Abusive Behavior of Credit Card Providers - A Topic Wired Intel Could Not Resist Researching...or Exposing
If the title of this article and the topic of this review has you a little confused, you are not to worry. Wired Intel is NOT going in another direction or discontinuing our traditional research and reviews of software, programs, downloads and other internet products. For this review however, we applied our expertise in data testing, market research, and internet information to a topic that needs more public attention and one that we felt could benefit many of our readers. If the title of this article didn't tip you off, our recent research for this review was directed toward credit card providers and their abuse of power over consumers.
So why did Wired Intel temporarily step away from our "traditionally" reviewed topics to seek out credit card providers? First and foremost, credit cards and the use of credit cards have an impact on many things. Even if you are not a card holder, credit cards have most likely effected your life in some way. What is obvious to some, may not be as noticeable to others - for example. many of the products that Wired Intel has researched, tested and provided with a positive review, have later been purchased by consumers using..you guessed it, a CREDIT CARD!
Second, we were able to apply much of the same market research, data collection, and testing procedures that we use when reviewing our traditional topics (new software, programs, downloads, and other internet products). We take pride in our ability to conduct and deliver the most informative and factual research reviews to our readers. If the research that we conduct can not extract true facts about a particular topic, we will not continue to research the topic any further.
What We Want Our Readers and the Public to Know...
The actions, decisions and overall business practices of many credit card providers are worse now than they have ever been. Unless you recently spent some time away from earth, you would know that the economic status of the United States took a turn for the worst over the past 1-2 years. While most of us have been working toward a way out or seeking answers for a way out of the economic chaos; it seems that many credit card providers have been working to force people/small businesses into more debt and asking questions like "How can we get all of our money (including profits) at once?" Extreme interest rate hikes and higher minimum payments are just a few examples we've seen over the past year...and we're not talking about consumers who are behind on payments or in debt. Many of the consumers that received these OUTRAGEOUS demands actually had better than average credit scores and made their monthly payments on time. So What's the Reasoning Behind these Outrageous Requests? Recent research shows that over the last 6-8 months credit card providers are attempting to squeeze every last penny out of their customers before the new laws, which will ban these unexplainable actions, go into effect. Don't expect to receive the same explanation from your credit card providers. Most have denied any association of their recent fee, payment or rate increases with the new laws that will go into effect early 2010. Instead, you may receive answers or even letters from providers stating that they increased your rate, payment, fees, etc. because you are a high balance holder and they are trying to help you get the debt paid off more quickly and efficiently. You may find some truth to this response if, lets say credit cards were invented yesterday but for now we are sticking with the facts. A rise in consumer reports about increased credit card rates, payments and fees have been more frequent since the announcement of the new credit enforcing laws.
Cus-tom-ers..? Bad E-con-omy..?
Don't Know What Those Are, but Did You See Our New Bright White Payment Collection Envelopes, Integrated Pay-by-Phone Options, and Enhanced Give-Us-Your-Money-Now Online Payment Options?!?!
Maybe a little over the top but the disturbing part about the heading above is that it isn't too far from the truth when comparing the most profitable credit card providers with their customer satisfaction rating. We used two of the best resources in consumer and business reporting to compare the profitability and customer satisfaction ratings for credit card providers.
The top three most profitable card providers, seen in the image, were rated among a list of 10 credit card providers. An additional report conducted by JD Power and Associates ranked 10 credit card providers from best to worst in customer satisfaction ratings for 2009. American Express ranked first (best) in overall customer service out of the 10 card providers. The same could not be said for Chase or Bank of America however, with Chase receiving an overall customer satisfaction rating of 7th (3rd from the lowest) and Bank of America finishing dead last (10th).
Unsatisfied for All the Right Reasons...
Digging a little deeper or what we like to refer to as researching the research, we collected consumer reports from both free and paid for services from across the internet specifically related to customer satisfaction with credit card providers. When applying this data to our three most profitable providers (American Express, Chase, Bank of America) we found many similarities within the type of complaints that were reported for each.
CHASE
One of the biggest complaints made by Chase credit card holders was Chase's decision to demand higher payments from customers who have maintained a better than average to excellent consistency for making their payments on time. And we're not talking about the slight rate increase that many credit card holders who have a variable interest rate card may receive. Instead, we found many customers who had an excellent credit rating with no penalties on their record who were asked to more than double and even triple the amount of their payments per month. Chase has defended their higher payment demands by stating that they are only trying to help customers with higher balances to pay down their card balances and avoid long term interest charges. This may be more understandable if they were asking for an additional 10%, 25%, or at most 50% of the normal monthly payment which, for example, would increase a normal $300 monthly payment up to anywhere from $330/mo to $450/mo. Not what good paying customers really want to hear but it would be more understandable. In actuality Chase has more than doubled and tripled the monthly payment amounts from their customers. This takes our normal $300/mo example up to payments in excess of $600/mo to $900/mo.
Bank of America
The consistency of complaints filed by Bank of America credit card holders have been directed toward Bank of America's extreme increase in interest rates as well as their added fees for... well, absolutely nothing! The claims made in many of these complaints addressed charges and fees that were charged to customers accounts for no reason. Customers who brought their accounts current, paid late charges and additional fees often claimed that they received the same charges and fees on consecutive statements 1- 8 months after they were paid off. Additionally, many of these customers stated that they were upset because they agreed to pay unknown charges and fees in order to bring their accounts current only to find the same charges and fees on their following consecutive monthly statements.
American Express
While American Express ranked #1 in customer satisfaction, one type of customer complaint seemed to be consistent with American Express card holders. We found that many of the complaints filed against American Express in the last year derived from credit limits being lowered on customers accounts. Nobody likes to be told that they are going to have a lower amount of credit available to them for purchases. Even if you don't use your card that often or only use it for emergencies; it's the feeling of being restricted from what you once had that makes people uncomfortable and often upset. The complaints that we are talking about however, were not directly about lowered card limits. Instead, many of the complaints were due to the fact that American Express lowered card limits for customers that received a late payment charge or an additional fee on their account which then caused the customer to go over the new lowered credit limit. Basically this is a method of assessing fees on top of fees. The credit limit is lowered in the same month that an additional fee, service charge, late charge, etc. is assessed so the customer receives an over the limit charge in addition to the first charge.
The Final Opinion...
Traditionally, Wired Intel concludes a review with factual based information taken from the overall research that we have conducted for a particular product, program, software, etc. Since this review about credit card providers falls outside of the "traditional" we have also changed the format of the conclusion by adding what could be considered as personal opinions. The Wired Intel staff has decided to let our opinions interfere with our conclusion about credit card providers for the same reasons that we decided to review a topic that is a little off base from our normal topics - - we felt that it is a topic that our readers should be more informed on and could benefit from.
So is Wired Intel instructing the public to throw away credit cards? No, not at all. We feel that credit cards are a vital part in conducting business and can be a partial solution to getting the economy back on track. The opinions that we formed during and after the process of this research is that not all credit card providers want to be part of the solution and are very good at hiding behind stories that rate up there with some of fictions all-time best sellers.
Credit card providers such as CHASE and BANK OF AMERICA, to name a few, are NOT solutions to our economic debt problems. Instead, these providers promote less spending to retailers and other businesses and more spending on double and triple-sized monthly payments and fees that have their own fees. Driving consumers into debt in order to get your company out of debt or in some cases, profit, is not the solution to our debt problems on both national or global levels.
Our intentions for researching and reviewing this particular topic are not to offend our readers or to discourage anyone from using credit cards. Wired Intel's intentions are to encourage people who are experiencing problems with their credit card providers due to extreme or unacceptable requests to speak out. For more information about how you can report abuse from your credit card provider see our Additional Resources below.
Some Credit Card Companies Rush to Act Before New Law - A Story from CNN
Additional Resources
Consumer Rights Group Federal Trade Commission - Consumer Credit
Attorney General
