Upheld: poor customer service and failure to provide appropriate support to vulnerable customer complaint against Capital One (Europe) plc

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs L complained that Capital One treated her unfairly when she contacted the firm on 9 December 2025 to disclose mental health difficulties and financial hardship and to request 'Breathing Space' support. Capital One's live-chat agent failed to provide appropriate help or signposting, instead directing her to call when she was unable to do so. Following a missed payment, Mrs L's credit file was negatively impacted. The ombudsman upheld the complaint regarding poor service but rejected the request to remove the missed payment marker, as Capital One's internal support scheme does not prevent credit file reporting of missed payments. The ombudsman awarded £100 compensation for distress and inconvenience caused by the ten-day delay in receiving appropriate support.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Capital One failed to provide appropriate support and signposting when Mrs L reached out during a time of vulnerability. However, the ombudsman determined that even with correct support on 9 December 2025, the missed payment marker would still have been applied to the credit file because Capital One's internal support scheme does not prevent credit file reporting of missed payments. The ombudsman concluded that while Capital One let Mrs L down by delaying appropriate support by ten days, it remedied this in a reasonable timeframe, and the credit file issue was not caused by the service failure. Therefore, compensation for distress and inconvenience was appropriate, but removal of the credit file marker was not.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website