Capitol One Ends 1,100 Tampa Jobs

[alcuno]

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/07/22/Business/Capitol_One_ends_1_10.shtml

"Capital One is shutting down its sprawling credit card call center in Tampa, eliminating 1,100 jobs and delivering a serious blow to a decadelong effort to upgrade the area's economic base.

The Tampa job cuts, which were announced along with smaller staff reductions in Dallas and Richmond, Va., are part of Capital One's ongoing push to outsource much of its customer relations work.

Salaries at the Tampa center range from $35,000, with bonuses, to $100,000 for some managers, employees said. They said they were told their jobs would be sent overseas, but the company would not say where the work will be done. About 350 jobs will remain in Tampa."

.....These sound like good jobs and the article says that the people had no advance notice that this was coming.

[Coventina]

1. What's in YOUR wallet?

So are these jobs going overseas?
Or is the company downsizing?

[Not Me]

2. The jobs are going overseas...

Prime opportunity for JK to bring his message to Tampa.

[Frodo]

6. How about "Make sure it's NOT in your wallet"?

[lilymidnite]

7. What's a good alternative to CapitalOne?

I don't carry a balance, but I need a card for securing rental cars, etc. What's a good alternative to my CapitalOne card?

[Frodo]

9. Any of those rental companies you use have a card?

That's usually your best bet if you pay things off in full and on time.

You don't have to worry about who has the best rate since you won't be paying it.

Look for someone who gives you "points" or "miles" that can be used for the rentals.

If the rentals are for business purposes and it does YOU no good to get a discount... go for one that get's you other things free (like hotel stays).

[Coventina]

13. Discover card works pretty well for me

I don't carry a balance either, and their Cashback bonus program gets me free stuff through Borders/Amazon.

Only drawback is that not everywhere takes Discover.

[nolabels]

14. They all mostly suck

http://www.infoshop.org/cards.html

[Frodo]

3. I won't go so far as to say "Capital One is the Enron of the banking world

But they were the first bank I've looked at where I really can't understand their business model.

They used to be the credit card subsidiary of a small-to-middlin size bank (Signet) who decided to spin them off just a few years ago (mid 90's to my recollection).

It was only a few years before Capital One was substantially larger than the bank they were once a small piece of. And until about a year or two ago they had INCREDIBLE stock returns and growth.

But it didn't make sense to me. Some of their practices were not completely unlike Enron's and their accounting (at least the public part of it) didn't make sense to me. They were a very "different" kind of "bank" (no deposits, mostly one asset type, securitized portfolios). I just assumed it was a level of complexity beyond what I was used to dealing with... but now I'm not so sure.

[cosmicdot]

4. guess they won't be returning the tax refund

"According to state records, Capital One was paid $2.7-million from the program through 2003."

perhaps that amount should be added to any severance packages

surely, Jeb-thro feels their pain

(Capitol One's pain, of course)

[Cocoa]

15. they took it and ran

too bad Jeb's not up for reelection.

[Frodo]

5. The HARSHEST cut of ALL

"Extra security, including police cars outside, underscored the gravity of the moment."


Man, that is COLD.

[redqueen]

8. Capital One reports 42 percent profit increase, to lay off 1,400

Registration required - use [e-mail] and dailykos as the password to read the whole thing. Most news accounts of this layoff announcement are conveniently leaving OUT this information.

BASTARDS!

http://www.wvec.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D83VE0B81.html


Capital One Financial Corp. on Wednesday reported a 42 percent increase in second-quarter earnings and announced plans to lay off 1,400 call center workers, starting this fall.

Net income was $407.4 million for the quarter ended June 30, up from $286.2 million in the year-ago period. Per-share earnings were $1.65, up from $1.23.

Capital One attributed its results to positive loan growth and a large decline in charge offs. The results exceeded analysts' expectations. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had anticipated earnings of $1.50 per share.

The McLean credit-card issuer said it will eliminate 30 percent of its call center workers by the spring to save money, outsourcing most of the work to U.S.-based companies. About 1,100 workers will be laid off in Tampa, Fla., 160 in Dallas and 120 in Richmond.

more...

[alcuno]

12. They beat earnings estimates in Q2 in spite of the payout money.

This is going to hit Tampa hard.

[camero]

16. Way past time to bring back the usury laws

Positive loan growth= More money brought in from fees and late payment charges.

Large decline in charge offs= Credit not being used or credit accounts closing.

People pay up to 2-3 times the balance when using these things and then their jobs get outsourced so they can't pay the bills which means more fees in the pockets of the credit card companies.

It's all by design.

[redqueen]

18. Who did away with those laws again?

I forget... was it under Carter or Reagan... who was repsonsible?

So many betrayals of the public interest... who can keep track of it all?

[camero]

19. I think it was Reagan

But I could be wrong on that. You're right, there's been way too many betrayals of the public interest.

Bush changes the bankruptcy laws and more charges are added. It's plunder on a massive scale.

[mbperrin]

10. Yep, that * job machine is in high gear!

There go some more people who got geared!

[TahitiNut]

11. "their jobs would be sent overseas" - Yup. India. No question about it.

"Call centers" are booming in India.

Isn't it interesting that these corporatists think "customer service" can be relegated to people who aren't even employees of the company? Once upon a time, individual proprietors relied almost solely upon their own direct efforts to perform "customer service." Their customers would settle for nothing less. In B2B ('business-to-business') enterprises, this is still the rule. Few businessfolk would tolerate being cut off from the executive management of a company with which they dealt. But Pat Public isn't accorded the same respect, nor does (s)he demand it. To the consumer, it's "Who cares what you think?"

[candy331]

17. Their cc sucks, got one and cut it up and sent a nice letter

along with it to take my name off their mailing and phone lists and never contact me again. The earnings statement could be padded.