Why The Little People Are Pissed At Big Companies

[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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

Originally Posted by Marti

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

Cash? What's that?

[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]

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]

Originally Posted by Ryne08

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.