Fitch Rates Capital One Capital IV $500MM Capital Securities 'BBB-'

Business Wire, Jan 30, 2007

NEW YORK -- Fitch Ratings has assigned a 'BBB-' rating to Capital One Capital IV's issuance of $500 million Capital Securities. Payments may be deferred for up to 10 years if Capital One Financial Corp. defers payments on the underlying Capital Efficient Notes (CENts), which have a scheduled maturity of February 2037. Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, which may include share repurchases or the redemption of junior subordinated debt underlying outstanding trust preferred securities.

Based on the terms of the transaction, which include subordination to all existing senior, subordinated, and junior subordinated debt, except for capital securities of Capital One Capital II and Capital One Capital III, a 10-year interest deferral mechanism, a capital replacement covenant, an alternative payment mechanism, and a dividend stopper, Fitch has assigned the notes an equity credit of 75%, or Equity Class D.

Fitch assigns the following rating:

Capital One Capital IV

--Hybrid Capital Instrument 'BBB-'.

Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site.