Comments on: Engage Indignant Fury

By: Ken

Ken — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:12:39 +0000

Karen, thanks for stopping by and leaving your feedback!

I’d recommend Affinity Federal Credit Union (affinityfcu.org). We’ve been using them as our bank for years. While they’re not the best customer service (their tellers could be a little better trained), they will treat you like a human being, and their savings and credit rates are generally better than the corporate banks.

We went with AmEx to cover a balance we were paying at Affinity at a nominal interest rate, thinking we could save a few hundred a year on the deal.

After the balance transfer fee and this issue, that idea doesn’t look like it will pay off as well as we initially hoped.

By: Karen

Karen — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 13:24:15 +0000

Just happened across your site…
I would recommend transferring the balance and being done with it. Unfortunately, now that your rate with one card has gone up, your other creditors can see that and usually end up hiking their rates (and dropping your credit limit) too.
I hope you find a bank that treats you like a human…
Good luck.

By: Ken

Ken — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 15:05:28 +0000

I’m really tempted to just transfer the balance after they resolve the issue and close the account. This is just no way to treat a customer, and I’d rather pay a nominal interest rate at a bank I can trust than get scammed like this.

Its scary to think of the millions of Americans in debt out there who feel powerless to fight in situations like this. The aggressive behavior in my situation only hints at how much worse it is for people who are truly in a bad credit situation.

By: jenny

jenny — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 14:23:34 +0000

I actually had the same thing happen to me last year, after I got an AE card. When I first got it, I noticed the date it was due would not work for our payment schedule; I called in, was told they changed it, and had a lovely fee the next month. Called in again, they said no, I had not changed it, but NOW they would change it. Two months later-the rate jumped to something around 24%, and I had MORE lovely, lovely fees. I called in, gave them a piece of my mind (with interest, no less!), and they finally changed the date my payment was due. All over something I made every effort to amend the first time I saw it….I plan to dump this card soon.

By: R

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 03:43:59 +0000

Do you know any merchants? Ask them how they feel about AmEx and you’ll have a fast sympathizer. They screw everyone I’m told.

By: John Bell

John Bell — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 02:58:17 +0000

Financial institutions bug me more and more. Being single, I have the luxury of not using a bank (and using a bankless debit card), because of how screwed I’ve gotten by bank fees.