I have recently acquired 3 new credit cards all within the past 3 and I wanted to share my experience with all 3 issuers.
i started off with credit one. They have the worst customer service by far and it's not even close. For me the biggest thing is when I call in, I have called probably 2 dozen times and every time I have gotten an agent not In the US. And it sounded and felt like they were reading from a script.
They have absolutely no power to do anything to help you. For example I hit my max of 4 payments within a month, and they could not push my 5th payment through, even after I offered to pay a fee. You ask them questions and they give you the most generic scripted answer that gives you no real information. When I asked to speak to a supervisor they said a manager would call me back, and then they never did.
They charge you to make a payment. $7.95. And if you don't pay the fee, the payment takes 2-3 weeks to process. So you really have no choice. They charge an annual fee for a terrible card. I have ever heard of them charging you for a CLI. I got an auto CLI, but they only gave me $200 more credit. Then when I have requested another CLI the computer automatically rejected me saying "my account hasn't been open long enough for a credit limit increase"... but if that is the case, how did I already receive one? And of course, when I called in to ask about it, they couldn't understand me, and read from a script and kept saying the same thing over and over again.
Next was my capital one, leaps and bounds over credit one. But still not good. When I call in, I got an agent inside the US probably 80% of the time. Which is a start. But when I asked if they could express ship my card for a fee they said they could not. Even after I offered to pay for it. They do not offer the ability to pay using a debit card, only via bank account. So Payments with them take a long time to process.
finally, I got a card with chase. I'm glad to see some companies still know how to do business. Their customer service was the best out of the bunch. When I asked if they could expedite my card, she was able to immediately help and send my card 2 day for no charge. Little things like that matter.
the reps are actually able to assist you, imagine that! Giving your customer service representatives the ability to actually assist people! So far there has not been a question they could not answer or a problem they couldn't solve. The exact opposite of credit one, who couldn't do anything.
there is also small things like the reconsideration line, and the fact that when I applied I needed to speak with someone to ensure it was not fraud. And it was actually me opening the account and not someone else. All these things matter to me.
Customer service, being treated like a person and not a paycheck, and actually being able to talk to someone and get my questions answered are the most important things to me. And unfortunately that sort of thing has gone way downhill since the widespread use of computers.
I don't want a computer looking over my case, computers have not feelings and therefore do not care about you or your situation.
anyways, I have heard Amex is even better than chase. Like I said, I'm glad there are still companies out there that value customer service.
I only have experience with credit cards from Chase, Discover, Navy Fed, Amex and US Bank. I have had deposit accounts with dozens more.
I crown Discover as the best. US-based phone and chat 24/7 with super knowledgeable and competent reps who are friendly and professional.
Chase reps are near the bottom for me- non US based no matter when you call, will tell you any old boiler plate drivel, sometimes with attitude like when I asked for biz card to be expedited. Often I get, "not paid enough to deal with this" vibes, and they've tried to stiff me on rewards requiring CFPB intervention after several failed phone calls. Chase SM tends to fare a little better, though they will often send you form responses that misunderstand your issue.
Navy Fed is great, almost as good as Discover.
Haven't dealt with Amex on actual
problems but they've been great answering questions by phone and chat.
US Bank reps were US-based when I phoned and were average, not spectacular, but got the job done eventually.
Just remembered something against US Bank- their frontline reps could not recognize the phone number of their verification team so my attempts to ensure that the text I received was not a phish attempt would have failed totally had I not been confident that it was a genuine text. But since it had all the hallmarks of a phish, I followed best practice of calling the main phone line myself to be transferred- which they could not do and didn't even know that Verifications Dept was still open at that hour. I had to raise the specter of a phish in order to be transferred to a supervisor who then got me to Verifications. The guy that handled my ID check sounded p***ed that their CSRs were so poorly trained.
@Cblough93 wrote:I have recently acquired 3 new credit cards all within the past 3 and I wanted to share my experience with all 3 issuers.
i started off with credit one. They have the worst customer service by far and it's not even close. For me the biggest thing is when I call in, I have called probably 2 dozen times and every time I have gotten an agent not In the US. And it sounded and felt like they were reading from a script.
They have absolutely no power to do anything to help you. For example I hit my max of 4 payments within a month, and they could not push my 5th payment through, even after I offered to pay a fee. You ask them questions and they give you the most generic scripted answer that gives you no real information. When I asked to speak to a supervisor they said a manager would call me back, and then they never did.
They charge you to make a payment. $7.95. And if you don't pay the fee, the payment takes 2-3 weeks to process. So you really have no choice. They charge an annual fee for a terrible card. I have ever heard of them charging you for a CLI. I got an auto CLI, but they only gave me $200 more credit. Then when I have requested another CLI the computer automatically rejected me saying "my account hasn't been open long enough for a credit limit increase"... but if that is the case, how did I already receive one? And of course, when I called in to ask about it, they couldn't understand me, and read from a script and kept saying the same thing over and over again.
Next was my capital one, leaps and bounds over credit one. But still not good. When I call in, I got an agent inside the US probably 80% of the time. Which is a start. But when I asked if they could express ship my card for a fee they said they could not. Even after I offered to pay for it. They do not offer the ability to pay using a debit card, only via bank account. So Payments with them take a long time to process.
finally, I got a card with chase. I'm glad to see some companies still know how to do business. Their customer service was the best out of the bunch. When I asked if they could expedite my card, she was able to immediately help and send my card 2 day for no charge. Little things like that matter.
the reps are actually able to assist you, imagine that! Giving your customer service representatives the ability to actually assist people! So far there has not been a question they could not answer or a problem they couldn't solve. The exact opposite of credit one, who couldn't do anything.
there is also small things like the reconsideration line, and the fact that when I applied I needed to speak with someone to ensure it was not fraud. And it was actually me opening the account and not someone else. All these things matter to me.
Customer service, being treated like a person and not a paycheck, and actually being able to talk to someone and get my questions answered are the most important things to me. And unfortunately that sort of thing has gone way downhill since the widespread use of computers.
I don't want a computer looking over my case, computers have not feelings and therefore do not care about you or your situation.
anyways, I have heard Amex is even better than chase. Like I said, I'm glad there are still companies out there that value customer service.
Yes, AmEx is better than Chase. Chase is far from terrible, but I've run into a few issues where all they do is submit a ticket, and then send me a letter... when I desperately need to talk to someone actually in the right dept who can do something. Nope, ticket, and runaround. I gave up after 3 times of them blowing me off. And once, I was on hold for an hour and a half and then my call got dropped.
AmEx has bent over backwards for me anytime I've had an issue. One time I broke a glass water bottle I'd had only about a month, and it was still covered by the Purchase Protection with the AmEx it was on. The claim was stupidly easy to submit, and approved very fast... full refund to buy a new one without even needing to submit pictures or anything.
The only complaints I can make about AmEx is they won't lower your APRs from what you are initially assigned, no matter if all your subsequent cards are at their best APR, and that they didn't approve my most recent CLI 😜.
Discover was good when I had them, but I didn't feel like they were willing to go the extra mile for me, whereas AmEx makes me feel special.
Authorized User - 
Sock Drawer'd - 
I have never dealt with citi bank.
I curious how they would stack up against chase, who is their biggest competitor I believe.
I would also like to mention that TD bank is the worst and I will never ever deal with them again after the experience i had with them. They are straight up thieves who will steal your money.
@Cblough93 wrote:I have never dealt with citi bank.
I curious how they would stack up against chase, who is their biggest competitor I believe.
I would also like to mention that TD bank is the worst and I will never ever deal with them again after the experience i had with them. They are straight up thieves who will steal your money.
Wow, I seriously don't understand all of the anti-TD rhetoric; they are easily the best bank I've ever done business with.
