What's in your wallet?

A review by nigelblue on Capital One Premier
September 17th, 2003

Author's product rating:

Competitiveness of APR Good
Product package Good
Quality of Customer Service Good
Reward Scheme poor
Additional Charges very high
Security and Privacy good
Ease of Application good

Pros: On line application. Good web site.
Cons: No 0% of transfers

Recommend to potential buyers: yes

Full review
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As I was browsing about the home page looking for a suitable product to review I came across the credit card section. One of my first ops was on Egg and since then I have acquired another. I know some of you may be saying, why 2 cards, well actually I have 3 but that’s another story. I no longer need to but getting a new card means that sometimes you can transfer balances to another card for 0% interest for usually 3 months. Very handy if you need time to find the money to pay off a balance. In some instances this could be a saving of hundreds if you have a high balance.

Now to the Capitol One card. There are four cards and depending on your credit history and your income there is one for you. There is the Platinum, Premier and Classic. There is one more and that is the Lifestyle card, this is for anything from cat lovers to football lovers and can be used by people with good credit history or ones that need to build theirs up.

I needed to transfer my balance from Bank of Scotland to a card that gave me some months of interest free. I applied to several and was being turned down, as I am not a high earner. One day an advert popped up on screen and it was for Capitol One. The web site was simple to understand and I decided to apply on line. It asked me if I wished to transfer any outstanding balances off and there was a section for me to put in all my amounts I wished to transfer. This I did thinking that they would issue card and then ask me to transfer. Wrong!

I waited for a couple of weeks and a letter arrived from them to say I had been accepted in principal and would inform me at a later date of there decision. True to word another letter arrived and informed me that I was now the owner of a Premium card with a credit limit of £2300. I opened the web site as instructed and checked my account details. I was most surprised to see that they had already transferred my balance from my other card. Great I thought, this saves me work.

I am a silly soul sometimes and do not always read the agreement details but something made me take a good look. Now was I surprised to see that they were not giving me 3 months interest free but were going to charge me 16.9% APR or 1.31% monthly? I found out that you only get that sort of deal with a Platinum card. I am a bit miffed by now and realise that I will be paying more in interest than my old card.
Yes I would be getting 0% on purchases for 3 months and then paying 13.9% APR on purchases but unless I could get rid of my starting balance I would be financially worse off.

Fortunately I had an ISA so I cashed it in and paid off the card. I noticed recently that they are now advertising a rate of 6.9% for the duration of the advance, which seems a reasonable deal. My entire fault I suppose for not reading things properly.

Now some details.

Capitol is now with Mastercard. (The above picture says Visa)
No annual fee.
0% on first 3 months purchases.
6.9% on balance transfers fixed for the life of balance. Balances can be transferred from other cards and store cards.
13.9% on purchases after 3 months.
No Internet fraud liability if your account number is used without your authority.
Can be used to make cash withdrawals from any machine carrying the Mastercard logo.
20.5% on cash withdrawals.
All rates are variable.
Capital One also does savings and travel insurance.
Statements are sent by post but you can check your account on line. It is advisable to pay any minimum payment by Direct Debit. Payments can also be paid on line if your bank has this facility.
Penalties. Late or failure to pay - £20. Overlimit-£20. Returned cheque-£20. Over limit charge-£20. Foreign currency charge-2.75%.

You can log on at www.capitolone.co.uk

All in all not a bad credit card company as they seem to keep up with change but unlike me check before you sign

Capital One Platinum

How Low Can They Go?

A review by Andy0304 on Capital One Platinum
September 15th, 2004

Author's product rating:

Competitiveness of APR Excellent
Product package Good
Quality of Customer Service Good
Reward Scheme very poor
Additional Charges average
Security and Privacy good
Ease of Application excellent

Pros: Interest Rate, No Fraud Liability, Choice of Statement Dates
Cons: Minimum payment of 3%

Recommend to potential buyers: yes

Full review
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Over the past few years I have become one of those people who won’t stick to credit cards for very long, I like to switch between those that can get me a better offer time and time again. It can be a lot of hassle at times when it comes to the balance transfer and applying to new credit card companies etc but sometimes worth while.

It was then, thanks to a flyer through my door I came across the Capital One Platinum card. One which apparently has a very low interest rate that stays low permanently. I had my doubts to begin with but if that was the case as that sounded like too great an offer. It was at that point I decided to have a look on their website rather than just go ahead and apply as this would give me definite information.

This clarified for me that it was 0% for the first 6 months on purchases and 3.9% for any balance that I wanted to transfer to them which would last for the life of the balance transfer and for the first 6 months I could make as many transfers as I like at that same rate. Fantastic offer I thought. But what made this card different? What made it different is that instead of the APR jumping upto around 13%, maybe even 15% it goes upto a very low 6.9%.

This was the lowest rate I had ever found and decided to apply. The application was online and was very straight forward; I was also given the opportunity at that point to enter any balance transfer request I wanted to do. Throughout the application process Capital One was very helpful, they would call to confirm details and send letters informing you of what is happening at every step of the way. Not always you get such good service from credit card companies is it!

Once the card arrived, which was via secure delivery with a courier and not just in the post like some cards arrived. The courier would have to see I.D before he would be allowed to give me the card and I had to sign to confirm I received it. Once opened I also than had to confirm I had received the card by calling Capital One to activate the card where more security checks were carried out. All of which makes you feel better for using them as they have secure procedures in place for this sort of thing.

The statements come through in the same way as every other card does. Capital One asks for a minimum of 3% of the outstanding balance or £5 which ever is the greater. Although this is slightly more than some cards who only ask for 2% I feel it is worth it due to the low interest rates they charge. However if you wish you can change the statement date that your statement is issued.

One thing that did surprise me was that it is not yet a Chip and Pin card it still uses that old signature method as payment. I have had the card for about 4 months now and had already received other chip and pin cards so that was I thought a little bit strange, but no doubt them cards will come about soon.

Something that Capital One pride them selves about is their No Fraud Liability, which basically means that unless you have given someone permission to use your card then you will not be liable for the spending that happens. That is something that I have not had to use of theirs, fortunately and hope I never do but it’s good to know it there if I need it.

Just a bit of advice be careful if you use your card other than for making purchases as if you use it to withdraw cash then you will pay the price. That is 20.5% APR for the withdrawal plus a handling fee doing so of 1.5% with a minimum of £2 so that withdrawal could turn out to be quite expensive. But other than that this is certainly a card I would recommend and the great thing is you can either get your balance on line or call the automated phone system!

Capital One Bank Circle Mastercard

Only card i've ever had

Competitiveness of APR: Good
Product package: Good
Quality of Customer Service: Acceptable
Reward Scheme: good
Additional Charges: average
Security and Privacy: good
Ease of Application: excellent

Pros: Nice designs, interest free period, easy to sign up
Cons: Fairly steep late payment charges

Recommend to potential buyers: yes

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I signed up to this card because I myself was advertising the cards on my site. It was the first credit card i had applied for and didn't realise how difficult it could be at my age to get one. They signed me up with no problems at all and i was sent my personally designed card within a week. I had £1000 credit limit (whether this was a good thing or not i'm not sure).

The first 6 months were interest free and worked out really good value. I only had to pay for interest on Euros that i bought using the card.

I pay the bill by internet banking and it is very easy, with payments being processed within a couple of days of being sent. Their internet site is easy to use with full statement information on the site.

Unfortunately due to a holiday i was late on one of my payments and it was then i found out the charges for late payments but i would suspect this would be the same for all cards. Their interest rate is 1.66% for me on purchases and cash.

If you have a low credit rating or fairly low income they seem to be a good bet and they will still offer you very competitive rates.