I'm thinking about starting a new "Things I learned when I was really sick" category to pass along what I learned when I had almost no energy for over a year, but I'm not sure how many posts there'd be. The constant fear of employer-based health insurance is that you're just one job mistake away from losing everything if you get really sick, and while it didn't come down to that for me, I found that most companies I did business with were incredibly patient and understanding.

Most of them made arrangements for automatic payments because I didn't have the effort to do massive bookkeeping after trying to take care of the medical bills. Those companies (including, oddly enough, MBNA and First USA-later Chase-now Bank of America) gave me no problems. Others, like Discover and American Express, did not allow automatic payments, but did work with me when I got my energy back to get things settled.

Capital One falls into neither of these categories. I had a small account with Capital One to use on household matters (groceries, mostly) each month. It didn't have a large credit limit, and I didn't want one on that card. That turns out to have been a really good idea, because when I got sick, Capitol One got absolutely psychopathic.

You should not do business with Capital One because, if you get sick like I did and they treat you like they treated me, this is what will happen to you:

• When you go online to try to find a way to set up automatic payments, you won't find it. When you call them on the phone and make it through the 35-minute phone tree, they'll tell you that they'll send you the paperwork for automatic payments. They won't. You'll repeat this two more times, and then finally, they'll tell you that they'll set it up for you themselves.

• They will not set it up for you automatically themselves. If you're sick and have no energy, you probably won't notice this for a few months.

• When you do notice it and try to log on and make a payment, they'll lock you out and tell you to call a new telephone number. You will not be able to get through on this number after 45 minutes of waiting, multiple times, which is a lot of time to spend on something when you have very few good working hours per day.

• If you finally get through to them, they'll tell you that they've "turned your account over" for collection, even if you've been talking to them since the beginning about making automatic payments. Combined with being locked out of your account, this means they've been refusing your payments for months now. You would probably feel hesitant to mail a check to people who tell you in their "instantly updated" online system that you can't make any payments.

• Rather than turn it over to a collection agency, Capital One will turn your account over to a law firm.

• This law firm will send you a bill for something like 150% of your last Capitol One balance, with absolutely no supporting documentation. When you ask them, in writing, to provide documentation for this, their response is, "We have confirmed with our client that this is the correct figure." In other words, Bugsy says you owe him this much money, and when asked for proof, he asks Mugsy if it's true. You point out that this is not exactly "documentation" and that you would like to see actual numbers on paper justifying this figure. They will not be forthcoming.

• The law firm will say that as long as you're communicating with them, they won't go to court for the money. This is also not true, as you will be served with a lawsuit approximately two days after they tell you that they're not going to file one.

• The law firm will then contact you saying that they are most interested in working out a settlement, and wish to hear from you. You will respond that you are also interested in resolving this and asking them to justify the figures they're quoting and propose something. You will do this repeatedly. You will not hear back from them.

• You will finally hear back from them with the explanation for the figures they're quoting, but only when the lawsuit (the one they filed after telling you they wouldn't) has reached summary judgment against you, after you were not notified of any of the proceedings. They will then demand 210% of your original Capital One balance, with interest accuring at 28% per year, and tell you that if you do not respond with settlement information, they'll basically start towing things away. (That would be at your residence where they didn't notify you of any of the court proceedings.)

• They will conclude this by saying "You will be treated with dignity and respect." Given the history, you choke on your lunch reading this and accrue more medical bills.

I had much larger debts with other companies that were extremely professional and understanding about my situation and what I needed to do to get back on my feet to pay them off. The ones that took automatic payments never got in arrears at all, although at times I had to really scramble in my good hours to make sure the money was there. Capitol One was my smallest non-store credit card, but they were the first to stop responding, the most dishonest about trying to work with me, and the fastest to escalate what should have been a simple, easy repayment.

If my balance on that card had been in five figures instead of the very very low four figures, I probably would have had to declare bankruptcy. No other creditor has been this inflexible, and there's nothing special about me. If they'll do it to me, then especially with the credit crunch, I'd bet you a dollar they'll do it to you just as fast or even faster.

So, if you have a Capital One credit card, I strongly recommend that you cut it up right now, and pay off the balance absolutely as fast as possible, and never have any dealings with this firm again. Shred their junk mail (yes, during all of this, Capital One has been sending me new "pre-approved" credit card offers), hang up on their phone calls, and just get them out of your life. They're not a great card issuer when everything is great, but if something turns south, they're the first ones to screw you over.

I have no great love for MBNA or Bank of America, but they gave me all the tools I needed to manage the situation. Discover and American Express did not, but once I had energy to talk to them, it all got worked out in short order. Capital One was, and is, a nightmare. I urge you to avoid them at all costs.