Credit card Insiders Tell of Deceptive Practices

[debbierlus]

Source: yahoo.com


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two former employees of credit card issuer MBNA, now owned by Bank of America, said on Wednesday they were forced to use aggressive and deceptive practices with customers in order to boost revenues.

Cate Colombo, from Maine, said she signed up for a customer service job but was instead instructed to make insistent sales pitches aimed at getting MBNA customers deeper into debt.

"I was hired to sell money," she said on a conference call organized by Americans for Fairness in Lending, an advocacy group. "We had a goal of selling $25,000 an hour, $4 million per month. And I was one employee among hundreds, just at this one site."

To meet these goals, Colombo said she was told to turn every regular call from a customer into a sales call. She would do this by running the customer's name through the computer and finding out every possible line of credit they had ever obtained through MBNA.

.....................................................More at link



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080924/us_nm/us_usa_economy_creditcards_1;_ylt=AojRyQVj7TLXgeh1P7UGl3QGw_IE

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So disgustingly gross.

[NMDemDist2]

1. that's why I had to quit Discover card when Morgon Stanley bought them

instead of handling calls efficiently and politely, I was scored on how many 'products' I offered on each call and was threatened with dismissal if I didn't make a pitch on EVERY call

I bailed but fast....

[sarcasmo]

4. The more I find out about credit card companies the more they sicken me.

[Faygo Kid]

2. Shocked! Shocked, I tell you. Round up the usual suspects.

[Trillo]

3. These are the type of activities we're expected to bail out?

Deceptions?

No thanks.

[debbierlus]

5. They have NO ethics. They upped my interest 10% for NO reason - and why not?

It is completely legal.

I am paying that bill off, ripping up the card, and I will just use debit cards for hotel & car rentals & reservations. Other then that, who needs a credit card.

Fuck them.

[tech3149]

6. They dont care about ethics, it's all about income

Unfortunately, the have a very shortsighted view of income. My last card was originally issued by First Union back around '92. Since then it's been covered by four different banks. The final straw was BofA in the last few months. My June statement never arrived, I figured mabey I screwed up and threw away the statement with all the other junk mail. Lo and behold, the day after I send in my July payment, I get my June statement! I know that the USPS isn't perfect but usually if they screw up either own up to it or hold out until the recipient is most likely dead. Since they gave me the shaft, I applied for a card from my bank and will not be saddled with outrageous fees and interest payments since the charges will be deducted from my balance as soon as they're required.

I hope that most people will steer clear of the financial institutions that are willing to pick your pocket to make big bucks today rather than providing a stable economy. I don't know anyone who could live a realistic lifespan on the profits from a short-term profit mentality. It might be that I don't see how much these mid-level commecialist's are willing to provide for themselves at the expense of anyone else. I guess I've got too strong an ethic in my DNA to let others be plowed under for my benefit.

After years of listening to Hartmann and Rhodes and Malloy, I think we have a good chance of turning things around. Once people see how they are being played, they will react. It's time to stop being played by media manipulation and get your brain working. We've been dumbed down since the 70's and haven't caught onto the game. The less information we have to process it, the more we can be played for suckers. The suckers are those that have financial influence, and they want to keep it.

In any self-supportive system it is not a pyramidal relationship you can't turn around the demographics. It's easy to support ideas that support the status quo, but give me an idea that puts money into the hands of people that really need help and could put a big spark in the economy?

[Stop Cornyn]

7. If McCain won't show up Friday, maybe Obama and Biden can debate this ...

[lligrd]

8. Credit card insiders tell of deceptive practices

Source: Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two former employees of credit card issuer MBNA, now owned by Bank of America, said on Wednesday they were forced to use aggressive and deceptive practices with customers in order to boost revenues.

Cate Colombo, from Maine, said she signed up for a customer service job but was instead instructed to make insistent sales pitches aimed at getting MBNA customers deeper into debt.

"I was hired to sell money," she said on a conference call organized by Americans for Fairness in Lending, an advocacy group. "We had a goal of selling $25,000 an hour, $4 million per month. And I was one employee among hundreds, just at this one site."

To meet these goals, Colombo said she was told to turn every regular call from a customer into a sales call. She would do this by running the customer's name through the computer and finding out every possible line of credit they had ever obtained through MBNA.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080924/us_nm/us_usa_economy_creditcards

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Not really news to most of us, I suppose.

[Indenturedebtor]

9. Yes it took me 3 months to cancel my card with them

They kept on telling me the account was closed and then sending me bills for like 3 cents with late fees of 25 dollars. This happened 3 times. Bastards.