Why The Little People Are Pissed At Big Companies

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Use the search function to find my ruminations about BOA.

This one's about Citi-whoevertheycallthemselvestoday.

We have a promotional low-rate offer that ended this month. First, they did not notify us, they just bumped it up to a rate that is about twice the market.

When I caught that, I PMed them through their online service, and was told someone would get back to me in 10-15 days!!! In the mean time, they are passing out beaucoup bonuses at our expense.

So, I called, and no one could talk to me about our interest rate. The clock keeps ticking, costing us money every day.

All I wanna know is if they want to extend another, fair, rate offer, to keep our business, or if I should pay it off. I can't even find out what they payoff amount would be.

That's why us little people are pissed at the big people.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Why conservatives say "who cares?"

Sure Citibank sucks. And, so do most big companies. The problem is that the alternative is far worse.

If you don't like your credit card company, you can cancel your card, get a new one or just stop using credit cards.

If the government is in control, your only choice is to get a new passport.

Just be happy that you can make purchases with a credit card instead of with a goat and two hens.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

You treat your customers that way too? Not even talk to them? Except to tell them they are lucky to have you?

Is that the new way to do business?

[3kids4me Super Moderator and Super Mom Find all posts View Profile Close 3kids4me]

Unfortunately, the banks are all doing what the government tells them they are allowed to do.

Meanwhile, I know someone who works for one of those banks, and last year his salary was cut significantly. Because they can.

[Marti Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Marti]

Banks

Why make the major banks any larger

People should stop dealing with banks like
Bank of America, Chase, Citi, etc and use
their community Credit Union or pay cash!

[Ryne08 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ryne08]

The government lend money to the big banks to bail them out a crunch.

The big bank held the money in their account and make more money.

Then the big banks raised the interest rates on credit cards, reduced the amount of interest rates they were paying on saving accounts and money markets accounts.

Plus they the big banks stop lending money to consumers.

Now the big banks are paying out records amount of bonues to their employees.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

..............or pay cash!

Cash? What's that?

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

I contacted them yesterday via their online message center, and got two replies saying I would hear from someone within two days.

I am not being difficult, I am just asking to talk to someone so I can make a decision. Is that too much to ask, to be able to talk to someone where you do business?

I am not a dumbass and have already severed ties with other big ugly companies. Except for the promotional, low-rate offer with Citi, I have severed ties with them. I am/was just trying to give them a chance to be fair, to keep our business. Now all I need is a payoff amount.

I have also found there are some big, not-ugly companies.

The other day I tried to open a savings account online with Capitol One. I got booted in the middle of the online app twice, both times being given an #800 to call to do the same thing. When I did, a snooty lady pretty much scolded me, telling me to do that online. So . . . I went to Discover Bank and opened one there. Opened it and funded it online with no problem. We have other accounts with Discover Bank and they have been friendly, courteous, understanding and prompt, not to mention fair.

Ally Bank, where our GMAC stuff got moved to, is also extremely good. They recently cut or dropped fees altogether, and last week I got a check for a closed account and a credit to an open account for a 2008 leap year interest shortage.

[Elan Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Elan]

Customer service is essentially dead. It's all about maximizing profits, which I understand, but somewhere along the line the concept of getting return business or additional business from word-of-mouth referrals died.

All I can say is thank God for online banking, because if I had to deal with real people to facilitate transactions, I'd continually be at wit's end. I've been a BofA customer since they bought out my regional bank years ago. I go in the branch about 4 times a year. Less if I can. When they eventually piss me off, I'll go back to a regional or CU.

[3kids4me Super Moderator and Super Mom Find all posts View Profile Close 3kids4me]

Now the big banks are paying out records amount of bonues to their employees.

Here's the problem. It's the commercial bank that is charging all of those high interest rates. And it's the commercial bank that we as consumers typically deal with.

It's the investment bank that is paying out the big bonuses. Everyone I know who works on the commercial banking side has a terrible salary and if they do have a bonus, it has been cut significantly. (Many people earned most of their salary through their bonus, so they took a big hit.)

Commercial banks change big interest rates on their credit cards to protect against all of the bad debt. They don't really have a model that can predict who is going to default so it's not as if they can "reward" folks who always pay on time by not upping their rate. Those some folks could suddenly lose their job and not be able to pay their bills. The best thing to do is never carry a balance on a credit card.

[4ARedOctober Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close 4ARedOctober]

Oh yeah....we are soooo lucky to have such great banks who really look out for us. They are our saviors. Please spare me.

Here is a clue for ya......live below your means people. Don't use credit cards to finance stuff....that advice has not changed any time recently. Use credit cards for your convenience only and pay off the bill every month...stay on top of your spending.

Stop buying stuff if you can't afford to pay it off. Or do this

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

The propensity to spend is greater than the propensity to save. Many people spend more than they make and that's the main why millions of people have had large credit card debt. Lately that is beginning to change thanks to the worry about the economy. Credit card debt is easy to get and very expensive to have or to pay off- unless you outplay them at their own game. I do like using the banks money for a month or so before paying them off, but I really don't need to but I don't like carrying around a wad of cash.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Some people do live frugally, so much so that they have a reputation for being squeaky tight. They own their material possessions outright and use credit cards only for convenience, paying the balance off each month.

They appreciate the options that having money makes available because they can remember the limited options they had during times of no money.

At the same, they also run a business(es), which occasionally requires the expenditure of more money than they feel comfortable advancing themselves, and they feel 1.9% is a fair rate for the purchase of appreciating assets, when their own money is earning substantially more than that.

So, they realize how stupid it would be to never borrow money.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

I finally heard from them, via a letter through their online document center.

They waited until the new statement was generated, 1/26, to tell me they cannot extend a low-rate offer. The last one expired 1/1.

So, I will pay it off in full, but they managed to get that many days interest out of me. @$$#%/&$

Ah, the new American way of doing business.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Involuntary recall of this thread . . .

It occurred to me that we borrowed this money at 2.99%, rather than take from the money earning 5%, so, until now, we have been coming out ahead.

As of today, I am re-doing it at 5.5% (rather than use what's earning 5%), so we are still not doing too bad.

Sure, it would be nice to not have borrowed at all, but weighed against what it got us, there was no real option.