Capital One Financial Corp.'s (BB+/Negative/--) announcement of a change in reporting, whereby recovery of finance charges and fees will be included in income rather than being used to reduce charge-offs, as was previous practice, does not affect Standard&Poor's ratings on the company. The resulting change in the reported metrics does not alter the economic substance of operations. Additionally, Standard&Poor's evaluation of the current operating environment, which incorporates uncertainty with a good likelihood for continued weakness, is confirmed by the company's statement that asset quality will deteriorate through the second quarter of next year. Capital One's ratings could be affected by the magnitude of further asset quality weakness if deterioration exceeds management's expectations and/or if earnings levels
