Boycotting Capital One because they deadnamed me
Capitol One sent me a piece of junk mail addressed to my old name before I transitioned. I haven’t gone by that name for seven years, and I certainly haven’t gone by that name at this address. They probably merged databases in a way that preserved old names but updated addresses.
A simple mistake, but one that is hurtful and dehumanizing to trans people. It’s the kind of mistake that is forgivable for a small company, not a giant corporation. That’s enough for me to stop using Capital One. (At least unless I receive some kind of compensation.) It used to be my main credit card, now I use Chase for everything. It was remarkably easy to switch things over. I plan on closing my account once I’ve finished all my payments.
What’s worse, this happened while I was on vacation. I’m lucky my housesitter who got my mail was not transphobic. But he didn’t know my deadname before, and now he does. There’s no taking that back. I could have been outed as trans, which given the political climate could very well have put me in physical danger.
Most people wouldn’t think that a simple error like that could cost someone their life. But who knows? It’s really important to get people’s names right. There’s no excuse for deadnaming.
Anyway, I’m not very powerful, so my boycott probably won’t do anything, which is why I’m sharing. When they ask me why I’m closing my account, I’ll probably copy and paste this blog entry.