My bad experience with Capitol One

[javelinadave]

I financed for 12 months a portion of my D-90. I have since paid it off and the have so far:
1) Lost the title!
2) Sent me an invalid lien release!
3) Continue giving me ther run around!

Cheap rates my a$$. You get what you pay for. Save yourself a lot of grief and do not use Capitol One for anything!

 

[syoung]

I have a credit card with them that I leave empty- it's the 'keep in the car and use in an emergency' kind of card. Sometimes I'll put a tank of gas on it or something if I'm short on cash at the time. They send me the bill about two days before it's due, then hit me with late charges. Problem is that the late charge is mailed on the next statement so that it is also overdue by the time I get it.... I'm getting rid of that card soon.

 

[JeffM]

Nice Avitar Dave

 

[Alyssa]

Unfortunately, that is VERY true. They are also IMPOSSIBLE and INFLEXIBLE with lease returns, and with customer service. They have a clause written in the loan that if you are LATE, even once, they can take your car & you lose all the money you've paid in-- THAT is the most slimeball thing I've ever seen in a contract. Plus, I have never, ever, ever had Capital One beat our rate. If your dealer quotes you a higher rate, go to them with the approval to Capital One and see if they can match it. Finance companies will often budge on rates when there's a little healthy competition involved. They always take a long time to send titles, and frequently screw up lien releases-- and its like pulling teeth to get one. Also steer clear of Bank One for Auto Finance.
USAA does have rates that beat our best rate & excellent customer service. Anyone who qualifies to be a member of USAA and isn't using it really should look into it. Customers also tell me that their insurance rates are very low & I know for a fact their insurance coverage is very good, quick, and fairly painless (I've had a couple customers with big accidents & USAA was great).

I know in your case you probably didn't have a dealer to work with, so you didn't have that many options.

Chase is also a fairly good option for auto finance & leasing. They are very quick to answer the phone & easy to deal with. And usually the people on the phone are intelligent and speak understandable English. They are also very quick with titles, etc...

 

[Alyssa]

They also have a lot of other slimeball tactics like Steve mentions. They do everything possible to make it easy for the customer to slip up. (Like, if you don't open the bill and pay it the day you get it you could be late). Yes, you should be on top of it, but the fact is most people aren't. They also have MUCH shorter grace periods than other companies (often 15 days vs. others' 30-45 days).

 

[syoung]

but they are rated as one of the ten best companies to work for in the USA... hehehe. Ironic, isn't it?

 

[Snwbord24]

I'll happily stick with USAA as I've had nothing but good dealings with them for about 10 years now. When I first got their insurance it was almost half of what Geico and State Farm were. Very happy with them.

 

[bigred]

but they are rated as one of the ten best companies to work for in the USA... hehehe. Ironic, isn't it?

Are they still? They closed two huge call centers down in Fredericksburg, and are laying off most of their staff in Richmond from what I hear. I believe that they are farming all their stuff out to the sweat-shop call centers in India.

 

[cmoore207]

Capital One isn't alone in being sloppy about releasing liens. If you have paid off a home mortgage more than 3 months ago, it's not a bad idea to ask your settlement agent (or just run down to the court clerk's office and check yourself, its pretty easy) to confirm that the lien on the property has been released. Even more crucial, if you purchased your property more than 3 months ago, check to make sure that any of the previous owner's liens were released. The responsibility for that rests with the seller's settlement agent. I work for a settlement agent dealing a lot with getting lenders to actually release their liens, sometimes 3 or 4 years after they were supposed to. Easily a third of the time they just never bother. Though rarely never anything more than an easily fixed oversight, technically the lender still has a claim to that property until the release is recorded with the court!

PS, I say 3 months becuase the law in Virginia says they have 90 days, it might be different in your state.

 

[syoung]

I tought Cap1 closed fredericksburg because of that fancy new building inside the beltway near Tyson's.

 

[NVRover]

This is a good reason why it is not wise to finance cars or use credit cards. With cash you don't have these problems...I learned this the hard way a while back.

 

[syoung]

yeah- but most of us don't have enough cash to buy an expensive British SUV.

 

[bigred]

I think that the problem with Cap1 was too many new fancy buildings at the same time. They didnt use their 2 new fancy buildings in Fred for more than 3-5 years before shutting down.

 

[Alyssa]

While a lot of people DO have the means to pay outright, it ISN'T always the soundest financial decision, especially with rates as low as they are now. If you keep that cash in your investments, you can easily make more than your finance rate. Also, leasing has a lot of business benefits that you don't get if you pay cash/finance.

 

[cmoore207]

While a lot of people DO have the means to pay outright, it ISN'T always the soundest financial decision, especially with rates as low as they are now. If you keep that cash in your investments, you can easily make more than your finance rate. Also, leasing has a lot of business benefits that you don't get if you pay cash/finance.

Hehe, I have hilarious visions of some of the folks around here trying to return their Disco at the end of the lease complete with custom trail-made pinstripes and love dents.

My dad leased an Accord about 12 years ago and was so terrified by the end of lease inspection that they gave it he vowed never to lease again. Every little shopping cart ding took on special meaning.

 

[MUSKYMAN]

Alyssa,

want a huge class action suit for that budding attorney in the family?

I open hundreds of credit reports a month, and there is a practice by capitol ! that kills scores causing consumers millions in fees.

they will not extend the credit line above 300 to 500 for most consumers but they will give them as many accounts as they want so many people will have 5 or more cap1 accounts that puts that consumer in a position of high balences to limits reducing there fico and making them have to manage more payments for the same amount of overall extended credit.

clearly predatory

its only a matter of time they will be caught for this....just think of the suit size


thom

 

[syoung]

I can't understand why anyone would lease these days. In the beginning of the car lease game, way back here's what you got:

No maintenance fees, since *they* own the car- they pay for it.
If the car breaks, they give you another one just like it and the broken one is never seen again.
No property tax, after all- you don't really own it.
Decide you want to pay $40 more a month for the bigger mercedes, just call and they swap 'em out.
Registration, inspection? Nope- that's done for you because after all, it's theirs.

Now what do you get?
You pay property tax on it- and it's not even really yours.
You pay registration, inspection and maintenance on it.
You pay for everything, even regular wear and tear and they bone you on the turn-in.
Your stuck with the same POS for 3 years or more.
You can't drive it to Grandma's because that would put you over the mileage allotment.

 

[Alyssa]

...or you could pay $800 less/month than a purchase for the car of your dreams & not worry if it is problematic because it isn't really yours. And you don't have to pay for maintenance because it is included. And you only pay sales tax on your payment.

 

[phriston]

What to do with bank problems...

One time or another we all experience crap bank practices, they often forget whose money it is!!

There is a couple of books that I suggest that anyone tries to look up at your library -
" Your bank is ripping you off "
" The bank book "
Author is Edward Mrkvicka

He used to be a VP of a large bank. Anyway, in the books, he lists the addresses of the relevent agencies etc to write to if you have a problem with bank and lenders. These names & addresses are ones that banks and lending institutions rather you not have knowledge about e.g Dept of Justice, HUD, Accreditation agencies etc. Banks have licences and if they get too many audits etc they run the risk of loosing their licences/charters. So, write Cc letters when you write to your bank/lender/Ccard comanies.

The thing you want to keep an eye on is your credit history. If you are not given your title and the lien isn't release persay, then you will ulitmately be dinged for late payments which may harm your credit. So, once you resolve the problem, make sure the bank cleans up your history as they are the ones responsible for it.

 

[utahdog2003]

yeah- but most of us don't have enough cash to buy an expensive British SUV.

No Steve, we don't have cash to MAINTAIN an expensive British SUV!