The Nuclear Option

[john398]

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@cakkd wrote:

Indeed, I overdrafted my Paypal account. There was absoultely nothing in the TOS that said they would extend me credit if the account was overdrafted. As well, I did have part of the amount in the account, and they left that there.

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Oh I understand, so they didn't attempt to withdrawl the money from either your bank account or your back up credit card?

[cakkd]

No, they didn't, John. They had both a current bank account number and a current CC number and they opted instead to extend me credit I didn't ask for.

[cakkd]

I eventually paid off the CA. This was five years ago, and the CO is still on my CR.

[john398]

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@cakkd wrote:

No, they didn't, John. They had both a current bank account number and a current CC number and they opted instead to extend me credit I didn't ask for.

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That is so wrong, I would be upset too

[Starry9281]

I tried the Nuclear Option with Chase today when they lowered my mother's CL by half for no reason (I manage her finances).  She is a loyal customer for over 20 years, never a late payment, always pays more than the minimum and fairly low utilization.  They basically said don't let the door hit you on the way out.

[longtimelurker]

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@Starry9281 wrote:

I tried the Nuclear Option with Chase today when they lowered my mother's CL by half for no reason (I manage her finances).  She is a loyal customer for over 20 years, never a late payment, always pays more than the minimum and fairly low utilization.  They basically said don't let the door hit you on the way out.

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At least they didn't say "Make sure the door hits you on the way out"!    But basically retention is unlikely to work in this sort of situation, where the bank has some bad feeling (justified or not) about the account.

Retention works best on a card with AF, and you are calling around renewal time, and are considering cancelling.  Even then, depends on the card and of course your value to them.

[SunriseEarth]

I honestly haven't tried the "nuclear option" since pre-BK.   It got me higher CLs.  In fact, everyone buy AMEX caved.   That was probably a good move for AMEX (and me, as it turned out). 

I should try that on my VS if the CL doesn't move.  If it closes, I can't say I'd care too much. 

[Mailak]

I once called Capital One and asked if they'd budge my CL or if there were any offers for me to PC. They said no. I said I'd like to close. They did it immediately without another word.

I called American Express to close my Green before the AF hit - they tried to talk me out of it and offered me, 5000 MR if memory serves me right. I closed anyway since I had called with an honest intention of closing. They could have tempted me to not close with some sort of retention offer but 5000 MR was not enough to override my skepticism of pervceving value in having the AF card. No hard feelings.

[gdale6]

LOL, "nuclear option".... I have used it many times over the years, 50-50 and I always followed thru if I didnt get what i wanted..

[Revelate]

Went through it recently but my opinion is never make any threat (not debating the ethicalness of threats in the first place) that you won't carry through. 

It's not the Nuclear Option in this case, it's more appropriate to label this one as Nuclear Brinksmanship if you're attempting to play chicken.

In my case I did go the full monty with Cap One, knowing that if I couldn't get what I wanted I'd close the card.  They wouldn't waive the AF when I asked, offered to tack on the quicksilver rewards (with still the same $59 AF) and I simply said no thanks and had them close it.