Monty Loree: So why is a good credit history important to you as a credit card company?
Laurel Ostfield: For us it's a question of managing risk. We're a credit card company that gives sort of unsecured loans, so we will evaluate everyone who comes in to see what kind of risks they propose to us. Based on a number of factors, we will then determine what is the best card for them. Some people might say they want a particular product but it actually gets them into more trouble. They may go over their heads, so we want to work with our customers to get them the product that's going to be the best bet.
Monty Loree: Exactly. Everybody's financial situation is different. So somebody may need – or their credit may be worthier, however it is, of $1,000.00 credit line and someone's worthy of a $20,000.00 credit line.
Laurel Ostfield: Right, and it really would be – we try to be responsible lenders and it would be irresponsible to give someone a $25,000.00 credit limit when they wouldn't really be capable of handling that kind because of a number of different situations. So we take all of these factors into account when we try to align a credit card product with our customers.
Monty Loree: Excellent. I have some questions that I got from some people on the discussion forum and Twitter. So from Twitter, one of the followers there, hobodreamer, asked me of a question. What keeps Capital One Canada from tripling card holders' APR like they do here in the States? Are there laws?
Laurel Ostfield: There are laws in terms of how we communicate to our customers, let them know of any rate changes that might be coming to effect. We of course only want to make those changes because of the external environment, such as the economic environment. We've all been experiencing, in the US and up here in Canada. We try to notify our customers as soon as possible, at least within 30 days as we do give them the option to decline those changes. So if there is a change to their interest rate, we have been giving them the option to decline. They can opt out of the change, which means that their account will be restricted and they can pay off their existing balance at their old rates.
