I have two CC accounts that were opened by Providian, then sold to WaMu and again recently sold to Chase. These are by far the worst CC accounts I have. They are:
1) A Visa opened in March 1999. I closed this account to freeze the terms years ago when Providian tried to impose yet another RJ after selling me several CLI's. (It was closed at my request and is so noted.) It is now a Chase account with a miniscule balance (<$800 of a once $3,949 CL). I don't worry about that one. I just continue to pay it down although I think I will pay it off completely soon to eschew the 23.99% APR. This account doesn't do much of anything for me and will be dust soon. I have kept it alive so long hoping that something good could be done with the ancient lates still reporting. To an extent it has: TU managed to lose all but one of the lates in the Chase conversion. So I only report 1 30-day late there. Unfortunately EQ and EX report all 7 lates (including a 120-day and a 90-day late). The most recent late is Jan2005 so we are now good for 4.5 years.
2) A MasterCard opened in June 2000. This account is still open, has a CL of $3,9K and a $59 AF. I do not and will not carry a balance on this card since it has been continually RJ'ed and now sits at 31.99%. The last percent or two were final acts of greed by WaMu before they tanked. TU also managed to lose all but one 30-day late on this account in the Chase conversion as well! (Yippie!) EQ and EX report all 6 lates (including a 60-day late). The most recent late is Jun2005 so we are now good for 4 years on this account.
It is account 2) that vexes! My record with WaMu was perfect. I asked them on several occasions to do something about the APR and continually received the explanation that while they could not see any reason why they could not lower it (they said my record was perfect - never late and no over-limits, which would be true if they used a two year lookback as many issuers do) the system would not offer anything so I was stuck. Last year when I went through this I asked for a AF credit and they did it for me. That kept me as a customer for another year. Good retention! I asked for an explanation of the last RJ and after waiting months I received a letter saying they did it because they could. (Seriously!)
Now we get to the Chase Era. I recently emailed them and asked for an APR reduction. I know that others with just horrendous credit have been granted an APR reduction using this method. The response I received was 31.99% is what you get and we can't do a thing for you. This did not please me. Chase being Chase. Grrrr..
Cut to this week. I log in and see something has been posted to that account. Since I haven't used that card for anything more that my Netflix fee for months this piqued my curiosity so I looked. It was the AF of $59. Now I had two reasons to call: the APR and the AF. I get the front line CSR and hit him with the AF credit question. I warned him in advance that if he did not have good news he would be transferring me to a retention specialist. He looked at my agreement and comes back to say the following, "Your account terms call for an AF of $59. While WaMu and Providian had a mechanism for crediting AF's Chase does not." He knew I meant business so the next words out of his mouth were, "I am already transferring your call to a supervisor. Please hold on."
I get to the supervisor and repeat my request for the AF credit. I also explained that I had received such a credit from WaMu the previous year. She looked for a while and comes back and says the account is in good standing and I have been a good customer for ten years so she offered me a one time credit of the AF which she immediately posted. I should be able to see it tomorrow. I thanked her for the credit (good retention) and suggested that it was too bad they could not permanently remove the AF like HSBC did for me (better retention). Feeling good about that accomplishment I pressed on to the APR issue. Now I get the same old same old back - the system doesn't offer anything so you are stuck. She threw in that the accounts are reviewed and that many of the accounts picked up from WaMu had not been reviewed yet so I may have something offered to me in the future, I explained that having such a dreadful APR on my account rendered it basically useless, but she had managed to keep me on board for another year with the AF credit. (I really am not likely to close a free, $3.9K, ten year-old TL out of spite.) I stated bluntly, however, that their CC was the worst card in my portfolio and as a result gets very little use. If they want me to be a better customer they would have to come up with something much better for me as my credit is actually very good and that I have several high limit, low APR cards. I stated further that even HSBC had offered me a promo APR of 6.75% to keep me happy. (Other than the lates I am perfect. My FICO's are in the 720 range and I have a boatload of unsecured revolving credit. When the lates fall of in a few years I will be scoring at around 800.)
So Chase managed to do the absolute minimum necessary to retain me as a cardholder with no real explanation as to why this account is so tainted. Guess we'll see what happens during the coming year. If I were to make book on the outcome I would wager that I will be going through this same process again a year from now!
Message Edited by creditwherecreditisdue on 07-08-2009 04:17 PM
