Wow. The banks really are scared.

[MorningGlow]

I am unfortunately carrying a hefty balance on a Bank of America credit card. B of A bought out my MBNA MasterCard years ago and I've been stuck with them ever since. Over the years they've occasionally jerked me around (trying to hold a payment till it was "late", and of course changing my fixed-APR to variable before the new regulations went into effect recently). Otherwise, they just take my monthly payment while I struggle to pay off the balance (and never get close). But one thing I know is they have never, EVER done anything nice. Ever.
Today I got a letter in the mail thanking me for being a valued customer, with a $5 Target gift card enclosed (whoopee shit). :wow:

Little do they know that we have just joined a credit union and once a little time has passed, we're going to apply for a personal loan to pay off the cc and ditch B of A once and for all.

Too little, too late, suckers!

Keep up the pressure, y'all. They're noticing--big time.

on edit: missing word

[onethatcares]

1. check the fine print on the gift card. you know what they say

never look a gift card in the mouth, there might be a fee attached.

[MorningGlow]

3. Heh that was the first thing I thought of

Trust no 1. :rofl:

[roguevalley]

13. Good luck, op. I just paid off a small loan with Wells Fargo and

I almost get giddy on the 19th of the month. I wish the same for you. :)

[beyurslf]

2. I dropped BOA year ago when they started that switch-a-roo crap

on deposits and debit card purchases. I racked up $300 in overdraft fees one weekend when I had a pending deposit that allowed me to continue using my card. Then come Monday night, they re-ordered everything so my purchases went trough before the deposit was available. It is what they just lost in that class action suit recently. I figure I will get a check for $20 in another 10 years to cover my $300 in losses.

[lady lib]

4. Dropped my MBNA card years ago and switched to Discover.

Left my bank years ago and switched to the local credit union.
Both turned out to be very good moves.

[Beam Me Up]

5. send it back w/ a note: "too little too late" n/t

[MorningGlow]

6. Shit, no!

I'm spending it! And then I'm pulling my money out from under them. They've been bleeding me dry long enough. :rofl:

[Major Nikon]

7. Years ago B of A raised my interest rate for no reason

I got a credit card from them because at the time it gave me a 5% discount on aviation fuel. I paid the balance off every time I used it. I kept it after they discontinued the discount simply because I keep one credit card for travel uses. I don't remember how much they raised it, but it was something outrageous like from 10% to 30%. There was absolutely no reason. I had excellent credit. Even though I wasn't paying interest, it still pissed me off. I called them up to cancel and I was quite civil about it to the person answering the phone, but then they put me on hold to talk to a "supervisor". Now I'm pissed. He asks me why and I tell them I don't do business with shysters. He offers to set my interest rate back and I told him to go piss up a rope.

The next day I applied for a card with my credit union and they gave me a 10% rate. The bill is easier to pay because I can just transfer money to my credit card account. They don't send me all the junk mail that B of A was. No way I'll ever go back to the big banks for anything.

[MorningGlow]

8. Yep, that sounds like them

They raised your rate because you were a "deadbeat"--credit card company speak for "a person who pays off their balance every month." You weren't making them enough money on interest; in their eyes, you had to fork over extra cash somehow. Cute, right?

[Major Nikon]

9. The problem is they make money every time I used the card

I travel quite a bit and was racking up a lot of purchases totaling in the 5 figure range every year. So they were making hundreds of dollars off my use of the card. They just got greedy.

[stuntcat]

10. We switched to a local bank the other day

It's closeby, very old, with a great reputation. We're pretty pleased :D

[Manifestor_of_Light]

11. Three field crop rotation, as Jon Stewart calls it.

:rofl:

[SoCalMusicLover]

12. Never Mind

I misread your message, didn't realize you were talking about a credit card and not a mortgage.

[lonestarnot]

14. K & R!

[The Doctor.]

15. If your credit isn't so hot,

And you're not too concerned about taking another hit to it, I'd definitely go for a settlement and have them take the loss instead of you.

[MorningGlow]

21. Thought about it, Doctor

But our credit is stellar and we'd like to keep it that way. Mr. MG's credit rating was in the toilet when we first got together many years ago, and it was very difficult to live with. I salvaged it by taking over the bills (paying on time made a big difference); now his credit rating is better than mine! x( That took a lot of work and I don't want to throw it away if there's a way to pay off the cc with a personal loan. After all, we did run up this balance and we take responsibility for that. If we can deny B of A man years of heinous interest payments by paying it off now, that'd be enough to make me happy.

[tridim]

16. I was making monthly minimum payments on a Chase Visa

$200 balance on a card I hadn't used for years, I was paying electronically and automatically.

Then one month they decided to raise my minimum payment by a few dollars (because they knew I wouldn't notice). Six months later, with penalties, I owed them $600. Fucking genius, Chase. Bra-vo.

I took the credit rating hit and told them to shove it. I will never pay Chase's extortion fees.

[CoffeeCat]

20. Wow, I applaud you!

It's terrible what they did to you. A mafia loan shark could learn
a thing or two from these banksters--and that's not exaggeration.

What these criminal banks don't realize is that people will behave
as you have. They'll either pay it and be done forever--or like you,
they just won't pay it. Either way--this customer is gone forever.

In the short term, these guys think they're brilliant. However, in
the long term--they're the biggest bunch of idiots to grace the planet.

I really applaud you for not paying those unfair fees. As you said,
you took the credit-rating hit--which is going around their gamed system.
Credit ratings are held over our heads and we're blackmailed with them.
The banks think they can run roughshod over us, because they hold our
credit score in their hands. Kudos to you for not playing their game.

My husband and I have no credit cards--because we don't want to play
their game. We once had a hospital tell us that we owed a bill and we
knew that we had paid it off and didn't owe the money. It was only $200, but
we refused to pay it. They threatened to report us and hurt our credit
rating. I told them, "Go ahead and report it. We could care less about
our credit score. We pay cash for everything and we have a mortgage. We
won't be blackmailed". The medical bill disappeared and was never
reported to the credit agencies.

I'm getting a big off topic here--but I think that credit ratings are often
used as leverage to extort money from people. It's all a scam--on so
many levels.

Again--good for you for the choices you made!

[MorningGlow]

22. Bastids n/t

[sarcasmo]

17. With the credit union you don't have to wait to get a loan. I would tell them

exactly why you switched and why you want to be ride of BOA.

[MorningGlow]

23. Definitely plan to

The bank person who signed us up for our checking and savings accounts said it shouldn't be a problem once we're ready to apply.

[AllyCat]

18. I got into financial trouble a decade or so ago and worked hard to pay off

the debts. After paying off one card (I'll call it Card A--the highest interest), I started after the others. I got a credit union loan to pay off the rest and paid the CU back in about 18 months. It was liberating.

About 2 years later, I started getting these nastygrams in the mail from Card A saying they would work with me on the balance of my account. They said I owed them twice what I had paid off 5 years prior (of course, I can't find the receipt...moral of that, save EVERYTHING!!). But they would let me off the hook for 75% of the said doubled balance. I was livid and terrified.

I called the CU officer who had helped me with the debts in the first place. He ran the credit reports again and saw no balance on an account with them. Not anywhere. He checked some other stuff and called me back and said "don't pay them a cent". Apparently, this credit company was running a scam (a legal one apparently) where they tried to trick people into paying again. I was powerless to stop the calls and the letters, but after about 2 years, they finally stopped harassing me.

So not only did the CU help me out of debt, they went to my aid when an unscrupulous MAJOR credit card company (I'll just call them AMEX) tried to fool me into paying them AGAIN! And save your receipts/records!

[MorningGlow]

24. WTF!

Wow, that sucks! How in the world was that legal? Did you ever find out the details of the scam?

[AllyCat]

26. Could never get an actual answer, but it was indeed some outfit calling

"on behalf of AMEX". They kept saying I owed them money and that I could send the proof of payment if I liked, but their records showed I owed them a bunch of money. I used the google and found out there was some scam going on all over the country from this group saying people owed money on closed accounts.

[CoffeeCat]

19. "Throwing pop tarts at the slaves"

I used to work for a high-tech company that was notorious for 80-hour
work weeks while paying very low salaries--but providing employees with
free coffee, sodas, snacks, bagels and Pop Tarts.

I remember an employee and I were discussing the tactics this employer used;
and how they justified the lower salaries for the prestige of working there
with the perks of unlimited coffee, beverages, snacks and breakfast items.

He said, "Yup, nothing like throwing Pop Tarts at the slaves" and it's
always stuck with me.

Your $5 Target gift card is like a Pop Tart.

[MorningGlow]

25. Nice one

Maybe that's my problem--I love Pop Tarts. :rofl: