Goodbye Sallie

[Anonymous]

Hello. I've been browsing these forums for a few weeks now and found a lot of good information, so thanks for that. I just wanted to share my story about my Barclay Sallie Mae card.

I apped for the Sallie Mae card back in 2013 after seeing a popup for it when I was paying my student loan. I had just changed roles at work and became a field service tech so the 5% back on gas was enticing. I was approved for the platinum with a SL of $1,000 and 22.99% APR. Didn't care about the rate since I would be paying the card off each month in full. I used the card for every gas purchase and maxed out the 5% gas limit every month. Sometime around my 12th statement I got a $900 auto CLI that took me up to $1,900. I was getting $25 credits to my student loans left and right.

I was getting tired of driving all the time so I went back to working in an office late last year. The card had a zero balance and was sock drawered for a month. I got a great BT offer from them so I decided to request a CLI to take better advantage of the BT offer. An HP later and I have a whopping limit of $2400. That was a waste of a good HP, but whatever. I paid the account in full with my tax refund last month, let it report to the CRAs at a zero balance, and sock drawered the card again.

Yesterday I decided I had too many cards (16) and decided to go for a few APR reductions and close some accounts. The first one I called was Barclay. I told them I have been a good customer for the last two years and would like an APR reduction. "Sorry, there are no offers on your account at this time" is what I hear. I was pretty angry at that response. I have a lot better cards and I am not going to accept that. As if I was on auto pilot, I said "Go ahead and close my account then." There was no hesitation by the CSR, no pause, no "Let me transfer you to the Retention Department." Just a flat out "If we close your account today you will not be able to reopen it or use your card and will forfeit your rewards balance. Are you sure?" I said "yes" and that was it. Wow, that made it easier to accept. Good riddance. 

I don't know if this is typical, but what happened to CCCs trying to retain customers? Every card I have tried since closing the Sallie Mae had no problem reducing the APR. I even got Citi to reduce the APR on my Sears MasterCard which shocked the CSR. She was sure that store cards wouldn't let an APR reduction go through. 

[Skye12329]

I didn't know store cards could reduce the APR. As for the retaining customers part. I think it depends on the rep. Like I'm sure some will offer something to benefit you. But I feel others think you might just be bluffing or don't want to argue and just say okay it's closed.

[longtimelurker]

I had a somewhat similar experience (and this goes against what I usually say)   My SM card has by far the lowest CL, so I asked if anything can be done without an HP.  Standard answer of we review the accounts annually etc.   This was all via SM, so I said, that I would have to consider if the card makes sense.  They responded with an offer to close, with the warnings the OP gave.

Since I have 2455 points, I decided to keep it open till I have the 2500 needed for redemption!   Then I will close, as I hardly use the card.

[CH-7-Mission-Accomplished]

Good rewards cards usually come with higher APR's.  If you think you need to carry a balance, open some low interest rate CU cards (with lousy rewards).  You also could open a Barclay ring account at 8% and then transfer your  SM credit limit to the ring account.

If you wanted to close some accounts, that's fine, but I would not have closed this one with 5% cash back on gas and groceries and no annual fee.

We all like to feel like we matter to big banks, but ultimately we are just a cost/benefit analysis.

Airline mileage cards (United) are notorious for never waiving their annual fees -- ever for anyone -- no matter how good a customer you think you are.

Your CC strategy should be to calculate the best rewards cards and the best APR (balance carrying) cards and don't confuse the two.

And do you really care if your Barclay card goes from 24% to 22% or 21.9% when you could have a CU card at 6% or a Barclay Ring at 8%?  Losing a couple of points off of a very high interest rate card leaves you with a very high interest rate card still.

[deltatee]

Sorry to hear they weren't able to be flexible. It feels like a random roll of the dice based on the CSR.  I've had similar experiences when I closed by last Chase card, they could simply care less.

[happypill]

When deciding which among your 16 cards to close and which to keep, I'm assuming you closed the Sallie Mae because all your other cards offer rewards higher than 5% with no AF?  Otherwise, it doesn't seem to make much sense closing a no AF card with super easy to use 5% categories.

I could see the Sallie Mae not making sense for someone who carries a balance (rewards cards always have higher APR) or maybe wants to consolidate all their spend onto a single general use card.  But for most people, Sallie Mae is a pretty easy card to keep in the rotation.  The categories are easy to remember (they don't rotate) & easy to use, you get $25 for very $500 you spend and reward redemption is a piece of cake.

[longtimelurker]

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@happypill wrote:

When deciding which among your 16 cards to close and which to keep, I'm assuming you closed the Sallie Mae because all your other cards offer rewards higher than 5% with no AF?  Otherwise, it doesn't seem to make much sense closing a no AF card with super easy to use 5% categories.

I could see the Sallie Mae not making sense for someone who carries a balance (rewards cards always have higher APR) or maybe wants to consolidate all their spend onto a single general use card.  But for most people, Sallie Mae is a pretty easy card to keep in the rotation.  The categories are easy to remember (they don't rotate) & easy to use, you get $25 for very $500 you spend and reward redemption is a piece of cake.

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Don't know about the OP, but I will close because I have cards that are "better" than the Sallie Mae, so why keep it?   OBC offers 5% on supermarkets and gas (and drug stores) up to $50K a year (after a threshold spend, but that is not an issue for me) Citi Forward 5x offers 5% uncapped on Amazon (and dining and entertainment) and now the Amazon store card will also give 5% uncapped.

So while I agree that the Sallie Mae is a good card for many, it isn't sacred, and there can be valid reasons for closing if you are in to closing cards you don't use.

[Anonymous]

Yeah but I thought your OBC was shut down.

[Imperfectfuture]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Yeah but I thought your OBC was shut down.

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Think awhile back, he got it reopened, or a new one.  As a singular unit, Sallie Mae would work fine for me.  Depends on how they treat the request to lower apr on Aviator.  Was told they tend to do that more for people carrying a balance.  Sallie wouldn't be a balance carrying card for me (could have several with Barclays, including the ring, but 3 max total).

[Anonymous]

I dont carry balance and got APR reduction after 4 1/2 months.