My wife and I have First USA. We have perfect credit (trust me)
and
have never missed a payment. For no known reason other
than greed, they arbitrarily
raised our "FIXED" 12.99% rate to 21%.
Only after filing a complaint with the FDIC did First USA agree to
refund the excess interest charges they stole from us and get us back
down to the 12.99 rate which we were promised. All in all,
I still
feel cheated because they force us to cancel our cards to
keep the FIXED rate they sold us on.
First USA is the picture of unethical corporate greed in America.
Example 2
Ditto ----- for one exception, my APR is now 22.99% on a $6,000
balance. I'm trying very hard to get out of this hole but it's
like a
mudslide. Thank you for letting me know I'm not alone and
that
something is being done to get this out to the public. Now I will move
on to steps 2 & 3 and encourage everyone who reads this to do so.
Example 3
My spouse and I have been regretfully banking with FirstUSA for a year.
1) They raised our interest rate without notice, too.
2) They sold our names to a telemarketing firm(s) without permission.
a) A telemarketer called and identified herself as a FirstUSA
rep with an
offer from Leisure Advantage. It was explained we would receive
a 30-day free
trial membership for travel discounts, etc. If we decided to
keep it, it
would be $59.95 annually. We decided to try under those terms.
There was
nothing to lose, right? Wrong.
b) No membership package ever came. Nonetheless,
our Visa card got billed
$59.95. When we called FirstUSA, they gave us another # to call
Leisure
Advantage.
c) Leisure Advantage, reading from a script, said it was
lost in the mail
(more was said, but I will be brief). I know the rep was reading
a script
because I called back and another rep read the same lines verbatim.
Now
ponder why there would need to be such a script. Could it really
happen that
often? Not once did they offer to re-mail either; this seemed
a little
precarious.
d) After putting up one heck of a fight, the $59.95 was
credited to the
Visa card. A letter to the president of Leisure Advantage went
unanswered
though. I ran my suspicions by him and his refusal to answer
is a blatant
admission of guilt in my opinion. All this because FirstUSA sold
our name,
even after we said NO.
3) We have noticed that FirstUSA takes along time to process payments.
a) For instance, on numerous occasions (my spouse
meticulously follows all
bank accounts) the check made payable to FirstUSA would clear our bank,
First
Union, before posting to our FirstUSA Visa account. Sometimes,
the entire
process can take up to four weeks to post. In the meantime, we
get to pay
that pretty little interest rate. Call me paranoid, but it sounds
as if
FirstUSA is holding payments to collect more interest???
Truth is we support your web site. I hope this bank gets what
coming to them
for ripping off consumers. Good luck!
Example 4
I've had my Fisrt USA platinum card for a year or so. I started off
with the 5.9% for six
months and a 12.99% afterwards. Early in the year I had transfered
my First USA account
to my Citibank account to receive 6 months at a low special rate that
was better than
FIRST USA's 12.99%. Right about the end of that 6 months, I received
balance transfer
checks from First USA. Because my First USA balance was
$0, I had not received a bill
for them after the time of the transfer to CitiBank and assumed my
interest rate was still
12.99%. So, I transfered my CitiBank balance back to Fisrt USA. Since
the first bill did not
have a finance charge because of the 25 day grace period, I did not
notice that Fisrt USA
had raised my interest rate to 17.99%. However, when the second bill
came and the finance
charge was extremely high, I noticed that First USA had changed my
rate to 17.99%. When
I called them on the phone to inquire about the interest rate change,
I got the 'Your rates
can change for any reason' spiel. I wanted a specific reason
for the change and the First
USA advisor could not give me one. But, the advisor told me she would
send a memo out
and I would hear from someone with in 7-10 days. Two weeks later
and I hadn't gotten
an answer. So, I called up and talked to another Fisrt USA advisor.
I related the above
story to him. He told me that he personally couldn't adjust my interest
rate, but that my
account showed that if I had a recent offer for the same card from
First USA that he could
change my current card to the conditions of the new offer I received.
Just to make sure that
all I had to do was give a certain number off of a current First USA
solicitation, I asked the
advisor this question and he confirmed that all I had to do was provide
this number.
Knowing that I had one of these Firt USA solicitations laying around,
I said goodbye and
went to look for it. After a few minutes I found the solicitaion from
First USA for the same
5.9% introductory and 12.99% fixed afterwards. Now, believing the crisis
was coming to an
end, I called back First USA and informed the advisor of what the situation
was. Before I
even provided the information from the solicitation that the other
advisor told me I would
need, the advisor told me that the computer wouldn't let her use the
current solicitation to
update my account. Of course, she told me I can always apply for a
new account. At this
point, I inquired to why my oringinal request for a specific reason
for my interest rate
changing was not answered. Fisrt, she kept trying to give me their
annoying 'The rates can
change for any reason' answer. Finally, she told me that I would have
to write a letter to
FIRST USA to find out why my rates changed and that was the only way
I would find out.
The conversation continued as I conveyed my dismay with their company.
The advisor
seemed content not offer any appologies for my trouble or any new advice.
At this point I
hung up in frustration and disgust!
G. S.
Example 5
I was the recipient of a telemarketing call that said the FIRST USA
was offering me a special credit card offer
to transfer a balance from other credit cards for a low rate of 4.9%
thru May 98 = that I could transfer up to
$15,000 per account up to three accounts = an offer based upon my good
credit history.
I accepted and gave them one account to transfer noting that I would
call up the next day and provide
another. The caller and her supervisor both confirmed the
deal and the fact that all I had to do was call an
800 number the next day and do the other card. I asked how that
was possible if no account number was
assigned yet and they indicated that they would be able to locate things
through my name and address and
social security number.
I called the next day and four days after that - noone at the number
could give me any answer on the status of
this new account but accepted another transfer request which they said
could be linked by the computer with
my new account.
Finally on 12 December I decided to find out more about this account
calling again their customer service
number provided before - 1-800-347-7887. After more than twenty
minutes they located a record with a
notation "need to verify information" -no information on an transfer
request, how many transfer requests
existed, no account number established, and when I asked how i would
know what was happening they
HUNG UP.
Using the internet, I searched the web and found their website
(http://www.financenter.com/credit/1stUSA/platinum) and called
them up at 1-800-955-3050. That begun
another long conversation revealing that no pre credit reviews are
conducted at all, that over 50% of those
called are refused for whatever the computer program evaluation shows,
and they would make a note of the
solicitation information (using terms as "pre-approved" etc.)
I tried to explain that I felt this was bait and switch - the
obtain authorization to obtain a credit record on me,
that act as if everything is preapproved to obtain other credit information
about me on other accounts, and
indirectly could end up costing me a bundle if I actually relied on
the $45000 total transfers allegedly offered -
take for instance a $10000 transfer which they said they would act
upon within 5 or 6 weeks and for me to
just pay the minumums. If after that time frame, they say
no I have incurred the higher rate charges for the
transfer balance that did not occur, and if I pay more then I am prepaiding
other credit balances before the
end of the grace period. In other words, causing a financial
picture of chaos to which they have no liability
and yet access to personal information.
I think this should be illegal. Advice sought.