Woman sues after $287M credit card bill

[Zephie]

PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- A Pennsylvania woman's lawsuit against Capital One claims she was harassed for months over an erroneous $286,651,237 credit card bill.

The Philadelphia court lawsuit filed by Patrice Perry, 58, alleges the company used "terroristic debt-collection methods" while dunning her, family members and co-workers for months to collect on an erroneous debt, the Philadelphia Daily News reported Tuesday.

Craig Kimmel, Perry's attorney, said Capital One first sent an erroneous bill for $4,807 in May 2009 and the amount the bank claimed she owed fluctuated wildly between months.

"It's not your typical scenario, where you'd expect if they were pursing debt with interest it would only go up," Kimmel said. "It went down and up and down and up. The only thing I can associate with that is that they were trying to confuse my client."

The suit is seeking $286,651,237, the same amount Capital One claimed Perry owed.

A Capital One spokeswoman said the company is working to correct the "human error" in Perry's case.

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2010/12/14/Woman-sues-after-287M-credit-card-bill/UPI-19271292370432/

[Broderick]

1. why not... nt

[dkf]

2. The balance went down and up and down and up?

Wow that is crazy.

[csziggy]

3. Here is more complete coverage of what Capital One did to this woman

Capital One violates the FDCPA

Posted on Dec 15, 2010 by CHESSNOID in Credit Card, FICO, Recession | 2 Comments

Many creditors have their collection agents violate the FDCPA all the time. That includes all the big companies. Here is an example of the actions they took against this consumer.

Collections:

A woman saying she was harassed by Capital One for a disputed $4,000 credit card debt has filed suit after the bank demanded more than $ 286 million dollars. Attorney Craig Thor Kimmel of Kimmel and Silverman, P.C., an Ambler-based consumer law firm, has filed the suit on behalf of Patrice Perry in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. (Case ID# 101200540, Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas)

According to the complaint, Capital One first demanded Perry pay $3,845 for purchases on a credit card. Perry disputed the debt and turned the letter over to her family lawyer, who wrote Capital One to cease and desist contacting Perry directly. Disregarding the letter, Capital One allegedly stepped up collection efforts, placing more calls to Perry and claiming that it was doing so because the lawyer did not make a substantial settlement offer to resolve the account. Telephone calls were made to her home and workplace, where she alleges, her employer does not allow personal calls.

Subsequently, Perry received more letters, each demanding different amounts, some higher than others, all threatening legal action if not paid promptly. The letters failed to state how the varying amounts were calculated or if amounts sought were based upon any contract between Capital One and Perry authorizing such charges. After a second cease and desist letter from the family lawyer was disregarded, Capital One in response sent a letter demanding immediate payment of $286,651,237 from Perry. The letter went on to instruct Perry to mail full payment in the envelope provided. It was at this time that Perry’s family lawyer contacted Kimmel, who assumed representation.

The complaint alleges the $286 million demand was so outrageous that it could not be the result of a computer glitch, and that it required human intervention to be sent. Perry alleges the basis for sending it was embarrass, humiliate, intimidate and cause emotional distress, of amounts incapable of being understood.

http://www.totalnoid.com/2010/12/15/capital-one-violates-the-fdcpa/

[lpbk2713]

4. I could think of a lot of names to call credit card providers.

But "human" would never make the list.

[Kolesar]

5. Love that lawyer

Ask for a quarter million dollars :thumbsup:

[TransitJohn]

8. quarter billion n/t

n/t

[KansDem]

6. You know, this just goes to show how fucked-up the system has become...

Somebody...somewhere...in the CapOne machinery should have recognized that this was an error on their part...that such an amount could never have been run up by a card holder.

But yet, A Capital One spokeswoman said the company is working to correct the "human error" in Perry's case. What's there to "correct?" Just reduce the card holder's amount to "zero" and be done with it...

$286,651,237.00? Un-fucking-believable...

[napi21]

11. I bet all tese collection jobs have been outsourced, and the

people doing the jobs don't have any idea what $286 mill means. I dont have much confidence in her atty. either. He should have been able to contact someone in authority at Cap One a long time before it reached this stage.

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. Capital One is lower than a snake's rectum.

Mr. d had one of their cards back in 1999.
We closed it, complete with a legal closure letter, the one where you TELL them you want no further card solicitations, letters, anything from them.


We are STILL getting solicitation letters from them, even after we moved across the country.
Then and Discover, same thing.

[CatWoman]

15. I get a solicitation letter from them at least once a week

and they go straight in the garbage.

[MedicalAdmin]

22. Do they come with that handy little envelope with postage gauranteed.

If they do then don't throw it out. Stuff it with the rest of your junk mail. And then mail it back to them on their dime. Make sure the envelope is overstuffed so they get charged extra.

Or if you have a little extra time and a bit of spite you could do what my buddy did. He had remodeled his house and took out a ton of water damaged brick and so he had all these bricks stacked in his back yard to get rid of (they were falling apart and crumbly) and he put one in a box every time he got one of those solicitations, slapped the envelope on the box and mailed it. He got rid of an entire 3 foot by 4 foot by six foot stack of bricks that way one or 2 at a time and the best part was that the solicitors ended up paying about $10 per package.

I'm sure others on here can give you creative and mean ideas as well.

[CatWoman]

24. that is sooooo devious

I LOVE it!! :rofl:

[Statistical]

26. you might be interested in this: OptOutPreScreen.com

https://www.optoutprescreen.com/?rf=t

By default the credit agencies sell your credit reports to companies like capital one. They run queries against all existing credit reports and send offers to you when there is a match.

You can almost eliminate all these by opting out. Haven't got a credit card offer in years. If you opt out they need to send an offer without looking at your credit report and that usually has a lower ROI%.

[CatWoman]

28. thanks very much

:hi:

[LiberalFighter]

9. Someone high up in the collection agency and Capitol One needs to go prison.

[unblock]

10. notwithstanding the allegation that it couldn't be a computer glitch,

a bill for $286,651,237 looks VERY MUCH like a computer glitch to me.

one might HOPE that such things are prevented by adequate quality assurance and that large bills are flagged for human sign-off.

but it's far more plausible that this was a computer glitch, like the total owed on a whole bunch of accounts.

frankly i can't imagine a human intervening to CREATE a debt like that. i would think a human would more likely create a large but plausible number, like $28,651.23, or an implausibly large but rounded number, like $250,000,000.



in any event, it's ridiculous that capital one couldn't manage any human intervention to fix this obviously incorrect debt.

[delightfulstar]

12. Cap One seems to do that a lot...

But maybe not to this extent. That's the GDP of some countries, not the alleged debt of an obviously fleeced consumer. Someone needs to be brought to justice for this one, and heads will certainly roll. I smell class-action in the future from other past Cap One customers, after this suit is settled. I hope Ms. Perry and her family get the justice they're looking for, because nobody hould be subjected to that kind of abuse.

[madmax]

13. I sincerely hope she wins... nt

[dickthegrouch]

14. The only way I could get rid of Cap One

Was to tell the credit agencies explicitly that they were refused permission to tell Capital One anything about me. This after I discovered queries by them on my credit record three or four times a week over a period of more than a year. They were using those queries to send me 3 or 4 credit offers a week. And supposedly justifying the offers by knowing that I had a great record of repayment.

I accused them of building an unauthorized dossier of my spending habits and sent a cease and desist order to Cap One. Crossed fingers, I have heard nothing from them in years and I'll sue everyone involved if they EVER successfully query my account again.

[mainer]

17. How did you find out they were making queries?

I wouldn't know how to even find out that information.

[myrna minx]

25. If you choose to view your own credit report, you can see all of the inquiries

of your credit history. It can be rather startling, actually.

[Blue_In_AK]

29. You can check this website:

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp once a year to check your credit report with the three main credit reporting companies. It doesn't give a credit score, but it does show your history and who's been making inquiries. My husband just checked his last night and found that DiscoverCard has been checking him over and over and sending credit card offers.

Also we have been getting an automated call from something called HSW Financial about a delinquency that we know nothing about, which is why he was checking his report. There's nothing there, so we kind of figure that maybe they're trying to find someone with my husband's same name and are calling all of them across the US.

[mainer]

16. My Capital One story

I was traveling abroad when I lost my credit card. Sat in a parking lot, on the line with Capital One, trying to close my account. They wouldn't let me do it. They transferred me to three different representatives (while I'm on a cell phone -- LONG DISTANCE!!!) For a half hour, they kept trying to rebuff me, telling me I wasn't who I said I was, and asking me to prove it by asking which cars we owned, what the license numbers were (I mean, WTF?) and what models they were. We didn't use a damn Capital One credit card to buy any of those cars, but they seemed to know all about them. Which is, in and of itself, very creepy. Finally I yelled at them, "I lost my credit card, I'm sitting in a parking lot in the UK, trying to protect your company from fraudulent charges, so why are you interrogating me about details that have nothing to do with my account?"

When I got home I signed up for an American Express card instead. Never any trouble with them.

[mainer]

18. This site says Capital One won't let you close an account!

They'll do anything to make you keep your card -- even ignoring requests to close the account.

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/capital-one-credit-card-company-c7208.html?sort=datea&page=5

[Hawkeye-X]

21. My Capital One account is in debt settlement

and this one has been in arrears for over 9 months because they were charging too much over the top of my balance. Max balance is $500, and it's already over $1,000 in arrears.

It's also the first one that is going to be negotiated under the system I'm in. They're going to have to eat about 40-60% of the balance and sign off on the settlement.

[dickthegrouch]

30. To put a stop to that, do what I did with Citi

I sent a letter to the US Senate banking and finance committee (cc Citi of course) including the card number and a complete history of their transgressions.
In one day the card was closed tighter than a drum because the card number was now public record.

Fight them with their own rules. That's what I do. Read the rules meticulously and then ask them to tell you which part of the rules they are invoking: Revision number of the rules they are quoting, section, page number, line number if you have to.

Then BURY them. I have no formal legal training and I've beaten Citi and Capital One at their game to the extent that Citi changed their account closure notices to prevent others from invoking the same claims of fraud on their part.

Good luck

[bengalherder]

23. It's true.

I had to close mine out something like three times. They kept sending me bills for a few cents balance 'owed' plus a late fee or something that slipped thru because they held my last payment of a few cents that I 'owed'.

My husband finally told them to get stuffed. It's been three years and I'm only now starting to get mail from them again.

[mwooldri]

27. Standard meme from them is "we'll close the account when @ a $0 bal".

That's about it. I think you can get out of the membership fees by "cancelling" but that's about it. Cap One will report your account open until there's a month of zero billing.

[Javaman]

19. Brazil. nt

[Yo_Mama]

20. My mother once got a CC bill for $250,000

It was a processing error in a charge sent through that should have been $250.

She found it a bit startling, although entertaining. I think it was a Mastercard. She just called and had the charges reversed.