UpUpUp - That is good info for others to know, however, it was their reporting on my cr that even alerted me to my approval with them. Hopefully for your SO they will honor their statement.
Here is the email and letter that I sent in the following deletion trail (beware it is LONGGGG):
I sent letters to all on 7.26, received a written denial on 8.12. I sent a second request on 8.19 via email to M.B. the Pres of Bank Card Credit Division. After no response, on 8.29 I fowarded it to J.McG. the Chief Credit Officer with a cc to D.D who is CEO asking for their assistance. I think I may have also mailed a second round on 8.28. (Found email addys with some google research)
Dear Mr. McG..,
I am earnestly seeking corporate level assistance regarding the unprofessional handling of my account per the below captioned letter addressing my experience. Please direct my request to the appropriate department that can resolve this matter expeditiously.
Kind Regards,
Dear Mr. B...,
I have mailed a copy of the below letter to the Account Specialist Department and Customer Service Department on July 26, 2008, however, appropriate action has not been taken. A letter that I received on August 12, 2008 from the Customer Service Department did not respond to any of the specifics of my account that I addressed. Please intervene to resolve this matter for my account.
Thank you, Mr. B..., in advance for your response and assistance.
July 26, 2008
First Premier Bank, Attn: New Account Specialist, 601 S. Minnesota Ave., Sioux Falls, SD 57104
Dear Sir or Madam:
For the past week, I have given great consideration to the matter for which I am writing. I respectfully, request immediate and complete goodwill removal of my account from all credit reporting agencies – Equifax, TransUnion and Experian, as a courtesy credit clear, as well as a recoding of the hard inquiry to a soft inquiry. My request is based on the unprofessional way my cancellation request was handled.
Foremost, I would like to state my appreciation toward First Premier Bank’s offer for the Gold Visa unsecured credit card. However, after applying to another credit card company, I was able to secure another line of credit before I even became aware that I was approved by First Premier. At that point, if approved, I was willing to retain the account with First Premier just to establish account history.
Ironically, it wasn’t until I pulled a current copy of my credit report that I discovered that I had been approved for credit with First Premier and the account was reporting with a balance of $150 on a $200 credit line. Extremely irate that I was not given the opportunity to pay down this balance before it reported such a high utility, I called customer service to inquire about cancelling the card.
After being transferred to a female account specialist, I believe her name was Rosa, I explained my situation. Rosa attempted to clarify the rates and fees for the card for which I was approved; however, I became even more appalled by the finance charges and confusing nature of the Card A / Card B options pending approval.
Rosa kindly offered to reduce one of the finance charges and increase the credit limit to reduce my utility reporting; however, it was the monthly fee that concerned me the most. Rosa stated to me that if I never used the card for the first year, yet paid all of the finance charges and monthly participation fees, upon cancelling at the close of the first year I would be refunded all of the fees paid. Having never heard or read anything like this ever before, I told Rosa that I would need to see that statement in writing.
Rosa became highly offended that I questioned her professional integrity and began making personal statements about how long she has been employed as an account specialist. In my humble opinion, an appropriate response from a seasoned service representative with true professional integrity would have been offering to email, fax or mail a copy of an agreement supporting her statement.
I called to handle a business matter and ended up being told that by wanting to follow legal protocol, I had offended someone. It was her rude and defensive demeanor at this point that led to me completely cancel the account without any further hesitation. Notably, Rosa’s solution was that I simply cut up the card upon receipt, her personal emotions clouded professional integrity that required me to be issued a confirmation of cancellation. I had to request a cancellation number.
Satisfied that the account had been closed and the fees refunded, I was still disturbed by the lack of professionalism with which my cancellation was conducted. I again called customer service to verify the cancellation and requested that the recorded cancellation call be pulled for review. I was assured that the call would be reviewed; however, I have not been contacted with the outcome of the review nor any form of apology.
Therefore, I respectfully request the results of the review for the cancellation call and due to the unprofessionalism of the account specialist, I further request complete removal of my account from all credit reporting agencies as a courtesy for the rudeness that I endured on the behalf of a representative of First Premier Bank. I understand that although the FCRA requires reporting of accurate information, there is no requirement to report closed accounts; on this basis, please delete this account and recode the associated inquiry from hard to soft.
Sincerely,
