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I have had an account with Credit One Bank for years. They issued a credit card to me soon after I declared Bankruptcy, almost 10 years ago. I have paid my balance in full consistently, never missed a payment, and have never been late with a payment. I have successfully rebuilt my credit. I now have a 730+ fico. Using their card, and other similar cards, in the manner in which they were designed to be used, accelerated the credit rebuilding process.
After having this card for many years, and, after using the same exact checking account and payment process for many years (I use WAMU on line banking to pay all of my bills), I received a letter, stating the following:
"...We are unable to verify your payment of $xxxx.xx. Due to this reason, we have placed a temporary block on your account. In order to re-activate your account, the following documentation is required: A letter from the financial institution, on bank letterhead, that verifies the owner(s) of the checking account name as it appears on the account and the payment received is authorized by the owner(s). This documentation must also include a contact person and their telephone number..."
I was given less than a week to comply with the request, and a warning that, if I did not meet their deadline, my account would be closed and would be listed as "closed by bank" to the 3 credit reporting agencies.
I received this letter AFTER my card was declined when I tried to use it to buy dinner for a very important client. How embarrassing! My on line balance at Creditonebank.com showed ZERO, and my available credit was my full credit line, so there was no indication that I was going to experience a declined credit card.
I went to my bank and requested the letter, and they told me that all letters must originate from their legal department, which takes a few weeks. They further told me that it would be unlikely that their legal department would comply to such a vague request.
Fortunately for me, the bank branch manager knows me, since I'm in there almost every day. He agreed to write up a short letter complying with their request. I faxed it to Credit One Bank, along with a copy of my statement showing the payment originating from my checking account, and a sternly worded letter from me.
I also sent everything in the fax to them via overnight mail.
I called the day after sending the fax and the letter, and I was informed that they had, in fact, received the fax, BUT, it would be an additional seven to 10 business day before the hold was going to be released.
I spoke to a supervisor and reminded him that I have a history with Credit One Bank that shows an excellent pattern of full balance, on time payments. He agreed that my account was in excellent standing. When I asked what had triggered this issue with the bank, he said that it's a fraud prevention mechanism that gets triggered when someone sends in a large payment.
Wait a minute: PAYING MY BALANCE IN FULL MAY BE CONSIDERED FRAUD?
Plus, I almost ALWAYS pay my balance in full, and it's frequently more than the payment that triggered this event. Go figure.
I told him that someone who pays their balance in full, consistently and on time, is being treated like someone who does the exact opposite. He agreed, but was unable to offer any additional help. So my card will be unusable for almost a month, because I pay my balance in full. And, the payment I sent to them, since it originates on-line from my checking account, has already been withdrawn from my available balance. What a ripoff!
Note to Credit One Bank: "I'm sorry you do not make money off me in the form of late payment fees, over limit fees, high interest, and other fees you charge people who do not manage their money well, or, have fallen on hard times. But, if you are going to punish me for playing by YOUR rules, I say, go to hell!"
I have a ton of other credit cards that do not subject me to such criminal-like treatment. I'll use them from now on.
Goodbye, Credit One Bank!
I totally agree, it's not fair. I do have a question though. Have you ever paid your balance to credit one long before the due date? I paid mine almost three weeks ago and they still haven't credited it to my account. Has that ever happend to you?
I just filed for bankruptcy. They sent me a card. There was a fee attached. I called 3 days ahead of my payment due date and made a payment with my paypal card. I spoke with a woman. She gave me a confirmation #. I received a phone call this morning . The man told me that my payment was late.
I told him I had called it in 3 days before the payment was due. He said no you called in to say that you were going to pay it in 3 days. I said now why would I call in to tell you I am going to pay my bill in 3 days when it wasn't even due yet. I gave him the confirmation # the woman gave me. He spoke with someone esle that was there with him and said she has a comfirmation number. I heard a man say tell her that isn't our confirmation number. What I am doing is canceling paypal card that I made the payment with. Paypal said they had not made an attempt to take the payment. They charged me a late fee for not paying the card on time $60.00. Isn't there someone in Washington that looks into this type of business. It is criminal.
I ABSOLUTELY HATE CREDIT ONE! WHEN I FIRST RECEIVED MY CREDIT ONE CARD, I ASKED IF THEY PROVIDED ACCOUNT INSURANCE, I WAS TOLD NO. ONE DAY, CHECKING MY BALANCE THE AUTOMATED SYSTEM NICELY TOLD ME THAT I WAS NOT PROTECTED AND IF I WANTED TO SIGN UP. SIGNING UP WITH THE CREDIT PROTECTION, I PAID MY BILLS FOR YEARS ON TIME. WHEN MY TIME OF HARDSHIP OCCURRED, THEY DID NOT PROTECT ME AT ALL! SO, I ENDED UP WITH A BUNCH OF LATE FEES, OVER LIMIT FEES, AND THEY CONTINUED TO BILL ME FOR PROTECTION! FINALLY, THEY CANCELED MY CARD AND ABSOLUTELY DESTROYED MY CREDIT SCORE. I WENT FROM A 703 TO A NICE 396! THANK YOU CREDIT ONE!
On 9/2/08 I made my payment on line and received a confirmation number. Today 9/17/08 I receive a call stating that my payment was not made and that I could make a payment over the phone. When I told them that I had made a payment and had a confirmation number I was informed that that number ment nothing and that even if I had a print out of the receipt it was no good. I did not feel that I should have to pay a 29.00 late fee when my payment was not late. I spoke with a supervisor whom also informed me they could not track a confirmation number and he would not remove the late fee.
I work in collections in MA and know that the fee could of been waived very easly and that a confirmation number can be track.
Needless to say - I did call back had the 29.00 fee waived and closed my account with them.
The same thing happened to me! I made a minimum payment online because I was out of town and received a conf. number. The payment never went through and I never knew because I had a number. They told me I should have kept up with my account, but if you sit down one day and pay all your bills and have conf. #'s, you don't exactly think you have to check up on it.
Now they have reported me to Experian for that and I called to dispute, telling them had a conf. # and they said I typed in the wrong sec. code for my debit card. I don't understand why I got a conf. # if the card supposedly wasn't even valid. Now it's on my credit even though I attempted timely payment. Just when I was rebuilding credit . RIDICULOUS!
This happened to me in Sept. 08, too.
I have had my credit one card for a year. had a zero balance for about 5 months hadn't used it in that time. Then it was maxed out through PayPal overnight. I assume fraud . They canceled the card and sent me a new one with a new account number. I activated the card and two weeks later it was maxed out again through PayPal. Canceled again and new card sent. I have never used this card online. I am afraid to activate the new card feels like something weird is going on on there end
This just happened to me: I am trying to rebuild credit. So I got this card about 3 months ago and paid it full everytime. Then they raised my limit : I never exceeded half the limit and was attempting to pay the bill fully. I tried to make the payment 3 times, in which, Credit one states that it was rejected because of NSF-- however, I never got any notice for that. Then, I got a message saying they need to verify deposits. I verified the deposits and went online to pay off my balance (less than 380)- The online system states I have exceeded the limit to make payments.
Today I called because they deactivated my account online and stated I need a bank validation letter- WTF. I am trying to pay off a full balance and now I need a letter.. However, they said they would be able to take the payment with my debit card over the phone. (but the account would still be closed) .. At this point, I might as well wait till they send it to collections..
These rooster suckers are using these strong arm mafia type tactics. Asking for statement information they already have along with the payment they received. Just because they can’t get all those fees they were planning on cause I think up because you pay your bill every month like a responsible person. I think a class action lawsuit needs to be filed against them. They should be suspended from the market from even having any type banking of this type.