Credit card WTF



  • So I have a credit card through my bank, and it has generally been a very convenient addition to my account - checking overdraws come from my credit card, so no need to worry about checks bouncing.  However, every time I pay off the balance on my credit card, the following business day I find that the bank has reset my due date to Oct 31, 2007, which of course is in the past.  The first charge after this happens succeeds, but all following charges are declined because they think my account is delinquent...  Oddly, charges to my debit card (which overdraws from my credit account, remember) work fine, whether or not there is any money in my checking account (I don't keep money there anyway).

    Even more of a WTF, this has happened three times now; the first two times I was assured that it would never happen again.  The second time I even went in to a loan officer in person (instead of their call center) to make sure, and she assured me it had all been fixed.

    My cell phone autopay was cancelled at some point because of this, and if it keeps up I bet it's going to mess up my credit rating.   I'm starting to get angry about it...



  • @Heron said:

    ... every time I pay off the balance on my credit card ...

    My cell phone autopay was cancelled at some point because of this, and if it keeps up I bet it's going to mess up my credit rating.   I'm starting to get angry about it...

    What do you expect?  You're one of their worst customers!

    I love the PR-reported-as-news recently that Egg (a British bank) sent out about cancelling 100K "high risk" customer cards.  Numerous customers responded to the various online stories reporting that they always had a low/zero monthly balance and never missed a payment once in their life.  More here.

    Face it: banks are here to [i]screw you[/i], period. 



  • @djork said:

    What do you expect?  You're one of their worst customers!

    You mean their worst customer in that he actually pays his debts?  Unfortunately, that makes a lot of sense. 

    I have a friend who's credit card was cancelled because he always paid off the card every month (ie they never got to make finance charges). 



  • @belgariontheking said:

    I have a friend who's credit card was cancelled because he always paid off the card every month (ie they never got to make finance charges). 
     

    Meanwhile my sister is $30k in debt and they keep giving her credit cards. :( I try to help her but she just keeps spending. 


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @djork said:

    that Egg (a British bank)
    Fuck off. They're owned by Citibank - a US company.  Which is (possibly) why the total abortion of a PR exercise happened.

    And they are not a bank.

    No, I'm not (yet) bitter about it. Yes, I'm calling you on your apparent xenophobia.

    @djork said:

    Face it: banks are here to screw you, period. 

    Something we agree on on this particular issue.


  • My bank loved me when I carried a balance on my credit card.  Once I paid it off (in one $8000 lump sum), they cancelled my card and started treating me like crap.  Then, I realized it was just that branch, so I switched.  I've gotten nothing but superb customer support ever since.



  • @PJH said:

    @djork said:

    that Egg (a British bank)
    Fuck off. They're owned by Citibank - a US company.  Which is (possibly) why the total abortion of a PR exercise happened.

    And they are not a bank.

    No, I'm not (yet) bitter about it. Yes, I'm calling you on your apparent xenophobia.

     

    Holy crap...

    Sorry, but I don't know how you think I was implying it had anything to do with the bank being British.  I didn't want to assume everybody would know what I was talking about if I just said "Egg," so I thought I would clarify.  I did know they were just bought by Citibank.  And if they're "not a bank" then why does their site claim that they are? 

     



  • @Heron said:

    However, every time I pay off the balance on my credit card, the following business day I find that the bank has reset my due date to Oct 31, 2007
     

    I had my first ever overdraft at my bank because of this. My primary (chequeing) account was a bit low, not enough to cover the monthly mortgage payment, but I knew this in advance. The payment was coming out at 12:01am Saturday morning, so Friday evening I transferred enough money from the high-interest savings account to cover it all, at around 6pm.

    Monday morning I find out that client-initiated electronic transfers between accounts (even if you own both accounts) are only processed during business hours. So my catchup transfer wasn't processed until 8am Monday morning. In the mean time, the mortgage payment came out on schedule at 12:01am, so for the weekend I was overdrawn by around $600.

    No biggie. the charges came to around $5 for the overdraft... but I learned my lesson: Always do things during business hours the day before something's due.

    Beats me why paying off the credit card debits my account immediately, but the payment gets dated for "next business" day on the CC account. Probably has something to do with the bank hanging on to the money for a few hours so they can earn a couple pennies interest on it somewhere.

     



  • @djork said:

    @PJH said:

    @djork said:

    that Egg (a British bank)
    Fuck off. They're owned by Citibank - a US company.  Which is (possibly) why the total abortion of a PR exercise happened.

    And they are not a bank.

    No, I'm not (yet) bitter about it. Yes, I'm calling you on your apparent xenophobia.

     

    Holy crap...

    Sorry, but I don't know how you think I was implying it had anything to do with the bank being British.  I didn't want to assume everybody would know what I was talking about if I just said "Egg," so I thought I would clarify.  I did know they were just bought by Citibank.  And if they're "not a bank" then why does their site claim that they are? 

     

     

     

    Don't mind him.  Brit = Drunk.  He'll regret it in the morning. 



  • My only overdraft was when I gave a check to my landlord and he only cashed it weeks later.  By then I had completely forgotten about the hundreds of dollars imminently disappearing from my checking account.



  • @Heron said:

    So I have a credit card through my bank, and it has generally been a very convenient addition to my account - checking overdraws come from my credit card, so no need to worry about checks bouncing.  However, every time I pay off the balance on my credit card, the following business day I find that the bank has reset my due date to Oct 31, 2007, which of course is in the past.  The first charge after this happens succeeds, but all following charges are declined because they think my account is delinquent...  Oddly, charges to my debit card (which overdraws from my credit account, remember) work fine, whether or not there is any money in my checking account (I don't keep money there anyway).

    Even more of a WTF, this has happened three times now; the first two times I was assured that it would never happen again.  The second time I even went in to a loan officer in person (instead of their call center) to make sure, and she assured me it had all been fixed.

    My cell phone autopay was cancelled at some point because of this, and if it keeps up I bet it's going to mess up my credit rating.   I'm starting to get angry about it...

    Sure fire solution. The bank is most likely a publicly held corporation. Get the main number of the corporate offices (not the number on the back of your debit card). Call it and politely ask for the office of the president. When they inquire, <i>politely</i> tell them that you've gotten the royal run around while trying to resolve an issue, and are really mad, and don't want to take it out on <whomever answers the phone>, and could they please direct you to someone who can help. Invariably, you will be directed to someone who shields the brass from folks like you, BUT they will have the brains and the authority to actually fix your problem. KEY: be polite as they don't have to help, but will gladly do so if you ask nicely!

     



  • I'd like to take isue with the Brit=drunk thing but I can't really as it is all too often true, however in my (perhaps limited) experience British geeks tend to lean more towards recreational drugs than heavy boozing if they like getting "out  the heid "



  • @snoofle said:

    @Heron said:

    So I have a credit card through my bank, and it has generally been a very convenient addition to my account - checking overdraws come from my credit card, so no need to worry about checks bouncing.  However, every time I pay off the balance on my credit card, the following business day I find that the bank has reset my due date to Oct 31, 2007, which of course is in the past.  The first charge after this happens succeeds, but all following charges are declined because they think my account is delinquent...  Oddly, charges to my debit card (which overdraws from my credit account, remember) work fine, whether or not there is any money in my checking account (I don't keep money there anyway).

    Even more of a WTF, this has happened three times now; the first two times I was assured that it would never happen again.  The second time I even went in to a loan officer in person (instead of their call center) to make sure, and she assured me it had all been fixed.

    My cell phone autopay was cancelled at some point because of this, and if it keeps up I bet it's going to mess up my credit rating.   I'm starting to get angry about it...

    Sure fire solution. The bank is most likely a publicly held corporation. Get the main number of the corporate offices (not the number on the back of your debit card). Call it and politely ask for the office of the president. When they inquire, <i>politely</i> tell them that you've gotten the royal run around while trying to resolve an issue, and are really mad, and don't want to take it out on <whomever answers the phone>, and could they please direct you to someone who can help. Invariably, you will be directed to someone who shields the brass from folks like you, BUT they will have the brains and the authority to actually fix your problem. KEY: be polite as they don't have to help, but will gladly do so if you ask nicely!

     

    Jeez, you could just call everyone up and threaten to sue, and if that doesn't work, go for the class action lawsuit!

    Man you don't know anything!



  • @PJH said:

    @djork said:

    that Egg (a British bank)
    Fuck off. They're owned by Citibank - a US company.  Which is (possibly) why the total abortion of a PR exercise happened.

    And they are not a bank.

    No, I'm not (yet) bitter about it. Yes, I'm calling you on your apparent xenophobia.

     

    He just mentioned that (he believed) it was a British bank.  He didn't tag something like "it figures" or "no surprise" on the end.  You've done a lot more to defame Brits with your surly, paranoid attitude. 



  • @snoofle said:

    Sure fire solution. The bank is most likely a publicly held corporation. Get the main number of the corporate offices (not the number on the back of your debit card). Call it and politely ask for the office of the president. When they inquire, <i>politely</i> tell them that you've gotten the royal run around while trying to resolve an issue, and are really mad, and don't want to take it out on <whomever answers the phone>, and could they please direct you to someone who can help. Invariably, you will be directed to someone who shields the brass from folks like you, BUT they will have the brains and the authority to actually fix your problem. KEY: be polite as they don't have to help, but will gladly do so if you ask nicely!
     

    That's essentially what I intended to do (but in person).  I got my friend to drive me to the bank (my wife has the car for her ~1 hour each way commute), then I went up to the teller and told her what the problem was (all of the loan officers were out to lunch, at 3:30pm... WTF#1).  She called someone who put her on hold while they called someone else...  turns out, whatever idiot set up the card set it up as a car loan (WTF #2) with the wrong type of interest (WTF #3), so not only has the loan been screwed up since last september, but they've been charging me way too much interest (as in, I haven't been getting the standard 1 month interest-free grace period, and my tuition for this semester was on there...).  So she said accounting was on it, they're going to fix the account type and the interest as well as refund the amount of extra interest I paid.  Hopefully they'll actually fix it this time instead of just telling me they fixed it...



  • @CRNewsom said:

    Then, I realized it was just that branch, so I switched.  I've gotten nothing but superb customer support ever since.

     

    Wow, a bank where the branch that your account is with has any significance at all? What a quaint notion.

      



  • @djork said:

    if they're "not a bank" then why does their site claim that they are?
     

    "I'm going to go ahead and do Kermit the Frog" 



  • @MarcB said:

    Beats me why paying off the credit card debits my account immediately, but the payment gets dated for "next business" day on the CC account. Probably has something to do with the bank hanging on to the money for a few hours so they can earn a couple pennies interest on it somewhere.
    My bank actually has this described somewhere on their site - when you transfer money outside business hours, your account is charged immediately, but then the money is placed in some temporary internal account where it stays until the business hours, when it finally ends on the target account.



  • @seaturnip said:

    My only overdraft was when I gave a check to my landlord and he only cashed it weeks later.  By then I had completely forgotten about the hundreds of dollars imminently disappearing from my checking account.

     

    I will never understand this thinking.  You wrote the check, you can tell it hasn't cleared, so why write another check against money you know is already promised?  The landlord is not to blame here, only you are for not keeping track of your own finances. 



  • @seaturnip said:

    My only overdraft was when I gave a check to my landlord and he only cashed it weeks later.  By then I had completely forgotten about the hundreds of dollars imminently disappearing from my checking account.
     

    I've had a similar situation. I wrote a cheque to pay for my car service, and it wasn't cashed for about two and a half months.

    I think the developers of online banking software could help quite a bit if they added a feature to manually enter in cheques you've paid out. Each cheque has a unique number, so you could just put in the cheque number and amount, the software would display that as a transaction, and then when the payment actually did go through the software would recognise the cheque number and notify you that the actual thing had been cashed in.



  • Egg are great!! By which I mean, they are as capable at being intelligent and ethical as goatse man is at holding in a fart (plus they are equally as pleasant to experience).

    After I cancelled the credit card I had with them (over a year before the event in question) and after the cancelled credit card was to expire even if it was active, they accepted a payment on the cancelled, expired credit card. Even took the payment from my bank account via direct debit (that'll teach me not to cancel them).

    On contacting them to explain this error on their part, I was being silly, this was obviously a genuine transaction. Never mind that (a) the credit card account was closed, (b) even if it was open, the card had expired, and (c) I'd never even had any dealings with the company that had been paid.

    After many threats and finally talking to someone with an IQ greater than their shoe size, it was grudgingly accepted that possibly I had a point. After being read the entire t&cs for several minutes - mandatory info on my 'new card' etc. (which I wasn't getting, but the script HAS TO BE READ to me, and I HAVE TO SAY that I understand and accept them, despite them being completely inapplicable) it was agreed that I would have the money refunded to me.

    Several days later what do I see? A positive balance on the expired cancelled account, which I cannot access, due to it being both expired and cancelled. Another few calls to people calling me an idiot, and it was again grudgingly accepted that maybe I had a point by saying that this was silly.

    If there is any justice in the world, all Egg employees will be slowly eaten alive over the course of several weeks by acid-spitting poison ants.



  • @PhillS said:

    @seaturnip said:

    My only overdraft was when I gave a check to my landlord and he only cashed it weeks later.  By then I had completely forgotten about the hundreds of dollars imminently disappearing from my checking account.
     

    I've had a similar situation. I wrote a cheque to pay for my car service, and it wasn't cashed for about two and a half months.

    I think the developers of online banking software could help quite a bit if they added a feature to manually enter in cheques you've paid out. Each cheque has a unique number, so you could just put in the cheque number and amount, the software would display that as a transaction, and then when the payment actually did go through the software would recognise the cheque number and notify you that the actual thing had been cashed in.

     

    Or... you could balance your checkbook like the rest of the adult world.



  •  Regarding the OP:

     I would suggest three actions:

    1. Advise the bank that you are not amused, and threaten (and mean it) to take legal action if they don't put it right
    2. Send your story to the Consumerist
    3. Executive Email Carpet Bomb (EECB) (here is a how-to)


  • @method1 said:

    I'd like to take isue with the Brit=drunk thing but I can't really as it is all too often true

     

    That's just how it goes when you drink beer that's actually got beer in it and is made out of alcohol, instead of that stuff made out of watered-down frog piss that they sell in the USA....

     

    ;-) 



  • @MasterPlanSoftware said:

    Or... you could balance your checkbook like the rest of the adult world.

     My wife complains about this alot, and she uses online banking.  The problem is when you're trying to verify the transactions against your checkbook, some things take longer than others. Food and stuff goes in right away, while fuel might take 3-5 days, etc. They put in a fake amount for fuel and by the time it clears, it is not showing up at the top of the transactions, you have to hunt for it in the middle of stuff you already cleared in your checkbook.  Almost need to automate the whole process, but without requiring everybody to carry a PDA around.



  • @pitchingchris said:

    @MasterPlanSoftware said:

    Or... you could balance your checkbook like the rest of the adult world.

     My wife complains about this alot, and she uses online banking.  The problem is when you're trying to verify the transactions against your checkbook, some things take longer than others. Food and stuff goes in right away, while fuel might take 3-5 days, etc. They put in a fake amount for fuel and by the time it clears, it is not showing up at the top of the transactions, you have to hunt for it in the middle of stuff you already cleared in your checkbook.  Almost need to automate the whole process, but without requiring everybody to carry a PDA around.

     

    Balancing your checkbook gives you the virtual balance that you can actually spend. When you write a check for fuel, you should be recording it at the moment you make the transaction. If done properly you will always know your balance. It is your responsibility to watch what you spend. I agree a lot of things could be better with banks, but this really is just Being an Adult 101.

    If this sounds like too much trouble, then you think just like me. So instead, I keep enough in my checking account to cover at least 2 month's worth of bills. Would have to be a pretty big WTF to overdraft this way.



  • @MasterPlanSoftware said:

    If this sounds like too much trouble, then you think just like me. So instead, I keep enough in my checking account to cover at least 2 month's worth of bills. Would have to be a pretty big WTF to overdraft this way.

    I was told today that I was misinformed about the exact effects of my checking account overdrawing from my credit card.  That type of transaction isn't a purchase, so interest accrues immediately :(  They told me, when I set up the account to do that, that there were no fees for it.  I guess in their book interest doesn't count as a fee.   In any case, in an effort to avoid paying interest like that again, I'm planning on doing what you suggest here - put several months' worth of bills in my checking, and keep it at that level.

    Now, to earn several months' worth of bills..



  • @KattMan said:

    @seaturnip said:

    My only overdraft was when I gave a check to my landlord and he only cashed it weeks later.  By then I had completely forgotten about the hundreds of dollars imminently disappearing from my checking account.

     

    I will never understand this thinking.  You wrote the check, you can tell it hasn't cleared, so why write another check against money you know is already promised?  The landlord is not to blame here, only you are for not keeping track of your own finances. 

     

    I don't disagree.  I was a student without much experience managing my money.

    Actually, it wasn't a second check that was denied... it was a debit card payment for a meal at a restaurant.  During a date!



  • @ender said:

    @MarcB said:
    Beats me why paying off the credit card debits my account immediately, but the payment gets dated for "next business" day on the CC account. Probably has something to do with the bank hanging on to the money for a few hours so they can earn a couple pennies interest on it somewhere.
    My bank actually has this described somewhere on their site - when you transfer money outside business hours, your account is charged immediately, but then the money is placed in some temporary internal account where it stays until the business hours, when it finally ends on the target account.

    This messing with the dates is common practice for a lot of banks. Allegedly, the interest they gain from this dirty little trick is what they finance their financial traffic with. Recently a few customers of Dutch bank ABN Amro got into financial trouble due to this practice as well and they had to 'lawyer up' in order to have the bank strike the interest related to their accounts being temporarily in the red. Luckily for EU citizens, the EU is outlawing this practice and member states should have the related EU guideline implemented in law by November 2009.



  •  Well even though they said they fixed it once and for all, they didn't.  I'm getting pissed.


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