I wish they'd denied him a credit card

[Ghel]

A few weeks ago, I helped one of our customers get a credit card. I wish I had known what a headache that would make for me.

We use a 3rd party processor for our credit cards. They're not even really "our" credit cards, even though they have our bank's name on them. We enter the application online, the 3rd party makes the credit decision, sends out the credit card, and services them.

I didn't really think this customer would even get a card, since he just has a low-balance savings account with us and has gone through bankruptcy in the recent past. But they sent him one. That started him on an almost daily pattern of coming in to the bank to get a cash advance on the card. He was apparently using it for all sorts of purchases, too.

About 2 weeks after he got the card, his wife called. She said we shouldn't have given him a card, because that's what caused them to have to go through bankruptcy the last time. I had to explain to her that (1) she's not on the account, so I can't tell her anything about it, and (2) we use a 3rd party processor, so she would have to call them.

A week or so after that, the customer comes in saying he forgot his PIN and could we give it to him? I told him to call the number on the back of the card. He says there isn't one and holds it out to me. I show him where the number is.

A bit after that, he comes in and says he lost his card. Secretly, I hope that his wife took it away and cut it up. Come to find out that that morning, he had come in and gotten a cash advance to pay the credit card bill. We tell him he needs to call the credit card company. The number is on his bill.

He comes in this morning, and at first he says he wants me to apply for a new credit card for him, since he lost his old one. Then he starts asking for the number to contact the credit card company. He tried to call the number he had written down (from the back of his card, I guess?) and it wouldn't go through. And he lost his bill. So I find it on the 3rd party's website and give it to him.

This afternoon, he comes in again. This guy has more free time to drive around town than anybody I know. He says he needs to know his credit card number. I don't have it. I never have. I told him to call them back and tell them he doesn't have his card number. They'll be able to look it up by his name. He seem surprised by this. :sigh:

[Sarlon]

I work for a credit card company, and I can't BEGIN to count the number of calls I get where they have gone in store with their bill and end up calling us anyway to solve the problem....like dude.....seriously.....

on the flip side they call us when they need Big Blue Box to service something they bought....

[Kristev]

God. And I thought it was bad that every so often I'd have to take Mother's debit card. No, not that way! She'd often let me use it - but only to follow her exact instructions with it as I could walk and she could not. For instance, pay bills or buy groceries (complete with a list of what she wanted and calling her if they were out). I never used her card on my own. I'd use it, but only with her consent and permission, and never recklessly. But she did sometimes, and so she'd give it to me to sequester for a little while so she couldn't just go out and spend everything. She's bi-polar and sometimes mania can make people do that, so my keeping the card until the bills were paid was a brief but sensible precaution.

But this bloke absolutely baffles me. I don't blame the wife for cutting it up (assuming that's what actually happened). Invisible money is a dangerous thing, which is one reason I tend to prefer cash (so I can keep track of it) and shopping at Amazon. You get a chance to review everything and turn back before you make a huge fiscal mistake.

[EricKei]

I didn't have such great credit control back in my college days - That was back when card companies basically had free reign to offer them on campuses without mentioning anything aside from the free t-shirt we'd get for signing up. It was just a gas card, a regular ccard with something like a $1,500 limit, and one other, but between that and my student loans, my credit score was utter trash for years. Lesson learned a loooong time ago, and it took me something like 4 years to pay them off.

Fast forward to a few years ago, after my car accident (minor fender bender that fooked up most of my major joints), I was able to get my loans put on hiatus and recently discharged on Disability. It's taken the two years since then to get my credit score back on track; getting a small-scale secured card has helped a lot, as has disputing a bunch of bullshit negs on the reports. I'll say that it can be done, but it's a pain in the ass. I hope I never NEED to take advantage of my score being in the "normal" range again (knock on wood), but it'll be there if absolutely needed. (FWIW, if medical stuff is a concern, I have found that CareCredit is worth considering - easy to get, limits tend to be low (sub-$1,000 range), and the card can ONLY be used for medical, pharmacy, and vet services, thus enforcing something of a spending restriction; they also do a "X months same as cash" thing. I've had one for a few months now, and it came in handy for an unexpected dental expense not 3 months after I got it).

[Ghel]

My ex had a similar issue with overspending using his credit cards. Buying things like gas and snacks with credit, FFS. He had one of those cards that gives you "cash back" but then he couldn't pay off the balance every month, so he was paying more in interest than the cash back he was receiving.

Luckily, we had separate credit cards, so all that debt went with him when we divorced.

Not to say I was perfect. I had a lot of credit card debit at that time, too. It's been a lot of work to whittle away at it. Now I've got a much more manageable amount of debt.

[EricKei]

Yeah, I've been careful on that, myself -- I intentionally have a credit limit that is less than what I get each month on Disability. Short of "tricking" myself by paying the balance early, I literally cannot spend more than I make Yeah, it's a bit of a crutch, but if it keeps me solvent... ^_^

[Ironclad Alibi]

Yeah, I've been careful on that, myself -- I intentionally have a credit limit that is less than what I get each month on Disability. Short of "tricking" myself by paying the balance early, I literally cannot spend more than I make Yeah, it's a bit of a crutch, but if it keeps me solvent... ^_^

I see what you did there. Very punny.

[MadMike]

Back when I got my first credit card, getting one wasn't so easy. At least not for the first time. Shortly after I started my current job, I got a credit card offer from the mail, and the company apparently had some sort of relationship with the school that I attended. It made it sound like getting a card from them was guaranteed, but when I tried to apply, I was told I wasn't at my current job long enough. Not sure why they even bothered sending those out, since even if I had managed to find a job immediately after graduation I still would have been at my current job less than a year.

Shortly after that, I found out I was eligible to join one of the local credit unions through my job, and they did give me a credit card -- only at $1500 limit to start out, but it was something. Over the years, they increased my limit, sometimes by my request and sometimes they just did it on their own. Once I had one credit card, it seemed like all the other companies were falling all over each other trying to give me another one.

[Monterey Jack]

This is why I only own a debit card, and never purchase anything I don't have money for.

[ReverendBSB]

This is why I only own a debit card, and never purchase anything I don't have money for.

If you buy stuff online it never hurts to have a credit card to use instead of your debit. Makes sure in case of fraud all your cash isnt gone while the bank investigates.

The trick is to only use it when you have the cash and pay it right after you order.

[EricKei]

I see what you did there. Very punny.

I live to serve.

It was actually unintentional, but hey, I'll take credit for it anyway as long as you're offering

[dalesys]

I live to serve. ...

Working at a restaurant?

[EricKei]

Working at a restaurant?

Fuck no. Not in well over a decade, thank Gord.

I'm here for all y'all wonderful crazy peoples.

[Nunavut Pants]

That was back when card companies basically had free reign to offer them on campuses without mentioning anything aside from the free t-shirt we'd get for signing up.

My senior year at school, Amex came around to my campus and offered cards with the first year's membership fee waived. I signed up, and promptly didn't use it.

The next year, after I was out in the real world with a job and everything, I tried to use it. Turns out that many of the places that I wanted to use it wouldn't take it, only MC and Visa. I still paid the annual fee when the time came around, because I figured that the few purchases I did make would look good on my credit rating.

I found out later that year that basically Amex didn't report anything to the credit reporting agencies. (Or perhaps they did, but the agencies didn't count it as debt because you had to pay it off every month?) So much for my "credit building".

I finally moved to a credit union, and was able to convince them to give me a low-limit Visa card (was it $500?). Paid that off every month, and was able to get the limit up to $1500 the next year, and left it there for ever. Wound up with an 800 credit rating after about a decade of that...

[earl colby pottinger]

Limit

I finally moved to a credit union, and was able to convince them to give me a low-limit Visa card (was it $500?). Paid that off every month, and was able to get the limit up to $1500 the next year, and left it there for ever. Wound up with an 800 credit rating after about a decade of that...

Are you sure it is still a $1500 limit? I got a credit card the same way with the same limit. But they keep increasing my limit without me asking, and I had to call they a number of times to get it reduced. Finally, I went to visit my parents and brothers in Florida (I lived in Toronto), so I had them increase my limit. I went from $1000 to $3000 with nothing but just a phone call.

And in the long run I had to get rid of the credit card because it was too easy to over-spend.