A good word for FIA card services

Anonymous — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:51:09 GMT

I signed up for an FIA Visa through my credit union last September with a 0% APR balance transfer rate. I made automatic payments through the website but there is no option to auto-pay the minimum amount due. The consumer must set the monthly payment amount. Then in November I wrote a cash advance check to pay a bill, moved right before the holidays, forgot that the check I wrote would affect the minimum payment level and didn't login to my FIA online account until January 20th. Even the important stuff seems to fly off one's radar when moving!

The January auto-payment was $5 under the minimum due and I never saw the statement because I'd moved. I freaked out and had to retrace my steps to comprehend that my minimum had changed due to a check I wrote at the end of November. I had a late charge and my 0% rate was now 13.9%.

I called customer service, was transferred around, managed to get the late fee removed but was transferred to someone in a different department about the 0%APR. This person I spoke with was a bull and would not budge. I told him I could not afford the now tripled payment amount and would have to BT to a different card unless I could get the lower interest rate back for the remaining 8 months. He countered with a "fixed payment plan" but I told him that this was a $5 accidental underpayment and the new payments were unmanageable. He said I broke the terms of my cardholder agreement.

I asked if there was someone else at FIA I could appeal to about the matter. He said there was no one else for me to talk to (!). I said it wasn't personal towards him but is this worth losing my account to another card over a $5 mistake? Finally he said he would look into my account and call me back later that day. That was one week ago; as you can imagine he never called me back.

This morning I called FIA and spoke to someone at the opposite end of the cheerful spectrum who, within the first 3 minutes of our conversation, reinstated my 0% APR for the remaining 8 months. What a relief!!! I asked to put in a good word with this customer service rep's supervisor and thanked him profusely for his help.

Lessons Learned: 1. Pay attention to your autopay options, esp. if they do not allow you to make your minimum payment automatically. Their unspoken hope is that you underpay and they can charge you fees and increase your interest rate. Always pay double or 1.5x the minimum if you can manage it.

2. If you are discouraged by a nasty CSR, wait a while and CALL BACK. Try calling early in the morning before their mood is ruined, LOL!!

I am happy with the results of FIA's customer service and will likely keep this card around for the long term. When my tax refund comes I hope to double or triple my payments to pay it off before the 0% rate expires.

Re: A good word for FIA card services

oracles — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:40:54 GMT

Very nice alicia, congrats

Just a word of caution, and i dont mean to take the wind from your sail, but make sure they did not report a late to the credit bureaus.

You are consider late if you pay under the minimum , therefore if you are 30 days after the statement date, they can legally report you late to the CB's.

I hope i am wrong in this statement, but i would just verify if i were you.

topic Re: A good word for FIA card services in Credit Cards

A good word for FIA card services

Re: A good word for FIA card services