Is the new credit card law a joke?
This post is rather personal to me because it just happened to me. You, if I were to guess, are probably experiencing the same or similar things. It seems the government just passed, in February of 2010, the new credit card act called the “Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009” or as it is referred to the “Credit Card Act of 2009”. (Please see my blog post of February 17, 2010 titled Credit Card Relief???)
This new government mandated act was supposed to protect you and me from the predatory lending practices of banks and their credit card departments. The reality of the situation is that the banks got a jump on the act and sent out a letter to you and me telling us that they were going to raise our credit card interest rate unless we opted out by responding to the credit card company.
Now I don’t know about you but trying to read these letters with all their legalese and accountese was like trying to decipher and understand Sanskrit or hieroglyphics. This, of course, was done on purpose so as to confuse you and me. And guess what? It worked!
This letter is where my problem began this week with my credit card company which I shall refer to as “Credit Card Company” or CCC from now on. I noticed that my interest rate doubled and I called “CCC” to find out why I was being penalized for being a good customer. I told them that I have been pleased with their service in the eleven years that I have been a loyal and faithful customer. And I asked, “What was going on”?
The first person I talked with didn’t understand anything I was saying, gee that’s a surprise, so I asked to talk to a supervisor. The supervisor, who was supposedly a senior supervisor, got on the line and I explained that I was upset with “CCC” doubling my interest rate and what was the supervisor going to do to help me.
Here is where it all started. The supervisor asked me if I had read the letter that was sent out to me and I said that I tried to understand it but it was difficult. That is all the supervisor said. Whenever I asked what are you going to do to help me the supervisor keep repeating that they had sent out a letter and that I need to refer to that letter.
I finally became disgusted and asked to talk to that supervisor’s supervisor. I was connected to another “regurgitating clone” that went through the same routine with me. I keep asking for the name and number of a senior executive that I could talk to but no one would give that to me. They kept telling me that “those” people don’t except phone calls. I guess that means that a lowly, annoying customer wasn’t important enough to talk to an “executive” of “CCC”.
After calling their corporate headquarters, which I got the number from the Internet even though all the “CCC” clones refused to give it to me; I talked to my fifth “CCC” employee. This senior account manager finally said to me that there was nothing they could do for me regarding lowering my interest rate but they would credit the interest back to me if that would make me happy. I said go ahead.
Sensing that I still was not going to get anywhere with corporate or anyone else in the all important “CCC” I decided that I would find out who the big shot was that ran the place.
A little Internet search gave me the name, title, and address of; in this case, Mr. Big shot himself. I have written a letter to Mr. Big shot explaining what transpired with his company and will wait with bated breath for a response from Mr. Big shot to this lowly customer who dares question the policies of the giant, “CCC”. I will keep you up to date on how this turns out.
What Mr. Big shot and all the “CCC” companies out there need to remember is this simple little statement: “Without you and me, the customers, they don’t exist.” When is corporate America going to understand that their whole purpose is to serve their customers…Period!
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