Credit One - $7.95 Charge To Pay Online/Over The Phone

[Anonymous]

that's crazy !

[marty56]

Some companies charge more.  GEMB and Dsicover come to mind.

[Anonymous]

CreditOne is a silly company.

For some reason they were not charging me an annual fee for about a year.  Suddenly one month they started charging $6/mo for annual fee.  Now I have already cut this card up but I was keeping it because it was one of my first cards after BK and is helping average age.

I call up CreditOne.

Me: "I was suddenly charged an annual fee without warning and would like it reversed"
C1: "Sorry this account always has an annual fee".

Me: "Well it didn't for me.

C1 "Sir you are mistaken.  This card always has an annual fee and there is nothing we can do about it".

Me: "Well if you look for the last 14 statements there is no annual fee"

C1 "Hmm.  Well there is an annual fee now"

Me: "Aren't you suppose to advise me of changes to card policies"

C1: "I am advising you now this card should always have annual fee and it CAN NOT BE REMOVED".

Me: "I would like to close this account".

C1: "Sir aren't you concerned without C1 you won't be able to continue to improve your credit score"

Me: "I no longer need C1.  When I opened this account I had a FICO of 440 and now I have a 704.  My largest card is a $30K limit from USAA.  I don't really need C1.  It would be nice to keep it open but not with a $72 annual fee.

C1: "Sir what can we do for you to keep the account open".

Me: "I don't want a card with an annual fee".

C1: "So the annual fee is what is the only isse with the card".

Me: "Yes I called asking to have it removed and since it can't I want to close it".

C1: "What if there was no annual fee".

Me: "That is what I called asking you about".

C1: "I can remove the annual fee.  Would like to keep account?"

Me: "Yes. If you retroactively remove this and last months annual fee also".

C1: "Done.  Anythng else I can help you with".

Me: <Speachless>

Back to the OP.  I have used Bank Of America Billpay for C1 and virtually every single bill for 3+ years.  I haven't wrote a check to anyone, most post in 2 days (some are paper and take 5 days).  You can schedule in advance.  Some bills (not sure if C1 is one) you get an online bill right in your BofA account which shows due date, balance, minimum payments, and prompts you to pay.

Simply put Billpay rocks and I never get ripped of $7.95 per payment. 

[thrasher865]

Hey it took some threats, but thats better customer service than most!

[Anonymous]

Part of the reason I think it worked is it wasn't a threat.  I simply didn't really care.  I would prefer to keep it open with $0 balance but I wasn't going to "pay for the privelige".

I have tried to muscle CC in past and failed.  Likely because they know I needed the card more than they needed me.

[Anonymous]

CreditMizer,

i love that story...it reminds me of when a make my quarterly call (every 3-4 months) to Orchard Bank for CLI.  I have to tell them i want to close the account, cuz of the cruddy CL.. they ALWAYS come back with one...

oh the memories...

[jaysdad2k]

I opened Credit One 12/06, my second card after Orchard 8/06. They gave me $250 CL, then after 6 months auto raised me to umm, $450. At that time the monthly fee was $5.95 plus $5.95 to pay online. Twelve bucks a month just to have the card!

When it renewed last December, I called about the fee to see if I could pay the whole year at once. The CSR told me that CRA's "like to see activity on the card." She added if I let her "push the button" they could raise me to $550. I said yes!

It is the only card I cannot ever show a zero balance. It always reports at $5.

Until I got here I thought one should carry small balances. So, I was carrying less than $100 on everything. After PIF'ing my scores went up 30 or 40 points.

After the fee went to $7.95 I mail in a check every month for $5.95 the day I get the bill. If it doesn't show up before the cutoff date, I figure I could pay it online. So far it has always been credited in time.

I plan to keep it till December, have two full years of perfect payments then dump it.