DRN-6241974

The complaint Mr W complains that Capital One (Europe) plc charged him interest on his balance transfer despite the fact that he applied via the mobile app for a 0% interest for 6 months offer. What happened Mr W holds a credit card account with Capital One. On 3 September 2025 Mr W applied for a balance transfer of £1,600 via the mobile app. Mr W says that the app showed information that the balance transfer was 0% for 6 months. Mr W noticed that he’d been charged interest on the balance transfer. He complained to Capital One. Capital One issued a final response in which it said the balance transfer interest of £21.92 had been correctly applied to the account. It said there wasn’t a 0% balance transfer offer on Mr W’s account. Mr W remained unhappy and brought his complaint to this service. Our investigator didn’t uphold the complaint. They said that there was no evidence that Mr W had been offered a 0% balance transfer. Mr W didn’t agree. He said the information shown on the mobile app was misleading. Because Mr W didn’t agree I’ve been asked to review the complaint. What I’ve decided – and why I’ve considered all the available evidence and arguments to decide what’s fair and reasonable in the circumstances of this complaint. I know it will disappoint Mr W, but I agree with the investigator’s opinion. I’ll explain why. I’ve reviewed the screen shot provided by Mr W, which is what he says he saw when he applied for a balance transfer. The screen shot is a promotional page which is advertising a 0% interest rate for balance transfers. Capital One has said that although this is a page that Mr W would’ve been able to see, this is just an example of an offer. Capital One has confirmed that there wasn’t a 0% offer available to Mr W at the time when he applied for the balance transfer. Mr W has said that the information presented to him on the mobile app was misleading. He’s said that the information about balance transfers with 0% interest was presented without making it clear that the 0% rate is only available where a personalised offer has been made to an individual customer. Mr W said the information was misleading because it made the 0% offer look as if it was generally available. I’ve taken account of everything Mr W has said. However, having reviewed the screen shot I

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don’t agree that its misleading. I say this because the 0% interest rate for 6 months offer is detailed under the section called “Can you give me an example?” and refers to an example of a customer making a balance transfer of £2000 at an interest rate of 39.9%. I appreciate that Mr W didn’t realise that this was an example but based on what I’ve seen, I don’t think the example could have reasonably been construed as a 0% offer specifically tailored to Mr W. I’ve also reviewed the screens that Mr W would’ve seen as he progressed through his application for a balance transfer. The first screen clearly displays the interest rate being offered to the customer. So I’m satisfied that Mr W was made aware that the interest rate applicable to the balance transfer was not 0%. Based on what I’ve seen, I’m not persuaded that Capital One has made an error by charging interest on Mr W’s balance transfer. Nor am I persuaded that the information provided to Mr W was misleading. For the reasons I’ve given I’m unable to uphold the complaint. My final decision My final decision is that I don’t uphold the complaint. Under the rules of the Financial Ombudsman Service, I’m required to ask Mr W to accept or reject my decision before 26 May 2026. Emma Davy Ombudsman

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