A user on TikTok has called out Capital One after claiming that the bank removed money from her account to pay bills, and then did not actually complete the payments. To make matters worse, the bank claimed that they could not refund her for 7 to 10 business days.
In a series of viral TikToks, user Becca (@thebeccamurray) says that she got a notification saying that her minimum credit card payment was due. This struck her as odd, as she had already paid the bill.
Confused, she looked at her account to see that the money had already been withdrawn; however, the bill remained unpaid. When she called her bank, Capital One, they noted that there had been an error on their part.
“So I called my bank, and I was like, ‘Hey, what’s up? It looks like you took some money out of my account and didn’t send it to where it was supposed to go,’” Becca recalls. “And they’re like, ‘funny story, we did do that. Yeah, we did take the money out of your account, and it has not gone to where it was supposed to go. So we will open a claim into that, because that’s not how we should do things. And we will credit that money back to your account, and then you can go ahead and repay those bills.’”
Becca was initially satisfied. However, when she asked if the money would be deposited the same day, she says she was told it would take 7 to 10 business days. Furthermore, Becca was told that the issue had occurred because, despite her having adequate funds, her electronic payment had “failed,” though this explanation was not expounded upon. The customer service agent then allegedly informed her that, when she received her money again, she could attempt to pay her bills again via online bill pay.
“Why would I trust you to pay that bill again through online bill pay?” Becca asks. “Because I tried to pay it through online bill pay before, and you did not tell me it did not work through online bill pay.”
“You have two jobs, OK? You keep my money, and then when I want to send my money somewhere, you send it to that place,” she continues. “You are currently failing at 50% of your job.”
Becca was again told that a refund would take 7 to 10 business days.
@thebeccamurray @Capital One ♬ original sound – becca
This isn’t the first viral complaint about Capital One. At the end of last year, a post on the subreddit r/PersonalFinance about the bank accumulated over 3,200 upvotes.
In the post, the user claims that Capital One restricted all of the funds in their bank account, which amounted to over $6,000. When they complained about the issue, they were told that there had been an error and that they were confused with another person with a tax levy against their account.
Despite the fact that this occurred in error, the user was told by Capital One that they were not sure when the money would be returned or how long it would take. It was only after the user emailed the CEO of Capital One with a link to the popular Reddit post that they had their issue promptly resolved.
In the comments section of Becca’s video, users shared their thoughts about Becca’s situation.
“They have no idea how this could absolutely derail someone’s life,” a user wrote.
“It should be illegal for them to ‘hold money’ period, they should credit you their money til they get that money back from that 7-10 business days ends,” offered another.
“Filing complaints with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the OCC is a FAST way to get a resolution here,” noted a third.
Becca later posted two follow-up videos saying that, after her initial video went viral, Capital One promptly resolved the issue. Furthermore, they invited her on a call to discuss her problems with people working at Capital One.
@thebeccamurray Replying to @Jess ♬ original sound – becca
@thebeccamurray Replying to @Sthefany Najera ♬ original sound – becca
Rather than be satisfied that her issue was resolved, Becca explains in the follow-up videos that fixing her individual problem does not fix the issues listed by others in the comments section.
“When they beep boop beeped my money back into my account, i didn’t say thank you, i asked if everyone else got their money back too. or does it take a viral video for them to make things right?” she wrote in the caption of one of her follow-up videos. “There is POLICY that needs to change and at the very least, i can put a bug in their ear while i have it. they cannot buy me off and they will not be getting a word of good press unless they deserve it. and anyone who knows me knows my standards are VERY f*cking high.”
When Becca actually managed to get on the phone with Capital One, she says the results were unsatisfactory.
@thebeccamurray it really felt like they were expecting a “thank you so much for taking the time to listen” I DON’T NEED AN EAR I NEED A CHANGE boy bye
♬ original sound – becca
According to Becca, she was repeatedly told that she was being listened to, though she claimed that few solutions were actually provided to the issues at hand.
“I straight up said, ‘I understand that you are listening, but to be frank, ‘listening and understanding’ is giving very ‘thoughts and prayers’ right now,’” she recalled.
“I like to differentiate between listening and hearing,” she adds later in the video. “They listened. I sincerely doubt that they heard.”
In the comments section of this video, users gave their thoughts about why Capital One decided to get on the phone with her in the first place.
“They thought a live call would keep you from continuing to talk about it,” said a user.
“It’s to appear responsive. Clearly no intention of making changes,” shared a second. “So which credit union did you move to?”
“It’s giving that they think they’re doing you a favor, instead of them, asking for the meeting,” detailed a further TikToker.
The Daily Dot reached out to Capital One and Becca via email.
Update 6:26 am CT Feb. 5: In an email to the Daily Dot, Becca said that she spoke to a lawyer about the issue and “was advised to begin by contacting the California Department of Justice.”
“Capital One needs to amend the notification system and communicate with customers when there are site glitches, electronic transactions fail, the payment method changes, or the payment delivery date changes,” she wrote. “The first level of customer service should also be empowered to identify these issues, as it is quite clear that they are not infrequent occurrences.”
“On a larger scale, the bill pay system needs an overhaul,” she continued. “Once a customer pays a bill through their bank’s online bill pay system and the money has been debited from their account, the debt should transfer from the client to the bank. The bill should be considered paid on the customer’s end, and any delays or bank glitches should be the responsibility of the bank itself.”
She also offered her thoughts on the experience as a whole.
“While this was a frustrating experience for me, it could have been devastating for someone else,” she detailed. “I am in a fortunate position to be able to cover those bills, but most folks are not. 51% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, and about the same number are one paycheck away from houselessness. A two-week delay in sending payment — up to a four-week delay to notice the issue, contact the bank, and wait for a credit before repaying the bill — could result in late fees and interest charges, impact credit scores and relationships with billers, or worse.”
“The lack of communication from Capital One was unacceptable. Never at any point did Capital One notify me that there was an issue or delay, and the funds were deducted from my account on the day I sent them. I only found out about the bank error because I reached out to Capital One, and I only did so because a separate institution alerted me that they had not received payment,” she stated. “Beyond that, I had to escalate the call to a supervisor to receive basic information about what occurred, and I was only provided a resolution after posting a video that went viral on TikTok.”
