"they have already auto-enrolled me in an absolutely useless program. I had to call them and argue with the rep to have it taken off my account."

What program was this and what were you charged for it? You prolly went to a website or called a number for a promotional material and they pulled a fee on you. That is my assumption. Share more details on this so we can see what happened.

Any such violations of the terms and conditions and contractual obligations on the part of Capital One will force me to file BBB complaints, attorney general complaints and a small claims lawsuit if absolutely necessary with documentation.

Chase violated these terms and conditions with me constantly but I continued to use them and continued to press forward with them and got promotions and benefits from them after getting the issues resolved and some involved complaints.

Keep written documetation of everything is key, call in to confirm existing obligations and the like. Legal recourse and options are available and you will prevail in the end.

With Capital One, the opposite has been true for me. There has been no violations and in fact things have been better than I have expected to date.

Could I be getting a differing level of service quality than other users or are premium tiered accounts treated differently?

You think Chase is better? Think again. My experience with them was total opposite what I have experienced from Capital One to date. I have not had any issues with Capital One so far but I just got the Credit Card. With banking, system has worked smoothly with no problems or issues.

While you claim you had issues with Capital One and I assume the credit card division, I had lots of issues with Chase and the Credit Card division.

Capital One tends now to be going for a more upscale crowd with its Venture One and making consumers mad rather than establishing a long term relationship is not a good way to gain business nor growth of the company.

Capital One pulls a stunt like this on my card and they are going down hard. FTC Complaint. BBB Complaint, lawsuit in small claims court to reverse fees and the like. I don't expect it will happen to me.

I didn't keep record of it. I had already been warned about Cap so knew to keep a lookout. I wasn't charged for anything in the end, and I can't be bothered to file a BBB claim. If it happens again, I will just close the card.

Cap is (relatively) new to NYC, and they definitely do not have an "upscale" reputation. I've always thought of Cap as a bank that appeals to the less than financially stable crowd, but that might just be my (mis)perception. I've been with Chase for years and have been rather happy now that they've finally merged their "systems."

You wre correct in assuming I was referring to Cap CC services. I do not have any other accounts with them. Honestly, it doesn't make sense in NY as they still have few ATMs and branches when compared to Chase.

You said it happened yet provide no further details so I and others can presume it didn't happen unless you provide further detail.

As far as Capital One being new to New York City, this again is a misnomer. The bank has been in New York City for years under the name of "North Fork Bank and Superior Savings of New England". Capital One acquired them in 2008 and as such the brand is not as familiar as that of North Fork and Superior Savings.

Total branch density for Chase is higher in NYC, but it depends on the locations one uses their bank. Capital One has much higher interest rates and better offerings now. Why? Free checking and higher interest rates with next day transfer capability and linkage with their Venture Card with rewards on the card and my checking.

HSBC has more automation and a 1.10% APY on Savings and more branches here in town and sometimes has sweet promotional offerings on certain accounts at times.

Both banks get my deposits and I have CC's with both as well but the HSBC offering as of today is subtier for CC unless I had an HSBC Premier relationship.

Would it be nice if Capital One expanded their branch footprint further in NYC Metro? Could use a few more branches in key areas but having branches too close to each other serves no purpose and only provides a detriment to the company by having too much overlap and unneeded resources. With Chase I walk by and find multiple Chase branches way too close together. Not only is such not needed, it is costing customers in terms of perks offered and in terms of the rate of savings offered in the long term.

Chase has amongst the lowest rate in the industry right now on deposit products.

In this current economy, subprime lending has dried up and banks are concentrating on super prime customers and are vying hard for those dollars.

The people I know who use Capital One branches include highly educated individuals and are not low end customers by any means. So yes this is a "mis" perception. The collegiate commercial that Capital One had was a decent marketting commercial but those other commercials which represent the vast majority are really annoying with those viking men or other humans portrayed as acting stupid.

I won't use a bank which appeals to a lower end crowd. But lower end generally implies check cashing. To me lower end would imply lower rates and I would consider Chase to be a lower end bank.

Most banks fight for high quality customers equally, just that each bank has differing rate tiers and service levels.

Anyone offering Visa Signature or World MasterCard tiers are not banks which are looking for the lower end of the spectrum.

Most banks do in fact draw from botton to top but HSBC's tier doesn't include a Visa Signature or Mastercard World on its CC division except perhaps on its HSBC Premier line I presume.

And also the subprime are less profitable so banks want to focus on the higher end customers especially as subprime lending has dried up.

If you want to take "Upscale" in New York Metro, Wachovia would have to be the more upscale because of its branch locations in wealthier markets which wound up merging with Wells Fago. However Capital One does have branches in some wealthier areas as well.

It will be interesting to see how Capital One did with its deposit marketshare for NYC Metro. Figures should be out soon.

Upscale really has to be defined and parsed into what you actually mean.

But Capital One does have a very significant amount of deposits in the New York Metro area and is a top 10 player in the region.

I prefer cards rewarded in dollars rather than points. It's harder to devalue dollars.


In my wallet:

Costco AMEX 3% gas, resturants 2% travel, 1% everything else. The annual fee is also the Costco annual fee, which I'd spend anyway.

Discover for their 5% promos, plus they have some discount gift cards. I usually spend these at Crutchfield. The gift cards used to be a better deal than they are now.

Capital One MC - No FOREX fee. Otherwise a boring 1%.



In my Lock box against a day of need:

Citi AADvantage MC - Got for the promo. Will drop when the fee comes 'round.

Citi AT&T VISA - Lousy rewards. It is my oldest CC, so I keep it barely alive to maintain my credit score.

Chase Subaru MC - 3% in Subaru bucks. Mrs Scubadiver loves her new Outback.

AMEX Blue - I got this to try out the smart-card chip. Don't use it now. No fee so I don't cancel it.

"I prefer cards rewarded in dollars rather than points. It's harder to devalue dollars."

This belief is false and incorrect.

Chase Freedom was 3% cashback on top 3 purchases and was reduced to a 1% Cashback card on all purchases.

HSBC had a 5% cashback for $5000 charged card which was reduced to a 1% straight cashback.

The banks will find a way to devalue both miles and cashback programs equally and in fact they have but on the other side of the coin some banks have increased the value of their mileage programs.

So I wouldn't hesitate to use miles over dollars if the current percentages were in line.

Capital One actually lowered the points needed to obtain points rather than increasing it since I had the Rewards Checking account and that lowering allowed me to cash in a reward on the account.

Chase allows on ultimate rewards to switch between cashback and points, but I don't know what effect this has. My rewards are shown in dollars and points.

I wasn't aware I had to keep records in order to pass on to bitter FTers. My sincere apologies.

May I ask where you live in Manhattan?

deleted.

What did you delete?

"May I ask where you live in Manhattan?"

Sorry, will not disclose information like that nor will say where I live.

We can have an honest chatter with members here, but personal information isn't relevant.

And like I said, I am not loyal to any specific bank. I use or have used various offerings, and they are more actively competing for business now with various rewards programs and may the best player win and the candidates for each and every person will differ as no one size fits all.

Would you consider getting the Penfed Amex or Promise, no forex?

I am going to have to side with scubadiver...

Cash is cash... they may change the % of cashback... but unlike points, a dollar is a dollar... Points or miles can decrease in value...

Example: 25k miles for a round-trip ticket one day and 50k miles the next for the same ticket.... even though the ticket is still worth $400... miles required increased.... value decreased...

Costco Amex is my favorite... It's my version of the SPG card....

I see what you are saying but the percentage of cash back can decrease over time and cash required for redemption can also change.

At any rate my choice has been made and is a mileage based card.

Another advantage of cash is its ease of use. With points, there is extra effort required to cash in. So points have to be much better than cash to be attractive to me.

I was merely pointing out that in order to discuss convenience of banks in Manhattan, one must know Manhattan as a New Yorker. We do not drive here. We WANT to see a branch or ATM vestibule every few blocks, as most New Yorkers don't have the time nor desire to walk seven blocks in the wrong direction just to withdraw some cash. So, when discussing CapitalOne in a New York context, it is very relevant to know whether or not you live in Manhattan or are posting from afar.

On Costco Amex there is no minimum... You get all of what you earned...

True... Capital One since 2008 doesn't really cover it... Chase aka Chase Manhattan Bank should have the upper hand...