CapitalOne CreditInform Nightmare!!
Today I decided to replace my CapitalOne credit card with my new Amazon.com Visa (Chase) card for all my day to day spendings due to various benefits. I did not cancel the CapitalOne credit card as it might bring down my credit score. So decided to just stop using and moving all my automatic bill payments to my new card. I decided to stop CreditInform service (a credit-theft protection service provided by CapitalOne) which I was wanting to discontinue long back. But I tell you, cancelling this was real harrasing.
I did some googling and found that lot of people have trouble discontinuing CreditInform.
So I called up CreditInform contact-us (1-866-226-3745) to discontinue the service. To my surprise I had to answer a lot more questions to verify my authenticity to cancel a CreditInform than to get a credit card. They asked me the following
- Complete SSN
- Date of Birth
- First and Last Name
- Current Mailing Address
- Current and Previous Phone number
- Account numbers of 2 accounts (other than CapitalOne) monitored by CreditInform
It was scary and I am not sure if it is required for me to answer all these stuff to an operator. With the above information I am sure there can be an Identity Theft. She was about to ask more questions but I thought this was enough and started asking her the reason why I was asked this much information just for canceling. She kept on pestering me that its for complete verification of my account. But I still cannot understand what other information is required for verification to just cancel a CreditInform service. I believe this is just to discourage and harass customers from canceling the account. Truely I was foolish in the first place to signup for that service when it was free for first 3 months and was billed $9 for this never used feature since 2 years. A classic trap of introductory offers. But I could never believe that it will be so tough to cancel a service especially when they mention that cancelling the service is very easy. Atlast I was able to hear from her after a lot of special offers that the service is discontinued for me. I still doubt that this is taken care of completely as other users in the forums mentioned that their cards are still charged for CreditInform and they had to cancel the credit card to stop it.
So if you are doing the same make sure to take a note of
- Confirmation Number
- Operator’s Name
- Date of cancellation
for your records and make sure that the service is actually cancelled and not charged in the next billing periods (which I still need to monitor)
I strongly discourage any others out there who are using CapitalOne credit card to not fall in this trap. This is just a rip-off and they constantly rob your account month after month and you will not notice. And when you notice and want to get rid off it you are hassled. CapitalOne is a big NO NO for me in future.
Saw your blog. Good stuff man. I will keep following it. I do have capital one though. I enjoy the miles I get from it.
I have had the same problems with CreditInform! Horribly harrassing service provider! I can get the same services online for free instead of paying $5.99 per month. Plus, CapitalOne has a $0 Fraud Policy that they are obligated to comply with if your account/card is stolen. You do NOT have to give CreditInform your entire SSN, infact I refused. They do however keep you on the phone for what feels like hrs. so that you will give up and not cancel their services.
Yes, I have many capital one nightmares. They flat out REFUSED to cancel my account after I paid off my whole balance in one big chunk. I even paid 20$ over my balance in anticipation of their 10 pay by phone fee. O should have had a credit on my account. Instead, they would NOT say my account was closed. They charged me the 9.95 for the pay by phone fee anyways, even though I overpaid them. I talked to about 4 different managers, all telling me different stories. I even got a confirmation number from a manager named Jennifer saying that I would not owe them anymore money. I paid off my card in November. I am still getting statements for late payments, charges I did not make, this is probably screwing my credit DESPITE paying them off plus some in full. Whatever you do- DO NOT GET A CAPITAL ONE CREDIT CARD. As for the credit inform thing, I signed up for that and NEVER recieved a credit score statement from Credit Inform. I was supposed to get a quarterly review. I NEVER got any statement or correspondence from credit inform. The CAPITAL ONE company is a COMPLETE SCAM. It has been a COMPLETE NIGHTMARE and I am about to get a lawyer to handle my situation. Screw capital one.
I am currently trying to cancel my CreditInform account. I have been on hold for over 3 hours now. I called on a different phone (other phone still on hold) and tried bypassing their touchtone service by demanding to speak to an operator, and have been hung up on 3 times now.
I had this same problem with CreditInform. My suggestion for getting rid of them (this worked beautifully for me) is to not bother calling them at all. If you do they’ll just ignore it and keep charging you. What I did was send them a letter (not an email) requesting that my account with them be terminated and all charges against my credit card from their company stopped upon their receipt of the letter. I included only the account information given to me on the website, no social security number or anything. I also signed the letter and sent it via certified mail (and kept a photo-copy of the signed letter for myself). It’s been 3 months and I haven’t had a charge from them show up on my card. And if they do try to charge me now, I have grounds for taking legal action against them (not without proper legal council first, of course).
I requested creditinform to cancel their services 8/30/09. It was the most exasperating experience I have ever had. It got to a point where I tape recorded my request and the representative assurance that the services were cancelled. Now I will use my recording it needed regarding any further charges.
Cancelling CreditInform was a pain in the neck. I noticed that they were charging my credit card twice some months. They also charged my card again the day I cancelled. Capital One will not let me dispute the charge, since CreditInform is a subsidiary of Capital One. So I am going to pay off my Capital One card this month and cancel it! I am tired of having companies steel from me!
@Carra I completely agree! When I decided to cancel my CreditInform, I would have to hang up because 1.) I was on hold so long that I had to return to work, or 2.) The operator wouldn’t even come back on the line. It’s rediculous!
I was on and off the phone with cancelling them.. was not asked for a full SSN (just last 4), nor previous phone number, nor any other account information, nor DOB.. only items asked for other than partial SSN, was my name and address and current phone on the Capital one account.
Now whether or not I’ll have to call back and again is to be seen… but it seemed smooth to me.. might be the individual operator…
Just wanted to say I called CreditInform (the operator guy happened to be really nice.) They asked for a phone number to find the account, and my name, address, and last four digits of SSN. Asking for the whole SSN would be pretty intrusive but I don’t mind giving part to prove I am in fact who I say I am. It took like 2 minutes, no hassle, I figure people bitching might have actually worked.
Sorry to hear about your troubles with Capital One, but to go over to Chase is really jumping from the frying pan to the fire. Everyone I know who has a Chase account has been screwed by them since they took over Washington Mutual. Services went down (WAMU used to provide FREE credit monitoring), interests rates went up (mine jumped from 11% to an obscene 29.99% after I was late on a single payment–which was the result of their website being down during the switchover), and finally, they just chopped my account limit by more than half because I only owe $34 and I don’t use the card much. Who would at 30% interest? I can get a WAY better rate from the mafia. Anyway, I had had enough of the clowns at Chase and cancelled the card just now. I am not going to sit around and wait for them to find some way to charge my account for some BS like a “non-activity fee.” By contrast, Capital One has treated me fairly all along…they are actually behaving responsibly toward the consumer (in my case at least) and not just trying to scam us. In closing, I would like to extend a hearty “GFY” to the scum known as Chase Bank. You lost a customer, you lost money. My credit rating won’t even feel the “hit” you tried to threaten me with on the phone.
I just called CreditInform to cancel their services and the operator was not rude. However, after hearing my wish to discontinue, I was given a list of reasons for keeping their service. As some of the users here had mentioned, they asked for information to verify your identity (last for digits of SS#, address, number, name), but were not being pushy. They then give you the last day of their services and so you might have to pay that last charge they have on your account.
I just canceled (hopefully!) my CreditInform service as well and had a similar experience as Donna above. Got through to an operator right away and told her I wanted to cancel my account. She attempted to dissuade me but I told her I did not want to debate it and she got right down to canceling it. I was asked for my name, phone #, address, and last 4 digits of SSN. Operator’s name was Armie, she was not rude or pushy at all. She said that the services were canceled effective today, and that I would not be charged again. She did not offer a confirmation number, so I had to ask for it specifically – make sure you get this when canceling! Asked for her to spell her name for me. I was expecting a more nightmarish ordeal based on some of the earlier posts, but it went very smoothly for me….that is, if things actually did get canceled. I’ll wait about a month or two and report here what ends up happening.
Thanks for the tip.Shall keep in mind.I was about to subscribe.
Just cancelled my Credit Inform service, and it was actually a lot smoother than I had expected. I was able to connect to the operator right away both times.
At first I had a really pushy operator who literally talked for 15 minutes on why I should not cancel. I told her I still wanted to cancel and she then started talking about other companies and how they charge more than Capital One for the same service. My phone ended up dying and the call got cut.
So I called again dreading hearing the same thing over. I was pleasantly surprised! I had an operator by the name of Vincent, and I told him I just talked to an operator and the call got cut. He asked where she left off, and I told him right near the end, haha. He actually laughed and got my info. I was on the phone for 2 minutes and everything was settled. He also didn’t offer the confirmation number, so I had to ask. Hopefully I don’t keep getting charged.