Do Credit Card Reps Enjoy Lying?

[Reighn9]

Sears upgraded me to their Mastercard with citi Thank you Rewards because I was a "valued" customer. I received rhe notice in February after a CLD October 2016, that the change would be effective in April 2017 and would receive my new card by June 2017. Last month the change showed up online, my Sears card BT to new card, and a note it had been mailed. Now I can't use the Sears card because it has been closed. When I still had not gotten the card yesterday I called, chat had been no help-he told me to request a lost card from the website but nothing on the website was functional because I didn't have an active card. Anyway, the phone rep offered to overnight me a replacement card. I decided to ask about having my CL restored. I asked if she could review my account without pulling a new report or a hard inquiry, otherwise I did not want to make the request. She told me there would be no new report or inquiry. After she asks me a few questions, she told me increase was not approved and I would get a letter. Today I got a letter, a hard inquiry and 6 point drop on EQ.
The same morning I had talked to another credit manager who tried to convince me paying down my account was coincident to my CLD, then he mistakenly said before that there wasn't enough balance to reduce. Whwn I called him on that he changed the subject. He also said credit scores don't matter and don't fluctuate much.

[Anonymous]

Sometimes I forget that these people behind the phone are just regular people like us.

[Anonymous]

Call the EO immediately and ask nicely that they review the recorded discussion with the first CSR regarding the hard inquiry.  Then ask them to recode it as a soft inquiry because she told you something that wasn't true.  They can do this.

[Reighn9]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Call the EO immediately and ask nicely that they review the recorded discussion with the first CSR regarding the hard inquiry.  Then ask them to recode it as a soft inquiry because she told you something that wasn't true.  They can do this.

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Thank you, I will try that. I was going to call the Credit Services number listed in the letter when they opened. I don't even know where the credit score was obtained that was used because my score hasn't been at 600 or below on FICO. EQ was 680 when I called.

[Anonymous]

Did you get that 680 EQ score from MyFico or CreditCheckTotal or a different site?

[Reighn9]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Did you get that 680 EQ score from MyFico or CreditCheckTotal or a different site?

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I got it from MyFico.  It has matched what is pulled by date before

[RobertEG]

Billing related issues on credit card accounts are subject to the rigorous dispute process under the Fair Credit Billing Act.

FCBA disputes must be in writing to impose the dispute requirments upon the creditor.

Have you considered filing a formal FCBA dispute as opposed to dealing with verbal combat with CSR?

[Reighn9]

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@RobertEG wrote:

Billing related issues on credit card accounts are subject to the rigorous dispute process under the Fair Credit Billing Act.

FCBA disputes must be in writing to impose the dispute requirments upon the creditor.

Have you considered filing a formal FCBA dispute as opposed to dealing with verbal combat with CSR?

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How are CLDs and CL restoration requests billing related issues that I can dispute with someone?

[RobertEG]

Did the whole issue not evolve from the closing of the account, issue of a new account, and thus balance and billing issues on the account(s)?

[Reighn9]

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@RobertEG wrote:

Did the whole issue not evolve from the closing of the account, issue of a new account, and thus balance and billing issues on the account(s)?

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Originally I had a Sears store card issued 01/2014 with $3K CL. In August 2016 I made a $1400 purchase at a K-Mart close-out sale wiith $0 balance on my card. The purchase was flagged and I had to answer many questions over the phone on a conference line between myself, the cashier, and some credit manager/fraud analyst at Sears Corporate. After proving my identity with several forms of identification, that I had possession of the Sears card by verifying every number on it, showing 2 other credit cards in my name, the purchase was finally approved. In the next month I made some more smaller purchases with no problem. In November I received a notification on one of the credit monitoring services of high utilization and a CLD on a citi account. Checking my acounts showed a CLD of $1150 on my Sears card dropping the CL to $1850. I called, the CSR told me fraudulent use and late payments were the reason. I hadn't had either, nor had I received any letter of explanation. The CSR said he would send one. The letter I received had been backdated to October, before the CLD, and stated recent account review showed too many accounts with balances and too many inquiries. In February I received a letter that I was a "valued" customer and would be upgraded to the Sears Mastercard in April and receive the new card by June. The leter said I could use my Sears card until I received the MC. Mid-April my Sears card was closed, the balace transferred to the new MC with a new account number, but I didn't have the new card and the old card was invalid. The only feature that worked on the website was make payment and chat. In May a note appeared that the new card had been mailed and I should receive it within 2 weeks. When I hadn't received it, I tried chat first but CSR told me to use website features that didn't work so I called. The CSR could overnight a replacement.. I also asked since I received this upgrade could I have my CL restoted. I requested the CSR not do a hard pull for a new report. If that was necessary I would cancel the request. She made the inquiry and pulled a report anyway after asking me some questions.