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Comment by thedevil | Hacker News Reader

> I always thought their business model was giving people with starter credit (like college students) credit cards and car loans.

This is what I've seen of them. They offer college students (who don't know better) really bad credit card deals with high fees and high rates and sneaky "gotcha" contract terms.

Although I may be overly harsh since my impressions of them are all based on their credit cards. For all I know, their other banking services are ethical.

Also to be fair: by the time Capital One acquired ING, I was too old to know many college students so my anecdotes were all from before then.

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My first credit card in college was from Capital One. I personally thought they were great. They gave me my cashback rewards right away instead of quarterly, and the one time I forgot to make a payment on time (before I set up autopay), they forgave it and initiated the payment over the phone. After that I just never carried a balance and never had to worry about their fees and rates. Also never ran into any "gotchas".

They gave me a first credit card with 1.5% cash back rewards, a nice website and easily accessible customer service over chat. Not once have I cared what the interest rate was, of course, so they could be getting you there.

The rewards system works better than everyone's current favorite CSR, because you can use it to refund past purchases instead of just buying hotels with points in the Chase store.

The benefits that try to compete with Amex (like extended insurance) are harder to use since you have to actually call in instead of just filling in web forms.

After yours and other comments, I suspect my information is just really out of date.

Here's some stories I had heard back when I was in college: no cash back or other rewards on the card for students, $2/month on an unused $500 credit line, a $38 late fee (late = paid the day due after noon eastern time, regardless of consumer time zone), and a rate that skyrockets after any missed payments.

Again, these may have changed since then since there's several replies of people with good experiences.

I had one of their cards years ago when I was in college. It was as you describe. Years later I now have a personal and business card with them and the terms are good with a decent mileage program (and they have a real nice mobile app). Of course, now I have excellent credit/ income. I think they're all the same In That regard. If you have poor/no credit you're going to get taken advantage of.

After using TCF Bank (Minnesota) and Wells Fargo (both are trash), Capital One has been amazing to me. I've never had any problems with Capital One. I began as an ING 360 customer (which was lightyears better than C1...) and stuck through the transition and never had any issues. Also use their credit cards.

I never got the impression that they were predators.

In addition to what others have said (good rewards), Capital One is also a good card to travel with since they don't charge foreign transaction fees. I keep an account with them because I save a ton when I go overseas.

I've been a happy Capital One customer for the past 7 or so years. Though I've never paid them a penny of interest. Just my 2 cents.

If you're complaining about high fees and interest rates, you're not using your credit card right.

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