Man Can't Track Down Phantom Circuit City/Chase/Best Buy Credit Card
Ah, the perils of having a credit card issued by an electronic store that dies a slow, painful death, only to come back, haunt you and resist all attempts at seances and exorcisms.
Such is former Circuit City credit card holder Jesse's plight:
I held a Circuit City store card for about two years, rarely using it but keeping it around for the fairly substantial credit limit. When the store closed, I waited to hear what would become of the card, as a closed account would drastically reduce my available credit and ding my credit rating.
From the close of the store through the beginning of May, I heard nothing from Chase. I contacted them through their online form, where I was informed that a Chase Visa with the same limit would be sent to my home within 7-10 business days. Three weeks later, nothing. I contacted them again via the online form, and was informed a replacement card with a new account number would be sent in 3-5 business days. Again, nothing.
I called in June, and was informed that my card was switching over to a Best Buy store card. Not what I wanted, but it was something. I was told to expect the card in 7-10 business days. I called again about ten days ago, informed them that I had not received a thing, and was told that another replacement card was being sent in 3-5 business days.
I called today, after two straight months of having received absolutely nothing, and was informed that my account had been closed for "business reasons" on June 24th, with no notification or warning to me. A letter was allegedly sent, but like everything else, I've received absolutely nothing. This of course affects my credit rating, but more importantly, I was misled multiple times about the nature of my relationship with the bank both via e-mail and through their live representatives, and I have no idea if there are cards or accounts open floating in the ether, because they won't tell me how many other accounts I have with the bank unless I can give them the last four digits of card numbers that I don't have and never received.
A few days later, Jesse tried logging on to his new account:
They've still sent me nothing - they told me that a letter was sent out on June 24th, but I still haven't heard anything else. Interestingly, when I go to chase.com/bestbuy and log in with my old Circuit City information, I have an open account with a $0 balance and a current due date. When I call Chase about this card, they tell me that it doesn't exist and that the account was closed.
I'm totally confused.
Sounds like Best Buy and Chase are just as confused as Jesse. What is he to do, commenters?
(Photo: FastFords)
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Comments:
Will Fair Isaac Corp. ever learn that when a company goes bankrupt and cancels my card, it's not an indication of a change in my credit worthiness.
It seems that Fair Isaac is not so fair after all.
@Blueskylaw: I believe someone needs to start the Un-Fair Isaac Alliance (UFIA) to show these people what they're doing to America. UFIA will do to the credit industry what the credit industry has been doing to consumers for years. UFIA will make a forceful entry into the market and ignore the pleas of the credit industry to pull it's campaign until they have caved to the will of the UFIA.
I had two chase credit accounts and have since closed one. The closed account still shows up on my account summary page with a zero balance. Your account may in fact be closed.
i was told i was going to get my card around the beginning of may. i forgot about it and i got my card in the mail a couple of days ago.
@Blueskylaw: It's only fair to the credit issuing companies. After all, it was set up for their benefit and needs, not yours.
Chase closed my Circuit City card account a year or two ago back during their "purging" period.
There are two kinds of cards that Circuit City used to give out. One was a store card, that could be used at Circuit City only, and the other was an actual Circuit City branded Chase Visa.
I know this, because my wife had the store-card, while I had the actual Visa.
When the changeover happened, I was converted to a non-branded Chase Visa, while my wife was not -- she simply continues making payments to the outstanding bill until it's closed.
Wow- I just tried to log into my Chase Circuit City account (Which, I don't use and have a 0 balance), and got the message, "Your login is inactive. Please call the number on the back of your card."
Request something in writing. Just a confirmation letter or something, which most financial institutions these days will gladly send out. (As opposed to a specific statement, which they are often loathe to make.) This will guarantee one of two things: either you will finally get what is promised to you, or you have a "get out of jail free" letter whenever they don't. If they fail to uphold the terms laid out in the letter, you can a] force customer service to honor the terms by faxing it to them, b] challenge any action taken with the three credit bureaus or c] sue them if you're feeling particularly litigious. If they put it in writing, it becomes somewhat analogous to a contract. Not *quite* the same thing, but certainly grounds for action.
Phanton? Really? We're not even proofing the headlines now?
On topic, It took me about 3 hours of phone calls to kill my CC card when they went under.
I had the CC Visa which is affiliated with Chase. I got a notice in the mail saying they would close the account, but I still see the account open when I check my accounts with Chase Online Banking. I've just been ignoring it because I'd rather it still be open for credit reporting reasons. Will this bite me in the ass later?
I had a similar experience with a Computer City credit card that's been around long since the company ceased to exist. At one point I went through the motions of getting it cancelled, but every time I would send the required information in to whatever bank was servicing the account, they'd tell me it wasn't sufficient, and ask for a different set of information - wash, rinse, repeat. Finally I just gave up - it's not like there's anyplace left to use it, even if it were an active account. In fact, I think it finally fell off my report last time I checked.
Since the OP is only worried about his credit rating and has a zero balance, I'd figure he should simply get a new card with the same limit (if he can) and just assume the CC card was closed.
The phantom cards is a typical issue with Chase. I had four cards with Chase and closed three of them. (They weren't very old and I didn't use them.) The cancelled cards continued to show up on my online account for about six months. Why? I have no idea. But it was a bit disconcerting to see three cards that appeared active (there was no "account closed" notation or anything) for so long after they had been cancelled.
What's with all these negative Chase stories? Wow..
The problem at Chase is that they are using computers to do all this.
@SacraBos: But how does the situation that Blueskylaw outlined benefit the credit issuing companies? Are they happy with an algorithm that has what seem to be erroneous assumptions?
@Morac: Chase just cut my credit limit in half from $1500 to $800. I had $200 on it just to show a good payment history that I was paying down slowly.
Friggin asses.
My Circuit City Visa was converted to a Chase Visa without a single hassle. My promo financing carried over perfectly. Sounds like this is just that "0.1% of cases" that caused a problem.
I represent Best Buy Financial Services and this is a very unusual occurance as the transfer from Circuit City to Best Buy has been very smooth. If there is a way for Jesse to contact us or provide more details we would be happy to work with Chase to try and resolve the issue.
I would not pay attention to logging into chase.com and seeing the account detail still there. I merged my chase card w/ my wamu card when it was absorbed by chase and the closed account continued to appear when i logged onto chase.com for months. chase customer service told me it could take a few months for it to get purged and disappear from my online account.
My circuit city card (not visa branded) will work at the point of sales system at best buy (the registers). chase.com/circuitcity will show the purchases the next day. it even lets me use the financing(no intrest). i did nothing, and this happened.
@GarretN: My circuit city card (not visa branded) will work at the point of sales system at best buy (the registers). chase.com/circuitcity will show the purchases the next day. it even lets me use the financing(no intrest). i did nothing, and this happened.
I swiped it only to be funny and was surprised that it worked.
@Ezra Ekman: Request something in writing.
And they will probably not send that one also. If he does get something, it will be a statement that promises nothing, admits nothing, and just states that the OP contacted them and quotes what the OP said (with the quotes attributed to the OP).
I had this situation with an investment company that screwed up a transaction - every time I called they had a new reason; most claiming that the problem was my fault or that the transaction wasn't allowed (but they couldn't tell my why) - the letter I eventually got (after a month of trying) had obviously been gone over by the legal department to keep them safe.
@U-235: Since the OP is only worried about his credit rating and has a zero balance, I'd figure he should simply get a new card with the same limit (if he can) and just assume the CC card was closed.
Getting a new card would only help a little bit - the length of time the card was held (with a good payment history) matters a lot.
This Jesse guy must have the worst luck in the world. First he gets banned from Bank of America, and now Circuit City is giving him the business.
@CRNewsom: "I believe someone needs to start the Un-Fair Isaac Alliance (UFIA) to show these people what they're doing to America. UFIA will do to the credit industry what the credit industry has been doing to consumers for years."
UFIA is an accurate description of what the credit card industry has been doing to us.
I assume you read Fark.com?
@Bruce: But of course I am a Farker. Do you think these things just happen by pure chance?
I stand by it, though. I will start the UFIA and stick it to the credit industry. The bonus would be if it actually works as a non-profit. That would be a win-win scenario.
The business cards alone would be worth it.
/There is a structural steel company in my city called Unlimited Erections. I think he makes more money from t-shirts than structural steel, but whatever works for you.
@bbb111: I don't tend to have this problem once it reaches this stage. Get an eFax account (free, if you do it right), and ask them to fax it to you while you're on the phone, due to the many problems you've had. You'll be amazed how often this works. The trick is to not make it sound "legal". Mention that word, and they get paranoid. Don't, and just sound like a downtrodden customer who really wants to make things work, and they'll bend over backwards.
I had an issue with a regular Chase card, not a store card, but Jamie in the executive credit card office that got it resolved. 888-622-7547 x7314
@Ezra Ekman: ...ask them to fax it to you while you're on the phone...
I tried that a few times but few will fax anything more than a printout of the account (and many claim they don't have access to a fax). For the investment company they said they had to research it first and refused to send what they were telling me. I tried going to the brick and mortar office that was 15 miles away and they were all helpful until they realized they couldn't answer by bringing up the account statement. They told me to call the customer service line.
Most of the bigger companies have learned to never let anything be put in writing that isn't a standard statement or boilerplate unless it goes through legal.
[I live in a two-party permission state, so I cannot tape the call.]
@bbb111: A couple of points: First, while company *policy* is to not put things in writing, you can often convince individuals to do so. Second, sometimes a fax of just about anything, even when not helping directly, can still help to establish that you *did* speak to someone about the issue on that date, so they can't claim you never called about it. Third, you can often (quasi-legitimately) record another party without directly informing them even in two-party states. Here are a few things to bear in mind:
First, their own phone systems (depending on your interpretation) give you permission to do so. They don't say "you may record this call", but they do say "this call may be monitored or recorded. They don't say by who, and if it ever went to court (and for something like this, I'd be VERY surprised if it did), you can reference that part of the recording.
Second, this is (usually) a civil issue, not a criminal one. This works in your favor on two counts: it's admissible as evidence because you aren't law enforcement and it wouldn't be a criminal case. Also, even if they were to be able to prove that you had recorded it and tried to sue you under the civil law against it, I have been advised by an attorney that this sort of thing, while frowned on, is usually dismissed if you can demonstrate that the only reason you recorded the call was because you were being lied to, having your rights violated, or your contract breached by the other party. You see, civil laws against recording others without their consent are intended to prevent people from doing dastardly deeds with the recordings. These laws weren't intended to stop individuals such as yourself from defending yourself against dishonest companies doing things like this to you.
Third, don't "tip your hand" by telling them you have the recording unless you REALLY need to. Don't get upset and shout "Oh yeah? Well I just RECORDED you and you said something completely different!" Save it for later, in case you need to demonstrate beyond the shadow of a doubt that the company has acted in bad faith. Better yet, don't lose your temper at all. Remain calm, practiced, polite and professional. In the end, if the recording ever comes into play, it will make it blatantly clear just who is being professional, and who is acting in bad faith. And you know what? By forcing yourself to act this way for the recording, you'll also be acting this way for the conversation, which may well drive it in a better direction, anyway.
I'm wondering if the on-line account has a lost/stolen link? If it does, verify they have your address correct and use the link - that should get something rolling within Chase.