Capital one Figuring out Posting Payments and Holds Chat session

[1bbattle]

I have been working on my husbands credit score for months.  I contacted capital one today... because we/I have made two 1,000 payments last month and they were put on hold.  Strange thing was they did not come off hold until the day of our statement.  So I wondered how that would affect our credit reporting.  I think everyone will find this conversation intresting.  It explains a lot.  And while I finally was getting my answers while they were trying to come up with explinations, in the back of my mind I was trying to figure out everything I could ask.  And get a real answer.  I know once I read this a few times... I will probably figure out something else I forgot to ask.  I dont understand why it has to be so difficult to get a straight answer when it comes to credit!  Well I have a idea, its a way for them to have all the control, keep us in the dark, and make money

I had started a previous conversation... but had not gotten past asking my question and going thru the security questions.  I tried to copy and paste to save time with the next person in chat... but had to go thru the process again.

Here is how the second conversation went... I took out all personal infomation and changed the persons name to cap 1...

Cap1: Hello.

you: hi

Cap1: Please bear with me while I review your conversation and help you with that.

you: Thank you

Cap1: You're welcome.

Cap1: Thank you for the patience.

you: no problem

Cap1: May I know what is your concern about?

you: My concern is that my account post 0 to my credit report this month

you: my concern is why didnt my payments come available when i made them and why is the other 1,000 payment not available yet?

you: my concern is will the payment i made last night post today before the statement is made?

Cap1: I will assist you with that.

Cap1: To ensure we have the correct information on file, I'd like to verify some i.....

you: ok. (deleted information here)

you: i know the one 1,000 payment just became avail today.

you: i just gave you all of that information above

Cap1: Thank you for waiting. I'll be with you in just a moment.

Cap1: Thank you. Please bear with me a moment while I review

you: thank u

Cap1: Thank you for the patience.

Cap1:  after reviewing your account I can see that we have placed a hold on your available credit because to protect the security of your account and Capital One, we need to confirm that the funds have cleared your bank. This process can take a few days. I anticipate those funds will be available for use on 01/07/2012.

Cap1: I see that you have made a payment of $250.91 on 01/07/2012 and the payment is in process.

Cap1: If the payment is received after 5:00 PM EST, Monday -Friday and working holidays it will post next day by midnight. If the payment is received before 5:00 PM EST Monday -Saturday and working holidays it will post on same day by midnight. Funds will be available as early as 8:00 am EST the day after the payment posts on your account.

Cap1: We inform the credit bureaus every 30 days after the statement is generated.

you: i understand, but will the balance report as 0?

you: according to my fico they report this account as the balance that is posted at statement time

you: and it is posted on fico on the 14th

you: but post the balance as of the 7th, statement date

you: i have been following it every month

you: since the total balance is not available will that change how it post on statement?

you: do you know if the statement will post before the time the payment post from last night?

Cap1: The payment which you have made for $1000.00 will be available by today midnight and the balance will be $0.00.

you: so does the statement post before midnight?

you: is the balance as of now if the statement posts post at the balance amount or the available balance amount meaning that the statement now would not show the 1,000?

you: I just want to make sure I have this straight.

Cap1: The statement will generate on 01/07/2012 and it will report to the credit bureaus by 01/08/2012.

you: what time of the day does the statement generate? so if it means that it generates at 1/7 that means the statement that I made last night will not show because it will not show a 0 balance until midnight

Cap1: The statement will show as balance of $0.00 on your account.

Cap1: Yes, it will not show a balance of $0.00 until today midnight.

Cap1: You can find it to be $0.00 by tomorrow.

you: Ok, thank you that is what I wanted to know. One last thing... I have read that if you have a 0 balance a lot of credit card companys will not report a 0 balance to the credit bureau that you have to leave a couple of dollars on the account. Is that true for this account?

you: Why did the 1,000 payments get placed on hold? Is this something I will run into in the future? And how long is the hold for so that I know if I make payments like this again.

Cap1: No, we report to the credit bureaus every 30 days.

you: ok, so if my balance is 0 this month and 0 next month it will report again 0?

Cap1: If you have a balance of $0.00 for next month than it will show as $0.00 to the credit bureaus.

you: ok, back to the 1,000 can you tell me about the holds, why it happend for how long, and it it will happen again in the future

Cap1: The payment may go on hold if any of the following occur:

Cap1: Returned payment in the last 6 months.

Cap1: First payment received on the account.

Cap1: Multiple payments received in a billing cycle.

Cap1: Payments received in large amount.

Cap1: If the account exceeds the credit limit.

Cap1: Payment is made by phone.

Cap1: Account is new or less than 6 months old.

Cap1: Account is delinquent.

Cap1: Recent authorizations declined due to exceeding the credit limit.

Cap1: Is there anything else I can help you with today?

you: Im guessing it had to be for multiple payments, none of the others seem to apply, but is two payments considered enough to warrant a hold? Ive made double payments in the past.

you: Oh I just noticed payments in large amounts. What is considered a large amount?

Cap1: It is strictly based on the time frame that the funds are available on your account.

you: I dont understand what that means. What time frame?

you: What is considered a large amount?

Cap1: Large amount is usually considered if the payment amount exceeds your credit limit. The timeframe is the exact date when we expect the funds from your bank account.

you: Ok, that payments did not exceed my credit limit.

you: So why did I have a hold placed.

Cap1: For an example: The funds for the recent payment will be available today.

Cap1: Because, we were waiting for the funds.

you: So even small amounts can be placed on hold?

you: There really is no determination for holds.

Cap1: There is no specific determination for holds. Sometimes, we receive the funds sooner and you will see the funds available sooner.

you: Ok that answers that question. Basically it can happen at any time for any amount for no reason.

Cap1: That is correct. But, if you keep the account in good standing, you will see these holds going away in the near future.

you: What is considered good standing? I have never had what I see my account in bad standing. I have never been over the limit, and never had a late payment.

Cap1: I'm sorry for the delay. I'll be right with you.

you: ok

Cap1: You need to make your payments on time, stay within the credit limit and abiding with customers agreements.

you: Can you tell me where I have not done that in the past?

Cap1: You have made payment in less payments and minimum payments in your past.

you: So I have made payments less than what the minimum payment was due? I will have to go back and look to verify that. I have tried to be very careful when making payments on my credit cards to build my credit back up. Do you have a date where you see such a case?

Cap1: You can look into your statements.

you: And if I find nothing? Then what is the excuse? Sound to me like you cannot find a case.

Cap1: I see that you have not made your payments in full.

you: Oh, you are talking about bringing it down to a 0 balance?

Cap1: Yes, your right.

you: Ok, so not bringing it down to a 0 balance makes a diffrence.

you: How often do I need to have it to a 0 balance?

Cap1: You need to make at least 5 consecutive payments in full.

you: Does that mean it need to be at a 0 balance on posting date?

you: So I need to charge something 4 5 months and make sure it has 0 balance all 5 of those months?

you: that is for not 4 sorry so use to abreviating

Cap1: It should be $0.00 before the due date.

Cap1: Is there anything else I can help you with today?

Hi there. Please hold for a moment. One of our Account Specialists will be right with you.

Hi there. Please hold for a moment. One of our Account Specialists will be right with you.

Hi there. Please hold for a moment. One of our Account Specialists will be right with you.

I tried to type...

Is there anything else you think it is important for me to know in trying to build my credit card and my Fico score?

I tried hitting enter 3 different times and as you see from above here is what the reply came back.

“Hi there. Please hold for a moment. One of our Account Specialists will be right with you.”

[LilloEsquilo]

About all you can do is to get away from Cap 1. They did the same thing to me - I paid the balance and a week later long after the payment cleared my bank, it was like yours, with the available credit still limited.

It's just Cap 1 is all I can say and how they do things. I paid the balance in full within days of it posting. It's a new account, but I've had others in the past and I always paid them the same way and they still did this stuff. It's more of their little "gotcha" games in action. That's what their whole business model is all about.

About all you can honestly do about it, is get another company that doesn't play these games. As soon as you can move to prime or better cards, do it, close the account, and get away from them.

My Cap1 card is now SD status even though it's one of their "prime" cards (they play these games with everyone) and I'll be closing it soon. They are not worth the hassle to me.

[LilloEsquilo]

Oh and furthermore I LOVE, I mean LOVE that "Peggy" response where they claim to be doing this for the "security" of your account. Just throw that buzzword out there these days and you can justify about anything. I'd suggest you ask "Peggy" exactly how does keeping my available credit cut long after my payment actually posts keep me "secure" but they'd just give you a 5 minute monolgue of lies designed to wear you out into utter frustration and just give up. I wish I was kidding but I'm not - this Cap 1 CS at it's finest. They are a pathetic bottom feeder CCC it's just a fact.

[drkaje]

I honestly feel companies do this so their customers look less attractive to the competition.

[1bbattle]

Yes I agree.  Its so true what you are saying.  I have been playing this card game for over a year now.  Although I dont post on here often.  I have been on all sorts of message boards over the last year.  Have contacted congress people, bank presidents, controllers office.  Done a ton of research online.  We did bankruptcy 7 bankruptcy in 09 and I just got BOA to do a deed in leiu long story!   My husbands fico is today 687 and according to the score estimator should be over 700 this month if everything gets reported right.  Now Im worried about deed in leiu hitting and what that will do.  I have read conflicting matters on it.  And this will be the next hassel in my adventure.

Any how...

A point I want to make is that if I try to build my Cap1 card the way they want... then my FICO wont build because from what I have read to build your Fico score you need to have a amount small amount post every once and a while.

Now how in the world does this help the average person to build their credit score if you are caught in this catch 22?

[LilloEsquilo]

If you want to have the best possible FICO score then pay them well in advance of the payment due date all but 1 to 5% at MOST of your balance, leave that small amount on until after your statement posts, THEN immediately pay the remainder.

That's how you can do that. And if you have to call and bug them to update the available balance, do it. Make SURE you keep an eye on it. You will have to babysit it to play this game right.

Once you can move on, dump them. And don't look back unless you have no other options.

Do what I suggested, and your FICO will certainly rise over time.Give it a year or so and I bet you can get a lot better cards than Cap 1 even with the Chap 7.

[cashnocredit]

Of course it isn't about protecting your security but it is about theirs.  Multiple payments within a billing cycle are associated with "bust out" fraud. You can google it and www.fico.com provides some information for bank risk depts. about this kind of growing fraud. This is an intentional fraud from the start and so is associated with new accounts. which is why banks usually get more flexible as time goes on. When I first opened a Citi secured I couldn't make multiple payments for a few months. OTOH, I could with my WF card but I had banked there for over 30 years before getting the card whereas with Citi I started a banking relationship at the same time as apping for the card. They limited payments for a couple months even though I had a CD with them that was about 5 times my CL.  It really depends on how the automated process works in each bank. They differ and they fequently change as fraudsters invent new techniques.

So it's not personal and it's not that the bank has some emotional desire to control people. It's just business trying to minimize losses in a bad environment.

[dalebb]

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@drkaje wrote:

I honestly feel companies do this so their customers look less attractive to the competition.

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+10000    they keep u down so u cant go to the prime cards,, they all sit in the conferance room thinking of ways to screw u,,, i for one will never do business with crap1

[chan85]

you: Ok that answers that question. Basically it can happen at any time for any amount for no reason.

Cap1: That is correct. But, if you keep the account in good standing, you will see these holds going away in the near future.

you: What is considered good standing? I have never had what I see my account in bad standing. I have never been over the limit, and never had a late payment.

Now THAT made me laugh!! LMAO!

[1bbattle]

Made me laugh too!  To be honest Im shocked he even said it.  Being that they are always so careful in saying anything.  Thats why I was trying to out think him this time.  I have asked questions before and they are always so veigue.  To be honest I think at one point the person I was talking to got another person I was talking to.  Because there was a really long pause.  And I find it funny that at the end... something happend to our connection   But I learned a lot.  I asked questions based on things I learned off this message board and others.  And I was trying to figure out what was myths or truth.  I love the "Peggy" comments above!  I love this message forum!