My personal experience with capital one has been a pleasant one actually. Every time I call I have been treated with respect and never handled poorly, they are prompt in answering my questions and providing me with accurate information.

The only problem I see from a credit reporting standpoint is that capital one does NOT report your full credit line to agencies, who in turn use your highest balance carried as your limit. This can, for those of us who are using the capital one visa as our starter card...skew the debt-credit ratio in favor of a lower FICO. This problem is slated to be fixed on all accounts by 2008.

As far as I know, Capital One is a decent company...not one I would have picked to begin my file with in retrospect (considering the reporting issue) but still a good one nonetheless.