Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Credit card mystery solved

Love a good mystery?

On Monday, after I clued you in on the latest in my ongoing battle against the credit card ultrarightists, I finally discovered what happened with my credit card account.

Out of the blue, I received a check in the mail from the bank that issued the card. Apparently they were done "borrowing" my money I had on the card, for the check was for that precise amount. But it offered no explanation.

I called the number on the check, and they said that brand of card had been discontinued. Whoopee! I don't have to deal with them anymore! I had problems with that card before, like when they wouldn't transfer my money to the card within the time frame they promised. The receptionist said the bank sent out a letter to all customers in January saying the card would be discontinued in March. However, I never received a letter.

This was only one of about 4 credit cards I even qualified for, and now it's gone. However, this figure includes one I applied for later that evening, which I was supposedly approved for - but after I filled out all the forms online, it said it couldn't access my bank account to transfer the startup fee. Which is a lie, because it clearly wasn't trying. This number also includes one I had previously, but which I got rid of because it discontinued its bank account transfer option (which would have forced me to initiate a wire transfer every time I needed to add money).

Morally, the issuer of the credit card that got discontinued recently still owes me for the portion of the startup fee I didn't get to use because the bank discontinued the card. I don't appreciate getting took by these scam artists. There ought to be a law.

2 comments:

  1. Tim,

    Don't deal with pre-paid debit cards (what you had wasn't credit). If don't qualify for a credit card without an annual or signup fee, instead go to your bank and get a checking account debit card. This works just like writing a check, but is accepted at most places that take credit cards. Although, they don't usually provide as many consumer safeguards as a credit card, such as theft protection. So you should work on improving your credit standing so can qualify for a better card.

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  2. I'm going to get a checking account debit card through my bank. I don't think they had this option yet when I got the credit card that just got discontinued.

    That option incidentally is one of the 4 (now 3) that I still qualify for.

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