on papaer, you should be able to get them online if you have an ID set up for that account. Good luck! Littlesbigs
Avatar for 2locachicas
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-14-2003
Wed, 03-22-2006 - 8:15pm

Sheri-

My husband and I have never had any problems with them, but we have one of their premium cards. Our best friends & my brother have nothing but problems with them. I think they prey on people with low incomes and people with decent, but troubled credit. They are known for intolerance & low balances with high interest. Our friends have 5 different cards from them with 300 each limit and an annual fee for every one. My brother has 3(all from capital one) that he always pays in full every month but they refuse to combine them into one card. Probably because they make more annual fee wise.

Everyone has their own opinion, but in my experiences with our friends and my brother Capital One is one of the worst companies out there. Did you check and see if a $10 payment was made last month on your account? I think they charge late fees based on business day but not calendar day(I think but am not sure, I have never had a late fee but my friend has). They definitely do something sneaky with their late fees on these accounts.

Good Luck!! You are not crazy they are unforgiving...

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-22-2003
Wed, 03-22-2006 - 9:57pm

Yeah, there was no credit last month & I checked my checkbook and I didn't make a payment.

Sheri Ann

Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 03-22-2006 - 11:51pm

Hey Sheri - I'm sorry to hear about that.

All my best,
Danni

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-09-2002
Thu, 03-23-2006 - 6:01am

Hi,
I had a Capitol One card but am now using CCCA so its closed. I needed to stop a CCCA payment and pay the creditors directly one month because I needed one more week to get the funds together. Although no creditor would get their payment late because of the two week lag, I was warned serveral times by CCCA about Capitol One because they want to kick people off the program for one day later than usual to make more money and was told the rest of my creditors wanted to usually work with people but that Capitol One is always looking for an opportunity to make more and more money off anyone.

I would pay it off and never use it again. Since they don't report your available balance, even a small balance could hurt you but closing it would too. I would just forget I had it and get the satisfaction of knowing that you have an open card with them but will never use it again and start using them to improve your credit score instead!

Avatar for endomagazine
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-09-2004
Thu, 03-23-2006 - 9:12am

Hello,

I would suggest closing the account.

Your credit score is not the *only* way you can apply for a mortgage. There are mortgage lenders available that can do manual underwriting, which is where they look at your assets, total debt amount, record of payments, and income as a whole, rather than relying on a credit score.

Basically, in order to have a good credit score, you'd have to have several accounts open of different types (loans, unsecured, secured, credit cards, etc) showing contant on-time payments, with low balances and lots of available credit. Personally, I'd rather pay off the debt and close the accounts, even if it means your credit score takes a *temporary* hit, and find a lender that can work with your *real* ability to pay your potential house payment.

Lenders would like us to believe that the FICO score is the "be all and end all" of your "creditworthiness". It's really just a shortcut (and not a very reliable one..) that they can quickly look at.

Having an open credit card account that you aren't using, but's still available, is a temptation to use it in the future.

Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke

Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke

Geeks on Tap: Mission Accomplished

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-06-2005
Thu, 03-23-2006 - 9:39am

Sheri Ann, HUGS!

 

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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-18-2003
Thu, 03-23-2006 - 11:40am

Thank you so much for that link!

Sheri Ann

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-09-2002
Thu, 03-23-2006 - 12:39pm

Hi,
I think if you have an account that is an older one, it is espically good to keep it open with no balance because it shows a good credit history. I am no expert though...

I used to do the same thing - pay off my cards and then close them because I didn't trust myself. Then I started cutting up the cards once they were paid and keeping the accounts opened and I started to forget about them so I forgot I could charge! Unfortunately I did need to turn to CCCA for some still outstanding, but a better option would have been to pay off cards and keep them open but o-well. Someday! Good luck!

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-20-2004
Thu, 03-23-2006 - 12:51pm
I can't offer you advice re: this specific company, but I can tell you what i have done to avaoid late fees. I use Microsoft Money, and it has a function that allows you to set up when your bills are due, and I have never been late while using this feature. (Maybe Quicken has this as well? I have always used Money, so I don't know.) I do the majority of my bill paying online now, so I can confirm that stuff gets credited. Anyhow, i am sorry this happened to you! Very frustrating!
Heather

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