Everyone is talking about being sued by Capital One. If you are planning on using the statue of limitations defense, I highly recommend hiring an NACA (National Association of Consumer Advocates) attorney as it can get sticky.

There are some interesting stories about Capital One and their cases. For instance, there are three cases where all three defendants beat Capital One because they used the governing law of Virginia that is right in Capital One’s customer agreement.

Take a look at your agreement and see if Virginia law governs it. Also, take a look at your local court rules or check your state’s choice of law. You may have a shot at getting this dismissed by using Capital One’s agreement against them. Some states allow foreign statute of limitations to be imported regardless of choice of law but other states don’t.

Read your state’s statutes carefully. In states that do not allow foreign statute of limitations, you might be able to argue that due to the contract’s recitation that a foreign state’s law was adopted, this created an ambiguity that should be resolved against the drafter of the document by giving the debtor the benefit of the foreign state’s statute of limitations. The court would not and could not give the creditor a longer statute of limitations by virtue of the creditor having chosen the foreign state’s laws in its cardholder agreement. But a shorter one may perhaps be afforded the debtor if the court is willing to uphold the time-honored principle of contract law–that ambiguities are construed so as to favor the party that didn’t write the document.

Capital One’s customer agreement states:

“This agreement is to be construed in accordance with and governed by the laws of the United States of America and by the internal laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia without giving effect to any choice of law rule that would cause this application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than the laws of the United States of America or the internal laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia to the rights and duties of the parties. This Agreement is made in Virginia. It will be governed only by Federal Law, and Virginia law (to the extent permitted by Federal Law).”

Virginia Civil Codes

§ 8.01-246. Personal actions based on contracts.

1. In actions or upon a recognizance, except recognizance of bail in a civil suit, within ten years; and in actions or motions upon a recognizance of bail in a civil suit, within three years, omitting from the computation of such three years such time as the right to sue out such execution shall have been suspended by injunction, supersedeas or other process;

2. In actions on any contract which is not otherwise specified and which is in writing and signed by the party to be charged thereby, or by his agent, within five years whether such writing be under seal or not;

3. In actions by a partner against another for settlement of the partnership account or in actions upon accounts concerning the trade of merchandise between merchant and merchant, their factors, or servants, within five years from the cessation of the dealings in which they are interested together

4. In actions upon any unwritten contract, express or implied, within three years.

§ 8.01-248. Personal actions for which no other limitation is specified.

Every personal action accruing on or after July 1, 1995, for which no limitation is otherwise prescribed, shall be brought within two years after the right to bring such action has accrued.

A Civil Operations Manual For Virginia’s General District Court

Capital One v. Maria E. Gregorich

How I beat Capital One in court

Additional Information

• Sick of Capital One

  “I am also being sued by Capital One for a $500.00 bill which has now turned into a $1,500.00 judgement. I called the attorney representing Cap One and they refused to settle the case for anything less. I have no problem paying my debt but like everyone else out there; I was unemployed twice in the past 2 years and struggling to keep a roof over my head. I’m not looking for a handout but I’ve been able to work with all of my creditors who have been wonderful during this difficult financial time and have been more than willing to work out payment arrangements to help get back on track. I want everyone to know that CAPITAL ONE HAS ALSO SUED MANY OF MY NEIGHBORS AS WELL, THEY ARE A BUNCH OF SCUMBAGS AND WHATEVER YOU DO, PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM THEM. THEY WOULD MUCH RATHER SUE YOU WITHOUT REGRET THAN TO TRY AN HELP FOLKS WHO ARE STRUGGLING JUST TO PUT FOOD ON THE TABLE. I am declaring Chapter 7 Bankruptcy and refuse to pay these guys’s another dime!!!! Oh, should I mention that the taxpayers also bailed them out! Thanks for listening to me and PLEASE, STAY AWAY FROM CAPITAL ONE AT ALL COSTS!!! They also say that “Business is Business”; well do yourself a favor and take your business somewhere else!”

  
  

  Admin

  “I understand, I have talked with people who were sued for only $200 some under $300.00. They are ruthless, and they will sue you regardless of the amount.
  Good luck to you.”




• HelpMeAgainstCapitalOne

  “Capital One has bothered to sue me yet… however, they did charge off my card – BUT – they have been charging me interest on a charged off card for over a year! All of a sudden, (1 year and 5 months later), I receive a letter (bill) from them saying I owe them thousands! I called them just to be forwarded to “recovery”…. they noticed a cease and desist on my account and asked me to remove it… I said … NOPE… I sent them specific, notarized instructions per my attorney on how to communicate with me – they refused through their actions…. now Federal Law is allowing them to contact me again to collect money!!! Where was the Federal Law when I documented all the abuse and illegal activity I endured 6 months prior to Capital One charging me off!!!! I sent at least 4 letters ASKING to HELP ME PAY my debt!!! NO RESPONSE…. Their bills prior to my cease and desist had ad’s that said, “help is available”…. Every time I called that “HELP” Line, I was told to PAY UP in full!
  If anyone out here has received help or knows of help to fight these guys, I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW… I’m about to launch a YouTube on this whole ordeal to hopefully put a pin prick in this Ruthless Machine – They should have to pay all of us who are trying to Pay Our Debt like BP is paying for all the lives they interrupted with the OIL SPILL!!!!




• Stressed over Chapitol One Charges/Help

  “I also have an account with Capitol One the last time I charged anything was 10/08 balance of 723.92. My bill is now 2090.00. Which is approx. 1200.00 in over the limit charges, late payt and interest charges, and quit honestly anything else they want to add on. They turned it into collections. So, I get bills every month and letters threating me from NCO Collections as well as Capitol One. The last two weeks a sheriff has gone to my work looking for me, but I was not there at the time. I guess they are trying to serve me. I tried several times to work something out with them, but they would not except my payment arrangement. One time I spoke with their collection department and she made me an offer. I asked if she would put that in writing? She said, no. I said, well than I can not except the offer. They are stressing me out so bad and I do not know what to do. The balance just keeps going up and up. How can this be legal to continue to add charges upon charges. I do not know what to do and I do not want a Judgement on my credit.”




• Linda

  “I just got a notice from Capitol One that I am being sued for $2400+. I am almost certain my original amount was $800 as of about a year ago. I have been unemployed and had a part time job, but the company went out of business…so, I have nothing and have a son to support. I drive a vehicle that is almost 20 years old and about ready to die very soon. I don’t own anything except my computer. My income is below poverty level – what do these people think they are going to get from me?? I don’t even own a phone any more as I can’t afford it!”

  
  

  Admin

  “Well, with Capital One they just don’t care. They are a bank that doesn’t check your credit to see your assets, they just sue you for the amount you owe. I have heard them taking people to court over a few hundred dollars. What they will get is a default judgment, maybe go after your bank account, and if you owned a home they’d slap a lien on it. I hope they don’t do anything to you if they get a default judgment so that you have time to get yourself together and let this thing fall off your credit report. You never know.”




• Jose Solorio

  “Back in early 2000 I received an offer from capital one for a credit card so I got a credit limit of 300$. After about 6 months of paying on time the limit was raised to a 1000$ without notice. About one year later I fell into hardship and could not pay it off so I made minimum payments. In mid 2000 I tried to rent a home for my family and my credit check came back saying that I owed capital one 1500$ and needed to pay the minimum payment or I could not rent the home. So I called Capital One and asked them if I only had a 1000$ limit why do I owe you 1500$? I was told it was all fees and my minimum payment is 460$ so I made an online payment of 465$ of barrowed money so I could rent the home. A few months pass of me making minimum payments and I get a statement saying I owed 1600$. So I call capital one again and ask why do I owe 1600$ if I make my minimum payments and I just made a 465$ payment they told me my payments were always late because they never made the cut off time of 4:00p.m .and if the balance was not paid in full the fees would keep rising even if I paid my minimum payments. So in anger I stopped paying all together. Well a few years went by and I get a collection letter stating I owed Capital One 3900$ and would settle this for 2900$. So I call the collection agency and tried to explain that I only had a 1000$ credit limit, well they wouldn’t hear anything I had to say. So I try to offer them 150$ a month payment plan, I was told “NO I had to pay in full”, I did not have that kind of money so I told them I could not do that then never heard from them again. A year goes by without word then out of the blue I was served with court papers stating I was being sued by Capital One. So I contact the attorneys office who is handling the case and was told, and I quote “if I did not agree and sign the documents that they were going to take my car and 40% of my wages will be garnished from your employer.” I tried to explain to them as well that I did not owe the amount that Capital One is saying I owed them. Their reply was if I had any documentation to prove that I owed then any less than what was asked for, witch I did not have so I pled to them that I had a family to feed so in fear I did what was asked and am now paying 150$ a month for X amount of years which is so far totaling over 7000$. Well recently cleaning out old paper work I find the collection document stating that I only owed Capital One 2900$. Witch is still a lot higher than what I believe I owed them but a lot more reasonable then what they are getting out of me. So I call the attorneys office and tell them I only owed this amount and now have proof and they tell me it’s to late you should not have signed the Documents now you owe this amount “HA,HA, SORRY”. I and everyone that will hear me can not believe how Capital One is getting away with doing this to me????”




• ALLEN B.

  “I WANT EVERYONE TO KNOW THAT YOU CAN BEAT CAPITAL ONE AT THEIR OWN GAME. THEY ARE VERY RUTHLESS PEOPLE. A LOT OF YOU THINK THAT THEY CANNOT BE BEAT. GUESS AGAIN. I AM IN THE MIDDLE OF A LAWSUIT WITH C1. THEY HAVE CALLED MY ATTORNEY FOR A SETTLEMENT. ONCE THIS IS OVER, I WILL GET BACK AND TELL MY SITUATION AND HOW I BEAT C1.”




• T A F

  “I just received a summons today…not sure what to do..I work an 8 hr a week job with 4 kids..nothing in my name, and a savings account with $5.00….what do I do to fight this lawsuit? I dont have the money to pay it..”