Understanding your Bill from Capital One

Capital One often hides seemingly-random fees and other charges amidst the other parts of your bill. This is deliberate obfuscation, but don’t worry if you’re frustrated; we can help you break down your bill and get to the bottom of those charges.

What’s On Your Capital One Statement

Capital One pushes heavily for paperless bills and statements, so most of their bills will include an advertisement for the service in the corner or near the top of the page. Otherwise, their bills look really similar to other banking statements. Your overall balance, deposits and withdrawals, and ending balance will be displayed in a line-by-line replay near the middle of the page. This is also where you’ll find any extra fees or charges.

What Are the Extra Charges You Might See?

Here are some of the most common fees and charges you might see on your bill, along with explanations:

• Maintenance: this is a monthly fee that is incurred for keeping your money within the Capital One bank. This fee is also charged by other big banks like Bank of America. Only students or those under the age of 25 don’t pay the maintenance fee unless you have lots of cash in your account
• Minimum balance: this fee is charged to your account steps below a predetermined balance. Capital One dictates a minimum balance for your account upon signing up for the service; it’s usually on the order of a few hundred dollars
• ATM withdrawal fee: this is a typical charge that is incurred whenever you take out money from an ATM that isn’t owned by Capital One. It is normally deducted from the moment you withdraw cash from the ATM
• Overdraft: this fee is incurred if you spend more money than you have in your account currently. Capital One allows you to sign up for alerts or overdraft protection. It’s usually around $25
• Lost card fee: you’ll have to pay this fee if you lose your credit or debit card and want a timely replacement. The card fee is around $30
• International transaction: this fee is incurred whenever you make a purchase outside United States borders. This is ostensibly because the bank has to pay more money to operate outside the country
• Paper statement: this fee is incurred whenever Capital One prints a paper statement and sends it out in the mail. Change to paperless statements to save a little money each month
• Inactivity: this fee is incurred whenever you don’t make a deposit or withdrawal in an account after between three months or six months depending on the initial agreement
• Account closing: this classic but unwanted fee shows up if you close an account within a certain timeframe, normally a year to a few years upon account opening

How to Contact Capital One

Capital One has a dedicated page where you can dispute a credit card charge, but you can also branch out into other fee disputes if necessary.