Push Capital One More?!!

[Anonymous]

So, I posted a somewhat unrelated question about my situation a week ago, but a new issue has arisen and I am curious if anyone has any advice regarding how I should deal with Capital One. 

I applied for a cc with them back in June, but was offered an insufficient credit limit.  I called them and told them not to activate the card or the account and that I was not interested.  However, they apparently ignored me and opened the account anyway.  I checked my credit score last week to make sure everything was good to go for my closing on a house in a few weeks and I saw that I had an open account with Capital One with late payments (since they had charged me the membership fee and I obviously never paid it).  This dropped my score from near 700 to around 620 and I think my mid-score was even lower.  So, my mortgage lender said they could not give me a mortgage until my score went back up.   I called Capital One and they told me that they had remedied the problem and that they would send me a letter to show to my mortgage lender.  The letter states only that their records have been updated to reflect that I never had any late monthly payments.  It does not state that the account should never have even been opened or that it was Capital One's fault. 

I plan on calling Capital One back to ask for a better letter and to make sure that the info they provide the credit bureaus is accurate since this is already delaying my house closing by at least a few weeks.  I have some  questions:

1) Should the account have been opened just because I applied?  I long ago threw away the paperwork for this account, but I am curious whether anyone knows whether I agreed to open the account merely by applying and agreeing to the terms of applying.  Or, can I afterward find out the credit limit and make sure the account is never opened to begin with?  Does this even matter on my credit score now that the account has been closed anyway?  Phrased another way: I understand that the application itself will affect my score (since they pulled my score) and that having an open account would also.  Assuming the account has been closed by Capital One, does it affect my credit score that I HAD an additional credit account?  Will my credit score be any lower than it would otherwise be just because I applied and they pulled my report? 

2) Is it even worth pushing Capital One to state that it was their fault in the letter?  I don't care whether they acknowledge their fault so long as my credit score is repaired.  However, my mortgage lender did not seem as pleased that the letter did not state that it was Capital One's faultand was unmoved by the letter either way.  Is Capital One going to even be willing to acknowledge their fault in writing.     

[haulingthescoreup]

If you apply for a credit card, and then you're approved, the account is open. It goes on your credit report, etc. etc. You have to call up and close it (which you did.) Even then, it remains on your reports (as closed) for up to 10 years, affecting your average age of accounts.

Whether open or closed, it shows as a new account for six months (I used to think it was twelve months, but now I think it's six.) So open or closed, it does affect your score somewhat until December (six months after June.) After that, it's just a closed tradeline, but its existence has lowered your AAoA to some degree. If you have a lot of other older accounts, it probably doesn't affect AAoA that much. If your AAoA was low-ish to begin with, and you don't have many other accounts, it probably has more impact.

It won't affect your score as to whether Cap One admits they screwed up. As you indicate, it might affect your lender --that's something only you and the lender can tell.

Getting them to admit anything in writing is, well, good luck. No one ever wants to admit error in writing, obviously.

One thing that you might try for is to get them to simply remove the account entirely from your reports. All that would be left would be the inq. (Don't quibble about that; it's not that big of a deal.) If the account no longer reported, you wouldn't have any lates, your AAoA would be restored to whatever it was before, and your score would go back to where it was.

I don't know how persuasive you can be over the phone, but it certainly seems worth a try to point out to them that their failure to close your account, as you requested 5 months ago, has seriously damaged your scores and is imperilling your mortgage, and you might not be able to get the rate you originally had, even once they clean everything up, yada yada. In other words, their actions have hurt you, and the simplest way all around would be for them to simply remove the tradeline entirely, forever. And like I said, leave the inq alone. They can have that little victory.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, Hauling.  I will get back on the phone with them and see if I can get the whole account removed.  By the way, your advice in my former thread was also appreciated.  I spoke with my lender and it seems like we are just going to have to let the CRA's take their time about updating my score.  It is annoying that Cap. One's screw-up is postponing my closing date, but hopefully this will all be a laughable matter two months from now when we are in our new house.  

[haulingthescoreup]

Fingers crossed for you!

[Anonymous]

i work in an office building anchored by capital one.  since i don't like atm fees, i decided to open a cking account for my convenience.  that way i can hit the atm here while i'm at work and not incur fees.  the branch here is very interested in customer satisfaction, and ever since i opened the account i've had a customer relations rep handle any special requests.  she's even called out of the blue just to see if i needed anything from time to time.  and trust me, i'm no whale of an account, i'm just a guy who works in the building. 

my advice is to go into a branch that is in a big office building (or at least a large retail branch) where they have a large staff, multiple levels of chain-of-command, and a nice lobby to wait in (you might get free coffee or a donut for your trouble ).  kindly ask to speak with a "Relationship Banker," which is a type of customer relations rep and explain your situation.  because there are managers with the power to open and make substantial adjustments to accounts, and because they're dealing with a live human being with a legitimate, very fixable issue, i would bet they can get this account deleted... or at least get you some sort of satisfaction that you won't get from the national call center rep.

my $.02