Capital One is to rethink a controversial credit card contract after a backlash from US consumers.

The contract allowed bank workers to visit cardholders "at your home and at your place of employment" and suppress caller ID when contacting customers.

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According to the contract: "Unless the law says we [Capital One] cannot, we may modify or suppress caller ID and similar services and identify ourselves on these services in any manner we choose."

The bank is still integrating former HSBC customers into Capital One after buying its credit card business in 2011.

One former HSBC customer brought the contract to the attention of the US press after reading through it.

Capital One said these clauses had been included in credit card contracts for years.

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Capital One spokeswoman Pam Girardo said: "The agreement was recently sent to a group of customers as part of the ongoing HSBC integration.

"We are reviewing the language because we do not want to create any unnecessary insecurity among our customers and we apologize for the confusion."

Girardo added that employees of the bank would not visit a customers home except as a last resort in the case of an unpaid loan on a jet ski or snowmobile, as the company has partnerships with manufacturers of these vehicles.

She said: "Capital One does not visit our cardholders, nor do we send debt collectors to their homes or work.

"As a last resort, we may go to a customer’s home after appropriate notification if it becomes necessary to repossess the sports vehicle."

 

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