In my experience I found out that letters to credit card companies work much better than phone calls.

Except with Capital One. They are hopeless.

@davere: Unfortunately for me, Capital One is about to become my bank (they bought Chevy Chase bank in MD)... I have given them the middle finger and am searching for a new bank.

I work in customer service, and a polite request resolve a situation is pleasant to work on, and I am more compelled to "go to bat" for that customer when bringing the issue to a supervisor.

For me, a polite customer gets polite assistance, but too bad not all customer service reps feel the same way.

@jvanbrecht: Capital One bank is actually pretty great. They bought out Hibernia down here and no complaints since the changeover. The branch staff is helpful and they actually have the authority to make decisions (like refunding a occasional overdraft or waiving check fees) without having to call "the corporate office".

It's like having the convenience of a national bank but the service of a regional one. I don't know anything about their credit card business (I've heard bad things) but it's a heck of a bank.

I paid 1 day late for the first time in 7 years with Citibank. I put in the online payment the same day they should have received it. My mistake.

The first rep lowered the interest rate but not my payment owed (it seemed the former is the critical part to determine the latter). She stated that no one could do it which was an obvious lie. I wasn't disputing the late fee.

I called a second rep and they put in a request for a credit for the difference in my bill less the late fee. Perfectly acceptable.

I called and left a message with the executive support asking for confirmation of these changes given my bad experience with a rep that lied to me. I reiterated that I had no problem with the late fee.

They not only approved the credit I was hoping for but credited the late fee too. I have to wait until my next statement to see the rate decrease.

All by being polite and using my good account history with the company as a reason they should give me this.

This floors me. I've never been late on a payment to Chase, or to WaMu (my original credit holder). I've always paid more than the minimum. And after they raised my interest rate for no apparent reason, I wrote a nice letter to Chase, and also sent emails and made phone calls, to request that they reverse the decision. The response I received was "there is nothing we can do. These decisions are made by people in the back office, and they don't take calls." There was never a response to the letter.

Then a few weeks later, they lowered my credit limit.

It's as though we were dealing with different companies. Chase has never been anything but unfair, unhelpful, and unwilling to do anything for me but charge me more and give me less.

One day late costs them nothing, but can add thousands of dollars in interest! If I couldn't pay them off, I really think I would just stop paying them until they lowered it. I know what it means, but really fuck em. There is just no excuse and if you are on the line it could devastate you. Meaning you could never really pay them off anyway. Why not nip it in the bud and stick it to them too? Taking that stance if what the OP did doesn't work might get them to change their tune.

@frank64: I don't think there's a way to do that that doesn't hurt the customer even more. You've fucked your credit report and your chances of finding housing more than you've fucked Chase.

I once paid my chase credit card late, or rather didn't pay it at all because they had changed their online payment system (there was a box I had to check that I forgot to check). The next day I fell on the ice, had to get my lip stitched up and deal with a concussion. When I called them two days later to see what was up since my payment didn't go through they were very nice and took off all the late charges and didn't raise my interest rate. They even patched me through to someone so I could see about getting my interest rate dropped.

@floraposte: It depends on where you are at. IF you already have a late or two and/or you won't be needing credit for a few years(your FICO recovers fairly quickly) it might not affect you as bad as you think. If you already owe a bit it might be smart not to use additional credit anyway.

They will end up settling in a few months if it goes that far and you may be able buy get them to agree to take it down in the settlement. You could explain to them in your initial dealings that you are setting up an escrow where the monthly payment is being deposited until settlement.

At some point the crazier you act with these banks the more they are likely to respond a little fairly. If it saves you thousands of dollars in interest it might be worth it, especially if the high rate was going to mean you couldn't pay anyway or leave you on the edge for 5+ years.

Of course what the OP did worked out, but that is the exception.

@James Culp: I had this happen to me. My limit was cut from $8,000 to $300 and I called to complain and I was told that there was nothing they could do. I couple weeks later I noticed online that my balance was $8,000 and I had no idea it was changed back.

I have had my Chase personal credit card for more than 18 years and my business card more than 10 years. During that time I have had my fair share of problems but I have never failed to get the problem resolved on the telephone. There have been times when I had to escalate the issue to someone higher up and there have been times when I felt the CSR just didn't want to do his/her job but the problems have always been resolved to my satisfaction.

While I'm not sure, maybe being a long time customer who averages $$7000.00 to 8000.00 a month in charges, sometimes more, (I pay the bill in full every month), and who has never been late may be part of the reason the issues are always taken care of but I would hope that's not the main reason. I would hope that the main reason was that I always remained calm and pleasant when dealing with the people on the other end of the telephone.

I have been told, on several occasions, by CSRs that they get yelled at just because they ask security questions to determine if the person calling in is really who they say they are.

I'll admit that I feel some companies take security questions too far on occasion (especially when I'm not calling from the telephone number they have on their records) but I also feel it is a small inconvenience when I compare it to the inconvenience I would have if my identity was stolen, in part, because they didn't ask the questions.

I am sure some people yell at them in frustration because of problems that are either real or perceived but those people need to realize something that my deceased mother would tell me when I was growing up. She told me that "You can catch more files with honey than you can with vinegar." and I have found that to be true more often than not.

For what it's worth the most difficult company I've ever dealt with is Sprint. Even though I've had their PCS cell service going back to about 1992 and have never been late in paying my bill, that really doesn't seem to matter when dealing with most of the people there but I can again say I have never failed to get any problem resolved to my satisfaction.

One of the things I do, when I feel someone has gone "above and beyond", is to write a letter, or email to the company involved, praising the individual. The reason I do that is because I feel that since I complain when something doesn't go right I should also compliment when I feel the person has done more than was required.

@James Culp: Same here. Well I was originally a WaMu customer. But when Chase took over, my interest rate doubled! Never missed a payment, in fact, I always paid in full every month. When I called, all I got was the same, "there's nothing we can do" crap.

@jvanbrecht: Same situation here, in VA. Fortunately, I never got a credit card with Chevy Chase, so I'm willing to take a wait-and-see attitude. You might consider just switching card provider but stick with them otherwise.

@Bogart's Falcon aka Philly Falcon:

I'm amazed and impressed you get these results. I wonder if Chase reps and managers are more empowered to make decisions for long time customers (or possibly original Chase customers instead of WaMu-acquired customers).

Three times I have called Chase, and every time I've been told the "people in the back office make these decisions, and they don't take calls."

I've tried everything *except* yelling. I've used:

--reason (I've been a good customer, never been late, always pay more than minimum),
--emotion (this is going to personally hurt me and make me a worse customer, since, if you lower my limit, it will hurt my debt/credit ratio...),

and when I start getting attitude from them (which I always seem to), I admit I've resorted to:

--sarcasm (how do they not take calls in this magical "back office"? They are making decisions about my credit and life, and they don't have a phone? Are they using computers or ouija boards?)

NOTE: I'm never an a** to CSRs until they give me plenty of attitude ("Well, sir, we've been on the phone for 13 minutes and I've told you there is nothing I can do. Anything else?")

One thing is if you PIF or close to it, they know you can cancel at any time and they are much more helpful. If they think there isn't much you can do about it they will take advantage of it.

Some of these across the board increases are made at high levels and they really mean to impose them on everyone targeted. They especially are very hard to do anything about. Late fees and rate increases are more routine, and somewhat easier depending on how you rate to them.

Citi raised my rate and I opted out of it. Earlier they tried this but I was able to get it lowered after talking to a supervisor.

I am going to wait until next year when the account is set to close to see if I can keep the account open. I am not trying now because it doesn't matter(I can still use the account as normal) and I think later on they might have different policies. At least by then I will be stronger financially, so it could help. They normally have been accommodating.

Here's a dumb peripheral question that I can't seem to find a clear answer to, which probably means the answer is no but I figure why not ask. Does a high APR, in and of itself, hurt your FICO score? Mine on two cards, one BofA Mastercard and one Discover, are pretty high, but I've paid off both (in part with the help of a balance transfer that got me a lower rate). So I figured I didn't really have to care anymore what the APRs are. But am I wrong about that?

@Princess Leela: Your APR has no effect.

I don't know about Chase. Seems today that most of their various divisions (mortgage, credit cards) are seemingly oblivious to common sense. Case in point - I've had my mortgage with Chase for 10 years and recently refinanced through them to reduce the rate. It took Chase 5 months and redundant documentation to close on this. Bear in mind that I was already a Chase mortgage customer and in that time (10 years ), not one payment was ever late. In fact, the principal had been paid in advance.

Chase simply needs to get their act together.

@frank64: Good to know, thanx.

@jp7570: I think the problem is it doesn't seem to be hurting them too much. They need to get the total disrespect and loss of customers that they have earned or they will not change.

@James Culp: " It's as though we were dealing with different companies."

Because you are/were. I had a Providian (I think) card and a Chase card. Chase bought Providian and converted the card over. I called after the conversion to inquire about combining credit limits and cards. No go since "the systems are different" or some other dreck. These companies use every reason to get more money- ie- in my case having two cards open with the possiblity of two late fees and/or two over limit fees. I solved this problem with a BOA (from one devil to another) card for the same credit limit of both Chase cards combined...

Personally I think the wording here: "Also I feel that not enough training is available to the customer care representatives since they were misrepresenting Chase for so long."

is the key item why they repaired the damage. "misrepresentation" is a pretty firm terms for these companies..

My fiance managed to get his credit card up to 29.99%, but after a long frustrating call to a representative that spoke very limited English he finally was able to get them to cut the APR to 13%, and then through a credit counselor they cut it again to 9%.

@James Culp: Ditto for me as well. From 13 at Wamu to 25 at Chase. The answer I received was more like, "There's nothing we will do."

This story angers me more than the fact that I'm getting screwed by Chase. It's either indicative of an arbitrary policy (oxymoron?) or the OP is lying...

...and you know what? I'm sorry, but I call BS on the interest refund. That would never happen. I don't buy it for a second. Show me a statement.

And where is the address so we can try this same tactic and report back on the futility of such efforts? I've found seven customer service addresses for Chase. I would like to know which one was used by our dubious OP.

Just to reiterate, I call BS on the interest refund. Can I do that, or am I going to get my hand slapped? I've never heard of anything so preposterous.

"We're sorry, here's some money back!"

Uh-huh.

I had the same thing... $1475 returned and never asked.. Chase was the bank.. This was a month ago and story was posted.. Search Man gets chase to bend to his iron will"

@Datacloud: My credit card company did this once. I have precisely one credit card, through the bank I use for everything financial, and they actually refunded me the interest garnered on a payment that was one day late.

Then again, my bank is Canadian (RBC; they are the best bank on the planet and I will be loyal until I die) and maybe even our banks are socialist?

@Datacloud: I believe it.I don't think he has reason to lie. As has been already related, a well written letter and a good account history probably made the OP stand out like a sore thumb. It hit a human being who was able to do something about it. Weird things happen. I have seen on other credit forums where this has happened also.

@James Culp: I have gotten the "attitude" from CSR's on occasion. What I do at that point is to end the conversation, call back to get a different CSR and then ask for a supervisor. If the supervisor is not willing/able to handle the problem I then escalate it. I don't escalate it through the supervisor but through a separate phone call to the main office of the company I'm dealing with. It has never failed to work.

Something else I do is when I find someone who is able to cut through the corporate BS and get things done is I keep their contact information. I get their direct telephone number and I file it away in case I ever need their help again. If I again have a problem with the same company I still will try to get it solved with the CS department but I always have the person who helped me previously to fall back on if need be.

There was one time I tried to use a person who helped me previously only to find he/she wasn't there any longer. It still worked out for me because the person who took the position over did take care of the issue.

As an interesting side note, being one day late seem to not affect my credit report. I pulled my free annual report and found for all three companies, my Chase account was in good standing.

@davere: I worked as a temp for a few weeks for a lawyer in Texas. It turned out he was one of those utter sleazebags that tell clients to "wait out" the creditors until the client's credit is shattered but the creditor is willing to settle for less money. His MO consisted of having all creditor mail and calls forwarded to him, then sending reply faxes that said "This client is represented by a lawyer. Here's the page of the Fair Debt Practices Act that applies to you." That's it, good racket, eh? (Blech.)

Anyway, he said he found that Capital One was hands down and by far the most abusive creditor, to the point that he could get most Capital One debtor's debt erased because Capital One violated the Act right and left.

@Datacloud: All seven addresses are correct at different times. Sneaky, huh? Which one you use depends on who bills you and which database you're in, apparently.

@Datacloud: Wow. You really want to make sure that everyone here KNOWS that you think the OP is lying about this. Perhaps you should find something else to crusade against, because calling out people who you "think" are lying on the internets is a job with little respect or notoriety.

@David Michael Noriega: They only report if you have been late for over 30 days.

@rlee: I used to bank with Chevy Chase and switched to Wells Fargo when I wasn't living in state. I moved back to Maryland a little while ago and when I heard that Chevy Chase was being bought by Capital One (my parents are longtime Chevy Chase customers), I decided to go with SECU instead. Horror stories on this site were part of that decision.

@Datacloud: Since you've said you feel the OP is lying i would like you to say why you feel that way. I have found that when most people on Consumerist say they think the story that an OP has said in untrue they give valid or somewhat valid reasons. They usually point to some inconsistencies that others, including myself, have overlooked. I have not heard your reasons but I would like to know them.

Is there something in the OPs story that we have overlooked?

@littlemisslondon: I've had interest refunded as well, although it was only $3, not $250. (My credit card due date was changed and my payment was late, although it would have been on time under the previous due date.)

@econobiker: Plus he wrapped the iron fist in the velvet glove of "this is a training issue" rather than "I am forwarding this information to my attorney."

@littlemisslondon: "...maybe even our banks are socialist?"
ROTFL! I'm moving to Canada as soon as global warming makes it tropical enough for me, or when Florida gets flooded out. Whichever comes first.

@frank64: He's a young guy getting ready to graduate college with loans and look for housing. A credit card default is going to mess with both of those things.

I'm not disagreeing that sometimes defaulting, bankruptcy, etc., aren't the worst things to do, but this isn't one of those times. The proposal you make (have you actually tried this, by the way?) sounds more suited to somebody who really wants to haggle and who's invested in the notion that the bank shouldn't get the initial figure than to somebody who wants to solve a financial problem.

@Brandi Hendrix: Wow. You really want to make sure that everybody knows you're putting me in my place. Perhaps you should find someone else to crusade against, because calling people out for calling people out who in my opinion possess the burden of proof is a job with even less respect and notoriety. But you just keep on taking that high road, giving the high hat, and pretend that you are of a stronger moral fiber than us low-lifes all around you.

Amazing how quick people are around here to rise up and attempt to belittle those who hold a minority opinion, which is based on a strong hunch backed by years and years of experience with credit card providers and the industry in particular. For years I had bad credit, but even when it got much better, I was still treated like a criminal by Chase and other banks. I just find it very hard to believe that the standard would be so polarized.

I probably was a bit emotionally bent when I posted those missives. It was perhaps a bit brash and rash. If proof is provided to support his claim, I will eat crow, apologize, and move on with my life. But for now, back off, and get one of your own.

@Datacloud: It sounds to me like you are very bitter, with possibly a valid reason, against the banking industry. That in itself is no reason to say the OP is lying.

Any of us could say you are lying about how you feel you've been treated since you haven't provided proof of why you feel that way. I don't see anyone here doubting you. Why do you doubt the OP?

@floraposte: I knew his issue had been dealt with in a much better way, so I was not recommending it for him.

A bank saying no is just the standard procedure, so I always thought it as the requirement needed to go to the next step and it has always worked for me(granted with smaller issues such as late fees or more routine smaller rate increases).

I have read to many people say they had their rate increased to 30% and how it was going to leave them just paying the interest and leaving them with many years of continued payments and perpetual debt. At some point you just have to tell them, no you've gone to far, and if it happened to me I WOULD tell them no.I bet at some point they would figure out it was better just to let the jerk (me) have his lower rate, so they could cross me of the issue list and go to lunch.

What I wish people WOULD do (and I know 85% of them won't) is to just tell the bank to stuff it (into their charge off toxic assets) and quit paying, and make your finances judgment proof or declare bankruptcy (it's chic these days).

If ALL the credit card holders went on "strike" this month and refused to pay ANYTHING at all on their accounts, the banks would be forced to "be a fucking person" ... or die.

I had a credit card company apply my ON TIME payment to the wrong account. I got the check copy back and it clearly showed that I clearly wrote the correct account number on it. They sent my account to collections (I can expect that). But what was worse is that even after the problem was discovered, they still refused to take it out of collections, and still called my home phone 4 or 5 times a day, waking up my late sleeping family, for three weeks ... AND jacked up my rate to 27% AND refused to fix it ... even though it was their error. FYI, it's now past SOL and I don't feel sorry at all.

@AlteredBeast: Yes, a polite request works better, but I've found that I only get anywhere with phone calls. Letters and emails are too easy to ignore or refuse.

I am trying that right now with CitiCards. I sent them a message asking to decrease it because i missed one payment. They said, "You need 6 consecutive months of no missed payments", i sent them a message saying i havent missed a payment in 6 months, they immediately sent a message back in about 2 min time saying "You need 12 consecutive months of no missed payments" 12 months was 5 days from that message. So i am waiting now, i have contacted them again and lets see what they do.

@undefined: You are saying that I need to get a life when you have made two seperate posts in this one thread trying to call out the OP for lying?!?! I think you are the one who needs a life. And if I am the one with the crusade against you (oh, the horrors!!) it is awfully fishy that YOU are the one who keeps trying to point out that you THINK the OP is lying.

Maybe they are and maybe they aren't. I cannot confirm or deny this point, and frankly, neither can you. It doesn't affect you personally either way, other than that it seems you are a little jealous if it is true.

@Brandi Hendrix: that was supposed to be directed at Datacloud. bah.