What a rip off! And what I mean by that is not the product itself; I mean the implication that your financial institution can actually do anything to help you with that card. Oh they give a nice song and dance about it, and occasionally, you’ll find an employee who goes above and beyond; however, for all intents and purposes the credit card side of your bank or credit union is different from the retail side.

Let’s take my credit union for example. I work for a company that has redefined themselves so that they could expand their membership base. Our culture is very different from what you’d find in a normal banking environment. Our branches look like coffee shops or internet cafés, and our members consistently leave ‘wowed’ by the service they get. But, that kind of thing sets expectations.

We used to offer credit cards directly through the credit union. At some point some higher up decided the portfolio of credit card balances wasn’t really helping our bottom line so we sold it to FIA Services. When this transition took place we had a lot of complaints from members about customer service representatives who were rude and unhelpful. This was a problem for us because, in the member’s mind, that was still our credit card. It was an issue that we spent a good deal of time trying to fix. As of now, we can take payments in the branch and that’s it.

Well, that doesn’t really do much good if a member has a question and they can’t get a live person on the phone, or they’ve got a complaint and they keep getting people who are unable or unwilling to help. Unfortunately, there’s just not much we can do. We have a liaison that we deal with, but we sold the portfolio to FIA. We ask that they honor our culture with our members, but ultimately, it’s their bottom line that’s affected when fees are reversed. As you can imagine, they’re not always so willing to help. My opinion is that we shouldn’t allow them to offer credit cards in our name, but what do I know?

Another example of this irritating phenomenon was when I worked at one of the larger banks…won’t say they’re name, but it begins with a ‘C.’ Anyway, this bank had the portfolio in-house and, still, we could not service the customers there in the retail center. We had to direct them to the phone and instruct them to call the 800 number on the back of the card. Color me stupid, but what kind of customer service is that? To the customer, if it’s got the company name on it, they should be able to walk into the nearest location and receive assistance with their concerns.

Now, I understand that those in the credit card department are specifically trained to handle actual credit card concerns and we in retail should defer to their expertise; however, I think we should be able answer basic questions on a customer’s account. If they want to know what their interest rate is, I should be able to tell them. If the member wants to get more information about balance transfers, I should be able to explain what our promotions and specials are. Why should they have to sit on hold for 10 minutes just to know what we’re offering when they’re already sitting in front of me?

My present irritation with this stems from the fact that I was quite powerless to help a member today. This member is someone who has had a rough time of it with his finances and we’ve been working closely with him to get him back on his feet. We set him up on a six-month plan and he’s reduced his debt considerably, as well as increased his credit score. He was able to get one of “our” credit cards as a result of his efforts. He came into the branch today to make a payment, but since our system takes two business days to send payment to FIA Services, he was looking at a late fee and a potential increase in his interest rate. So, I offered to call FIA Services and see if we could make a phone payment to expedite the process and avoid the fee. I call the number we have for branch help and the lady that answered the phone didn’t seem interested in helping me. She demanded I place the member on the phone – which was odd since this was an internal number for us – only to tell him that he needed to learn to pay his bills on time.

I can tell you both mine and my member’s jaw dropped. I took the phone off speaker and asked her if she could help us make the payment or not. She said she could but that she would need his checking account number. Well, this member only has a savings and money market with us, so I explained that to her and she said she couldn’t process the payment from a savings account. We’ve done payments over the phone before with nothing but a savings account, so I don’t know what this lady’s problem was. I told her I would make the payment at the branch and contact our FIA liaison. The problem is, the member is still going to get hit with the late fee and we may or may not be able to get that reversed.
On top of that, if they increase his rate per the default clause, then we have to try and get that fixed as well.

And, naturally, our liaison is on vacation until next week some time, so I’m just sitting on this. Aside from the shock that she actually told the member to learn to pay his bills on time, I’m taken aback by the fact that she was so unwilling to help the member. I mean, that’s her job.

My question to you guys is, have you experienced this before? The back and forth between departments only to get someone who clearly doesn’t like their job and finds it convenient to take it out on you?

How did you handle it?

Related posts:

1. The Customer-Centric Culture
2. A Tale of Two Financial Woes
3. Can I See Some ID?
4. Debit Cards Vs. Credit Cards: Plastic Showdown
5. The Business of Credit Cards – Part II