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Capital One Platinum Card started charging $59 membership fee. Need advice

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Capital One Platinum Card started charging $59 membership fee. Need advice

Hi everyone. First I want to say I'm new here but have been reading these forums for about 6 months. I've obtained very valuable insight into my personal credit history and getting it on the right track. I will post that story in the welcome thread soon.

This is about my mom. She is a senior and sometimes needs help and unfortunately I'm not fully equipped to help fully, however I would really like to.

She has a Capital One Platinum Card. I had her show it to me so I could make sure it was the same as the one I have (the current one on their website). She opened the account in Nov 2011 and had the same type of benefits I have (opened mine in June 2016). It has the $0 annual fee.

She told me for the first 3 years she didn't have any fee's and that the last 2 years they have been charging $59 annually in Nov. I sat down with her and looked online at the statements and I see they started charging a "membership fee" of $59 and did so one time in 2015, and again in 2016.

She said she had called about this fee when it first happened and the CSR told her they changed and started charging this fee (this would be in 2015). She asked to have it waived and they said they couldn't. So she has paid a total of $118 in 2 years for this fee.

I cannot find anything about them contacting her at any point by mail or email about this starting after 3 years of no fee's. She has 100% payment history and had never been late. I also cannot find anything from the last 2 years of this happening to anyone with the Platinum Card. I see they have a guaranteed card for poor credit with a $59 fee, a business card $59 fee, and one of the Venture cards as well. She has the same card I do, the one currently on the website with no annual fee,and they clearly scream that all over their marketing as well. I'm at a loss!

I want to be as best prepared before sitting with her to call. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Message 1 of 25
24 REPLIES 24
sarge12
Senior Contributor

Re: Capital One Platinum Card started charging $59 membership fee. Need advice

Just because it looks the same does not necessarily mean they are the same tier of cards...if you look on the sites they often have cards that look identical and both say platinum, but they are different tier cards, one for bad credit, and the other for fair credit.

TU fico08=812 07/16/23
EX fico08=809 07/16/23
EQ fico09=812 07/16/23
EX fico09=821 07/16/23
EQ fico bankcard08=832 07/16/23
TU Fico Bankcard 08=840 07/16/23
EQ NG1 fico=802 04/17/21
EQ Resilience index score=58 03/09/21
Unknown score from EX=784 used by Cap1 07/10/20
Message 2 of 25
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Capital One Platinum Card started charging $59 membership fee. Need advice

I understand that aspect of one platinum can differ from another. I can take a look at her statement closer. My question is how do they go 3 years with no fee, no contact, and then out of nowhere change it up and start adding a fee. All of this with 100% payments on time,and according to CSR they changed and "that's how this card is now". So weird!
Message 3 of 25
sarge12
Senior Contributor

Re: Capital One Platinum Card started charging $59 membership fee. Need advice

I agree 3 years after issue is unusual...most only waive the first year, if there is a fee, but they may have chosen to waive the fee the second year. I would go to the website and request the cardholder agreement for both cards. That is where the difference will be shown.

TU fico08=812 07/16/23
EX fico08=809 07/16/23
EQ fico09=812 07/16/23
EX fico09=821 07/16/23
EQ fico bankcard08=832 07/16/23
TU Fico Bankcard 08=840 07/16/23
EQ NG1 fico=802 04/17/21
EQ Resilience index score=58 03/09/21
Unknown score from EX=784 used by Cap1 07/10/20
Message 4 of 25
fltireguy
Valued Contributor

Re: Capital One Platinum Card started charging $59 membership fee. Need advice


@Anonymous wrote:
Hi everyone. First I want to say I'm new here but have been reading these forums for about 6 months. I've obtained very valuable insight into my personal credit history and getting it on the right track. I will post that story in the welcome thread soon.

This is about my mom. She is a senior and sometimes needs help and unfortunately I'm not fully equipped to help fully, however I would really like to.

She has a Capital One Platinum Card. I had her show it to me so I could make sure it was the same as the one I have (the current one on their website). She opened the account in Nov 2011 and had the same type of benefits I have (opened mine in June 2016). It has the $0 annual fee.

She told me for the first 3 years she didn't have any fee's and that the last 2 years they have been charging $59 annually in Nov. I sat down with her and looked online at the statements and I see they started charging a "membership fee" of $59 and did so one time in 2015, and again in 2016.

She said she had called about this fee when it first happened and the CSR told her they changed and started charging this fee (this would be in 2015). She asked to have it waived and they said they couldn't. So she has paid a total of $118 in 2 years for this fee.

I cannot find anything about them contacting her at any point by mail or email about this starting after 3 years of no fee's. She has 100% payment history and had never been late. I also cannot find anything from the last 2 years of this happening to anyone with the Platinum Card. I see they have a guaranteed card for poor credit with a $59 fee, a business card $59 fee, and one of the Venture cards as well. She has the same card I do, the one currently on the website with no annual fee,and they clearly scream that all over their marketing as well. I'm at a loss!

I want to be as best prepared before sitting with her to call. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

And, it is Capital one, not CREDIT one..?

NFCU $60.4k/PenFed $22.5k/Commerce $15K/53 $11K/Synovus $14K/BBT $11K/CapOne $12K/DCU $7.5K/BMO $7.5K/Chase $14.5k/Cabelas $10K/ and many many more!
Total CL $398600, plus car and RV loan.
Ooh. Ooh. Getting closer to that $500K mark!
Message 5 of 25
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Capital One Platinum Card started charging $59 membership fee. Need advice

Yes, it's Capital One. It's the platinum card which is currently on their site under compare cards, the same one you see under their prequalify. I have the same card with $0 annual fee. So did she for 3 years then at year 4 & 5 they added a $59 membership fee annually with no contact and perfect payment history. The weirdest part is the CSR telling her "they changed the card and this is how it is now".

I thought maybe they upgraded her to Venture with the $59 fee, but on her online account and statement it clearly says Platinum Mastercard.
Message 6 of 25
MauiMan85297
Established Contributor

Re: Capital One Platinum Card started charging $59 membership fee. Need advice

A creditor can change the terms of the agreement at any time but must send out notice of the impending change and you have the option of accepting and continue the relationship or not accept and close the account (and of course pay the balance).  So people mistake it as their statement and discard it (if you receive paper bills) or they give you an update on your electronic statement that might have been missed.

 

I could see the first year was waived but a second would be unlikely, best to request card agreement and decipher yourself.



Message 7 of 25
Dalmus
Valued Contributor

Re: Capital One Platinum Card started charging $59 membership fee. Need advice

 You might want to go into her online account and see how Cap1 actually has her card named in her account.

 

 For example, when I had the QS1, my card said QS1 and the image of the card online was QS1, but the description was Cap1 Platinum Mastercard.


NFCU MR: $25K | Venture: $21K | Amex ED: $18K | NFCU CR: $18K | Amex BCE: $15K | IT #1: $17.5K | PNC Core: $15K | PPMC:  $12K | Wells Fargo: $11K | Savor: 12K | Cap1 QS: $8.5K | Barclays Rewards: $7.75K | IT #2: $7.3K | MLife: $9.5K | Sportsman's Guide: $8.7K | PenFed PR: $5.5K | Elan Plat: $2.3K | TRV: $3.6K | BotW: $3K


Current FICO 8 Scores: EQ: 828| TU: 805 | EX: 814


Message 8 of 25
sarge12
Senior Contributor

Re: Capital One Platinum Card started charging $59 membership fee. Need advice


@gsully00 wrote:

A creditor can change the terms of the agreement at any time but must send out notice of the impending change and you have the option of accepting and continue the relationship or not accept and close the account (and of course pay the balance).  So people mistake it as their statement and discard it (if you receive paper bills) or they give you an update on your electronic statement that might have been missed.

 

I could see the first year was waived but a second would be unlikely, best to request card agreement and decipher yourself.


I do not believe you would have to pay the carried balance in full, if any, to close the card and avoid the fees, I think the card would just not allow any new charges, and you could continue to make payments as agreed until it is eventually paid.

TU fico08=812 07/16/23
EX fico08=809 07/16/23
EQ fico09=812 07/16/23
EX fico09=821 07/16/23
EQ fico bankcard08=832 07/16/23
TU Fico Bankcard 08=840 07/16/23
EQ NG1 fico=802 04/17/21
EQ Resilience index score=58 03/09/21
Unknown score from EX=784 used by Cap1 07/10/20
Message 9 of 25
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Capital One Platinum Card started charging $59 membership fee. Need advice

Thanks for the feedback everyone provided. This is what happened today.

She called and asked for supervisor. She told them about the $59 membership fee being added the last 2yrs and how she has had card for 5yrs (the first 3yrs no fee). They started looking into it and we hit a road block when they saw the fee in Nov 2016 & 2015 but said trying to look at 2014 or prior they "couldn't access that far back"!? That sounds suspicious to me.

The supervisor then did offer to lower the APR to 19% because of the positive payment history down from 24.99% but said they couldn't waive the fee. They also stated she had no current offers but could apply for a new card if she wanted. I'm not sure if the prequal site would differ from over the phone offers on account of not?

She could then I guess either try merging the old balance and limit to the new card's limit and hopefully have no annual fee, although that would probably mean her APR on new card would be higher again. Supervisor said would send out card agreement to look it over on current card. I'm not entirely sure if it's going to be the new APR with $59 fee or if it's going to be the original.

What a big mess for a Cap1 Platinum in my opinion. Either way $59 is crazy for that card with absolutely no benefits, cash back, etc.

Btw..Her Fico 8 is EQ 653 / TU 658
Message 10 of 25
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