CAPITAL ONE LAYS OFF COLLECTION CALL CENTER EMPLOYEES

Capital One announced it will cut over 200 jobs at its Tigard, Oregon call center.  The layoff will affect collection employees.  This is the second time in 2012 that Capital One has announced job cuts at the call center.  Capital One’s employees were told they could interview for job openings with the fraud department, according to a letter sent to the state of Oregon.  A Capital One spokesperson says the fraud department openings should be greater than the number of collection employee layoffs.  The spokesperson also stated that the collection layoffs will start on January 2, 2012 because Capital One is sending the jobs elsewhere.

The Tigard, Oregon call center was formerly owned by HSBC.  Capital One purchased HSBC’s U.S. credit division for $2.6 billion in May 2012.  At its peak the HSBC call center employed almost 1,000 employees and was the town’s largest employer.  So where are the jobs going?  Insiders say Capital One will outsource the call center overseas, perhaps India.  In the consumer finance and credit industry, it is more and more common to outsource collection and credit report dispute departments to foreign countries because of the low wages.  While companies opt to keep fraud departments state side because of the need to have persons with English as a first language to field calls and review identity theft reports from fraud or identity theft victims.

Have you received collection calls from Capital One or a debt collector for debts that do not belong to you?  Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you have the right to dispute credit report errors, including accounts opened by an identity thief.   Your credit report dispute should be sent by mail to Equifax, Experian and Trans Union.  If the credit bureaus verify the fraudulent information you should contact a FCRA attorney to learn your rights under federal law.  Contact FCRA attorney Micah Adkins 24/7 for a free case review at 1-800-263-9091.