Saturday, December 25, 2010

Sometimes Credit Card Companies Are Better Scammers Than The Scammers.



My morning starts off with a call from one of my credit card companies.  They don't state right away who they are, they just ask for my husband. I ask them who is calling, they tell me and then they ask if I am "Shelley," since my name is also on the account.


I ask them why they are calling.  Apparently my payment is 5 days late. What payment?  I have no statement.  The representative tells me that some customers have said that they hadn't received their statements, possibly with all the Christmas mail, maybe things just got lost.  This is interesting.


I am then told that she will waive the late charges if I pay right now.  Since I am not at my computer, I can't see the statement, the late charges or anything else to know what I will be paying for.


I am given a total amount due and told this is what I have to pay in order to get the late charge removed.  I take her word for it and give her my checking account number etc., so she can show that I made a payment in good faith.


When I was able to get to the computer, I checked and realized that I did not actually owe the amount this representative told me I owed. What I really owed were the charges from  last month's statement only - the one I never received.  The representative also had me pay for the current month's charges which were not due until 1/21/11. She just lumped the totals together.  Now I am angry. She also did not reveal to me an interest payment for the money owed, charged to my account, which she obviously did not remove.


I quickly called the credit card company and got a very nice representative. She said that I have an excellent payment record and removes the "interest" charge. She also lets me know that on the next month's statement, I will again see interest charges for the days the payment was overdue.  I am to call when I get this statement and this will be removed.


So here is the scam:  I don't have my statement.  I am given an amount to pay.  I pay it.  I find that I have overpaid.  Now they have more of my money than they should have.  And I have to wait for my account to get credited for the late fee and the interest.  They now owe me money.  I will be calling to speak with a supervisor after the holiday. I will ask them to reimburse me the interest I am charging them for having more of my money than they actually were entitled to at this date.


All this because I never received a statement. And now I have the burden of having to call them to get the other fees reversed.


This is the first time I have ever experienced this situation.  I am telling you about it so it doesn't happen to you. 


I will not be using this credit card again.  My business will be better served elsewhere.

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