Capital One Account CO'd without notice -- Any recourse?

[elpo9]

Hi all,

Last week I learned that Cap1 charged-off all 3 of my accounts without any notice. I had previously been enrolled in an automatic payment program (immediately after a medical hardship) and assumed 'set-it-and-forget-it' was fine for all 3 accounts.

Turns out today via phone at the very end of the call, I learned they had my incorrect address for 2 of 3 accounts. So, letters were being mailed to the wrong state--even though they had the correct address for the 3rd! I only knew to call-in today because that 3rd account was coming to my current address.

Is there any recourse for these now >180 delinquint accounts since they failed to contact me? In the meantime, I've declined settlements as offered on the phone today and instead scheduled payments so that my reports will show 'paid' rather than 'charged off.' I figured that's the best report at this point, and I do own-up to my debts rather than accepting settlements. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

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@elpo9wrote:

Hi all,

Last week I learned that Cap1 charged-off all 3 of my accounts without any notice. I had previously been enrolled in an automatic payment program (immediately after a medical hardship) and assumed 'set-it-and-forget-it' was fine for all 3 accounts.

Turns out today via phone at the very end of the call, I learned they had my incorrect address for 2 of 3 accounts. So, letters were being mailed to the wrong state--even though they had the correct address for the 3rd! I only knew to call-in today because that 3rd account was coming to my current address.

Is there any recourse for these now >180 delinquint accounts since they failed to contact me? In the meantime, I've declined settlements as offered on the phone today and instead scheduled payments so that my reports will show 'paid' rather than 'charged off.' I figured that's the best report at this point, and I do own-up to my debts rather than accepting settlements. Thanks!

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What did they fail to contact you about?  What letters were sent to an old address?

[elpo9]

They failed to notify me that my accounts were delinquent, that my auto-payments were stopped without my consent and that I was, apparently, removed from their payment progran (also without consent).

It's not possible for me to know the contents of said letters since they were NEVER delivered to me, despite mail forwarding in effect AND having my current address for 1 of the 3.

[Anonymous]

You didn't notice they were no longer taking money from your payment account? 

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, I doubt you will have any recourse in this scenario since their stance will be it was your responsibility to make sure they had the correct address and that your payments were made even if you did have auto payments set.

Fortunately, Cap 1 is pretty forgiving with credit mishaps and you should be able to get back in with them in about a year.

[Anonymous]

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@elpo9wrote:

Hi all,

Last week I learned that Cap1 charged-off all 3 of my accounts without any notice. I had previously been enrolled in an automatic payment program (immediately after a medical hardship) and assumed 'set-it-and-forget-it' was fine for all 3 accounts.

Turns out today via phone at the very end of the call, I learned they had my incorrect address for 2 of 3 accounts. So, letters were being mailed to the wrong state--even though they had the correct address for the 3rd! I only knew to call-in today because that 3rd account was coming to my current address.

Is there any recourse for these now >180 delinquint accounts since they failed to contact me? In the meantime, I've declined settlements as offered on the phone today and instead scheduled payments so that my reports will show 'paid' rather than 'charged off.' I figured that's the best report at this point, and I do own-up to my debts rather than accepting settlements. Thanks!

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With a credit card comes responsibility. Responsibility to make sure they have up to date addresses.  Responsibility to check your account to make sure things are done. There is no such thing as responsible set it and forget it. Read the fine print of your account. It’s all in there. I’m trying not to be harsh here. But the responsibility always falls in the user to make payments. In the future check your accounts to make sure info is correct and payments are going thru.

[Anonymous]

Very well said Ben.

Not to beat a dead horse but if you were delinquent they would also be calling you at minimum 3 times a week as you reach later stages of delinquency. A creditor being accused of not giving notice as accounts fall further into delinquency is tough to believe.

[elpo9]

First, I asked for advice on recourse--not lectures. Please bear this in mind since lectures neither help the situation nor do they address the request at hand. I'd genuinely appreciate genuine replies, and a simple statment of "I don't think that'll work because (X)--based on experience" is fine. We all know how payments work, and nobody enjoys a beating while they're already down.

Second, yes obviously I received phone calls. Those were several months ago when the accounts originally became late (time of my illness), and that is when I setup the aforementioned payment plans that were supposed to be monthly and automatic. Other companies have successfully enrolled me in automatic monthly payments without any issue--from car loans to insurance payments. It would make sense that Cap1's "automatic" payment program would work the same, but alas this is not the question at hand--a path for recourse is.

Third, as mentioned, they DID have my correct mailing address but failed to apply it to all the accounts for some reason. They only used it for 1 of 3. I'm not aware of a feature in Cap1's web portal to designate separate mailing addresses per card. This is clearly their failure to communicate and failure to maintain accurate records (yet bureau reporting requires they report accurate information on my credit). Come to think of it, the addresses on file with the bureaus don't even match what their records had! I check reports at least monthly. That's another error on their end.

I'll admit that I don't regularly review my checking account statements for irregularities (partly because I keep general watch at least weekly via online portal and moreso since nearly all my accounts are on automatic payments) which I now see is necessary, though this still seems like Cap1's failure to maintain accurate interal records (and external, in terms of address reported to bureaus) vis-à-vis mailing address.

[RobertEG]

Complaints regarding billing errors on credit cards are subject to the formal dispute process under the Fair Credit Billing Act.

Have you considered filing a dispute under the FCBA?

[Kree]

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@elpo9wrote:

Third, as mentioned, they DID have my correct mailing address but failed to apply it to all the accounts for some reason. 

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I have this problem with Capital One all of the time.  I have a Line of Credit with them that has never updated addresses when I inform them of an address change. The LOC does not have a seperate login, it is viewable through my checking accounts login. both checkin accounts update when I update through that login.

Now my CC, is a seperate login, and I do need to update that address seperately. This is known to me, as different account as different.   The question is  for your three accounts, did they have a single login where you updated the address, or seperate logins where you did not update them all seperately?