Credit Card Mayhem

I have a Chase Visa card. For the most part, I like it. I has a good rewards program. The problem is, we have carried a balance (for the first time ever in our lives) since last fall when I was off work for longer than expected and had unanticipated medical bills.

I had a pretty good interest rate at 8.99% up until last year when the credit laws changed. Then my "fixed" rate went up to a 13.99% variable rate. I was not happy. I called and complained. What's the point of having a fixed rate if they can just change it whenever they want anyway? I was told that's the best interest rate they had at the time and when I threatened to close my account, the account specialist refunded my finance charge for the month. I told him that was fine for now, but it was simply a bandaid for the real problem, and I couldn't guarantee that I wouldn't call next month and close it.

So I found a new credit card. I'm not one to go through credit cards like I go through underwear, so this was a long, thought-out process for me. I went with a Citi Master Card with a not-as-good rewards program, but a better interest rate at 9.99% variable and a 0% intro rate on purchases and balance transfers until January 2012. I transferred my balance to this card.

Last week, I get my credit card bill from Chase. It says I owe a $7 finance charge. I called and told them that I don't understand why I have an finance charge if I paid off the balance. They gave me some lame, BS reason, so I said I wanted to cancel (again). She transferred me to an account specialist, who asked me why I wanted to close my account. I told her I felt as though I've been jerked around for various reasons and I just want to be done with them. Of course, I didn't actually care if I closed the card or not. I've had it for almost 5 years, and for a 25 year old, that's a big chunk of credit history. It would be better for my credit score to keep it open - although we don't plan on applying for credit again for a while, so it probably would have time to recover.

Anyway, the account specialist apologized and asked if I would consider keeping my account open if she refunded the finance charge and sent me a $25 gift card to one of the various places she listed off. Victory! I didn't want to close the account anyway. In fact, all I really wanted was for her to refund my finance charge. So I ended up getting a $25 gift card to a Darden restaurant (Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze, or Longhorn Steakhouse).

I've been wanting Olive Garden soooo badly lately! We'll probably save the gift card for at time when we're driving home from SD so we can stop in Fargo and eat there!

So children, the moral of this story is: Always call your credit card company, even for the smallest thing. They want to keep you as a customer! It will most likely work in your favor.