Capital One Customer Service

This number serves as Capital One's catch-all for any customer who might happen to call for assistance, as its sole purpose is to get customers to the branch of Capital One that serves their needs. When you call, you're brought to the automated system and asked if you have questions about one of four areas: credit cards, bank accounts, auto loans or other credit questions.

Upon choosing one of these options, the system automatically connects you to that area of Capital One's help menu. There's nobody to talk to on this number; it's simply a call center that moves you over to someone else who can help you.

When I dialed, I first opted to get help with a bank account question. Once I had made my selection, the system automatically moved me over to the bank account menu, which I went through to see what the experience was like. After a couple minutes of answering questions, I was connected with a representative and ended the call without speaking to her because she was part of a separate number as opposed to the number that I had originally called.

Upon hanging up, I called the number back to see what the experience was like going through another department. This time, I asked for credit cards and got the same assistance as before. I was connected to Capital One's number for credit cards and asked a few questions before the system began the process of moving me to getting connected with a representative.

Overall, I thought this was a helpful feature for what it was. This number serves as one specific call center for all of Capital One's departments, and that's all it does. There are no opportunities to talk to someone until you get to a segmented department, and that takes two different connections in order to begin.

It's not the most efficient setup, but it could be far worse. There isn't any wait time as there could be with all of the callers coming to one bottleneck, and there aren't any problems with the automated system hearing what you're trying to tell it. The system simply moves you to the phone number you should have dialed from the beginning so you can get the assistance you need.

I would recommend using this number if it's your first time calling Capital One or if you simply can't remember the number to one of the specific departments. This might not be the most efficient setup, but it will get you to where you need to be so you can get helpful assistance. However, once you know and can remember the number for a specific department, you'll have an easier experience calling that number instead of this one.