Partially upheld: account management; late fees; temporary card block; lack of forewarning complaint against Capital One (Europe) plc

Decision detail

Summary

Mr H complained to Capital One about multiple issues on his credit card account including late fees, an unexpected card block, CRA reporting, statement dates, and a proposed minimum payment increase. The ombudsman partially upheld the complaint, finding that while late fees were applied in accordance with the terms and subsequently waived, Capital One should have attempted to forewarn Mr H before blocking his card despite being in frequent contact about the fees. The ombudsman rejected complaints about CRA reporting accuracy, statement dates, the minimum payment increase proposal (which did not proceed), and complaint handling procedures. Capital One was ordered to pay £50 compensation for the avoidable distress caused by the unwarned card block.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while Capital One's terms do not guarantee forewarning before a temporary block, only that it will 'try', there was no evidence Capital One attempted to warn Mr H despite being in frequent contact about the late fees. The distress and inconvenience caused by the card declining without warning was avoidable. All other complaints were not upheld as Capital One acted in accordance with its terms and conditions or the issues fell outside the ombudsman's jurisdiction.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website