Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Interest Rate Lowering Request

When I requested that Discover Card lower my interest rate on my credit card, they told me I had to request a form by mail and then send it back. When the form arrived, all it required was a signature indicating that I met some requirements. The idiotic part is that they already have this information!! I had to sign that I hadn't missed any payments (what, you don't have computerized records at Discover Card headquarters?), that my address was correct (Duh!) and one other asinine requirement that slips my memory at this point. They also require it to be sent back within 30 days.

Why would they require such a moronic method of lowering your interest rate when every single other credit card company will do it in 5 minutes over the phone? Well, I'll tell you why. Simply because they are trying to screw you. They are betting that you will either never open the mail, lose it, forget to turn it back in or miss the 30-day deadline. And they have another trick up their sleeve:

A few weeks later, I get a call from Discover Card. It went something like this:

"Mr. X, we received your request to reduce your interest rate."
"Oh good, so what are the results?"
"Well, we are sorry to inform you, but there was a problem with your form."
"Ummm... okay.... what was the problem?"
"Well, I am not sure because I don't have your form, but I was informed there was a problem."
:::slight pause:::
"Who informed you? Can't they tell you what the problem is?"
"No they can't, but maybe you forgot to sign it"
"Forget to sign it? Are you kidding me? That was the only requirement for the request and I am 100% sure that I signed it."
"Well, I don't know what the problem is, but we will have to send you out another form."
"I would like to speak with a supervisor."
:::slight pause:::
"Hi you've reached Mr. Corporate Asshole's voice mail, please leave me a complete message and I'll make sure your message is promptly deleted along with every other complaint ever left here."

My voice was elevated, as I was obviously pissed off when I left my message, but I tried to politely indicate my displease for a process that is clearly full of bull corn. I never got a call back.

It is in my to-do list to write them a letter explaining why my $1,500 a month charges suddenly dropped to zero.

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