Your card is the first one I got. I was home from college, sorting through the huge pile of credit card offers that was typical ten years ago. First, I tossed all the ones with promotions like “cash back, if you carry a balance”. Then I picked your offer because the card design was prettiest.
I’ve been generally happy with you. You keep offering extra (paid) services, but I figure most cards do that, and I never sign up for them. You have a more customer-friendly online-payment setup than the other card I use–I like that you credit online payments on the day of payment rather than three days later.
However! I just got a notice from you, congratulating me on being upgraded to a rewards card, as “[y]our way of rewarding [me] for being such a valued customer”. This upgrade comes with a $49 annual fee, assessed “in part on the limited use of [my] account”. You’re my primary credit card. My other card is a rewards card, with no fee, but I find their delay-of-payment thing sufficiently underhanded that I don’t use it as much. I’m also led to wonder what makes me “such a valued customer” if you think my use of your card is “limited”. And those weren’t totally separate comments, on different fliers: you said I was a valued customer who doesn’t use her card enough on the same piece of paper.
I’ve called to opt out of the upgrade. It only took a couple of minutes, once I reached a person. For now, at least, I’ll keep using your card as my primary shopping device, if for no other reason than that I keep forgetting the security code for my other card. But pull that kind of trick a few more times, and I’ll cancel your card.
Sincerely,
Naomi
May 3, 2010 at 14:34
I’m guessing the “annual fee” comes because you don’t generate huge revenues for them in the form of late-fees and large amounts of interest.
I’ve not yet had a credit card pull that on me, but if it did, I’d drop ’em like a hot rock.
I have my main CC through my credit union and that may be why they’ve been way less annoying than some other credit cards other people I know have have been.
May 3, 2010 at 15:16
Crazy! Good thing you were paying attention – there are some people I know who wouldn’t have read the notice (okay I might be talking about myself here *aherm*) and good thing they let you opt out!
May 3, 2010 at 16:06
*tsk tsk tsk*
My card’s through my bank, which was formerly a credit union. If they pull crap like that… grrr.
May 4, 2010 at 7:09
Yeah. We were told how we were such good customers when they slashed our credit limit. (We pay in full every month, never late, no stolen card history.)
May 4, 2010 at 11:58
no credit cards. Just a debit card I use as credit when I don’t feel like signing, and i get a discount for that.
We used them too much and ended up three times what things were bought at. My hubs got into DaveRamsey.com and he gave the full truth about them. Really we don’t use credit lines either. We save for what we need and then pay for most things in cash.
no one owns us but the mortgage lender–which will change in the coming 2 years we hope.
May 4, 2010 at 12:08
Eh, I think part of the reason my card company wanted to charge me the fee is that I pay off my balance every month. It works for me. I get to leave my money in the higher-interest savings account, and pay my credit card from that, instead of keeping money in my checking account.