megabanks suck

[eor]

I have a credit account with a certain large bank which will go unnamed because I don't want any lawsuits. Almost anyone in the US who has a credit card account, no matter the brand, has it serviced by one of these megabanks. These megalarge institutions have monopoly power and have developed many predatory practices. Anyone who reads the fine print or pays attention to the news knows this. If you dance with them you'd better keep one hand on your wallet.

I don't carry balances on any of my credit cards unless I'm doing so intentionally as part of a larger plan with good justification. I charge things every month on a single card and pay it off every month, usually the day the bill comes. Any other credit cards I have I don't use regularly.

On last month's statement I had a balance I didn't expect so I checked the charges. They had charged me $39 annual fee for their "rewards" program. Hello, how is it a rewards program if it costs me more than it's worth? In the fine print it said if I called to cancel within x days they'd wave the fee. I called to cancel the same day I got the statement. After being asked three or four times if I wanted to give up this valuable program, they agreed to cancel me out of it.

This month when my statement arrived there was the previous balance of $39.00, a past due fee of $15.00, and an interest charge of $1.00. I didn't even sit down before I was on the phone. After checking my balance and confirming that it wasn't fixed yet I punched through to a human. I'm sure in normal life he's a nice guy, but in my transaction he was nothing but a script reader. The gist of the conversation: "This is wrong, fix it." "I'm sorry, but the records say..." "You have fifteen seconds to fix this or cancel my account." "The records say..." "Cancel my account, NOW." "Let me transfer you."

At the next level I explained that this was wrong, they had sent me a bill saying I could opt out of the "rewards" program, I had opted out and they had stuck me. Make it better or turn off the account. He said there was no indication the program had been cancelled. With higher blood pressure and more edge in my voice I told him I had called the same day I got my statement, fix it or cancel. He said he was turning off the "rewards" program annual renewal, backing out the late fee. I made him confirm that I once again have a zero balance. I'll call back tomorrow and check on the automated balance thing.

Why did I bother to write all this? It's a lesson. For years large companies have been trying to get me to set up automatic payment plans. Payment plans are easy because you don't have to pay attention. If I hadn't been in the habit of keeping a zero balance and in the habit of looking at the charges any month when I had a balance that charge would have slipped by like nothing. How many people got nailed by this one?