Not upheld: incorrect interest charges and alleged misleading information regarding balance transfer offers complaint against Capital One (Europe) plc

Decision detail

Summary

Mr W complained that Capital One charged him interest on a balance transfer despite believing he had applied for a 0% interest for 6 months offer via the mobile app. Capital One confirmed no such personalised offer was available to Mr W and that the interest charge of £21.92 was correctly applied. The ombudsman reviewed the screenshot Mr W provided and found that the 0% offer was presented as an example under a clearly labelled section, and that the application screens displayed the actual interest rate being offered. The complaint was not upheld as the ombudsman found no evidence of error or misleading information.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman reviewed the screenshot and determined that the 0% offer was presented under a section clearly labelled 'Can you give me an example?' which indicated it was an illustrative example rather than a personalised offer. The ombudsman found that the application screens clearly displayed the actual interest rate applicable to Mr W's balance transfer, meaning he was made aware of the true rate before completing the application. Therefore, the information was not misleading and the interest charge was correctly applied.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website