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Discover how hard it is to leave
Like many people in this lousy Bush economy, Teri and I had run up a pretty large credit card debt - not for luxuries, but for things like food and heating oil. That's a path that usually leads to bankruptcy and homelessness.
But our circumstances changed quite drastically for the better recently, and as a result we were able to make a long-awaited phone call on Sunday.
A little background: Teri used to have a credit card (I don't remember what brand). There was a moderately hefty amount on it; not enough to wipe us out, but more than we could pay from a single paycheck. About a year ago she transferred the balance to a new Discover card, since we'd received an offer in the mail for a 0% interest rate on the transferred balance. At the same time we put my name on the new card as well.
We should have checked the fine print. Somewhere along the way we were late on a payment, which was easy to do because it seemed as if the bills were sent out closer and closer to the due date; this is a big part of the credit card trap. By making it virtually impossible to pay on time they can really rack up those interest charges! And the second time we were late, we discovered the other half of the trap: the contract we'd signed allowed them to raise our interest rate to 28%, which we only discovered by noticing that more than 75% of our minimum payment was going to pay interest.
So basically we were paying more and more each month while getting deeper and deeper into debt. Likewise, we had to charge things like groceries and diapers, because with today's housing prices there simply wasn't enough money left over from my paycheck for those things. I got used to eating less (and I've lost weight as a result), but Sebastian has to be properly fed. Likewise, I had to have gas for my car in order to go to work.
Within a year our debt with Discover had quadrupled. It was a completely impossible sum, and I couldn't see any way out of the trap. It put a hell of a stress on us in all sorts of ways.
Jump to yesterday. We now have the money to pay off all our debts, and to be sure of not getting into debt again (as long as we're reasonably responsible, of course). So we write out the check to Discover, and Teri calls them to cancel the card.
They would not take no for an answer. Over and over Teri told the woman on the other end of the line that she wanted to cancel the card. The woman offered a lower rate. Then lower still. And then she started arguing with us!
Teri had told her that if we needed a credit card, we'd get one with a company we trusted: my credit union. She explained that they'd screwed us by raising the rates, and that we wouldn't do business with them again under any circumstances. I put in that having been in their trap and escaped, we were NOT going to go into it again. The woman insisted that since we were going to transfer our balance to a new card, we should just stay with Discover at a lower rate. Teri repeated that we were NOT transferring the balance, we were paying the card off in cash. The woman pretended not to understand her. Teri got fed up and handed the phone to me.
The woman immediately insisted that we were transferring the balance, and that we shouldn't. I explained that we were paying the balance off, not transferring it. And then repeated myself two more times, adding that it wasn't any of her business anyway.
But if we needed a credit card, she said, we should keep our Discover. Why would we continue to do business with a company that had already screwed us, I asked. We had money, we were going to pay off the balance that day, we wanted the card cancelled. Did we have to call our state attorney-general to have some action taken?
At this point the woman got nasty. "You can't cancel the card," she said, "because you're not the primary account holder. You just have your name on the account, that's all."
I handed the phone to Teri, who repeated that she was canceling the card. Over and over. At some point the woman apparently gave up, because she told Teri that if we used the card before final and complete payment was received it would be considered an application to keep the card, and then the Discover agent hung up on her! Quite rudely, too.
We went to Sears and paid the account off. I wonder if the card has been cancelled? Time will tell, I guess. I wouldn't be surprised if we have to go through all this again.
Man, those Discover card bastards are real leaches!
But our circumstances changed quite drastically for the better recently, and as a result we were able to make a long-awaited phone call on Sunday.
A little background: Teri used to have a credit card (I don't remember what brand). There was a moderately hefty amount on it; not enough to wipe us out, but more than we could pay from a single paycheck. About a year ago she transferred the balance to a new Discover card, since we'd received an offer in the mail for a 0% interest rate on the transferred balance. At the same time we put my name on the new card as well.
We should have checked the fine print. Somewhere along the way we were late on a payment, which was easy to do because it seemed as if the bills were sent out closer and closer to the due date; this is a big part of the credit card trap. By making it virtually impossible to pay on time they can really rack up those interest charges! And the second time we were late, we discovered the other half of the trap: the contract we'd signed allowed them to raise our interest rate to 28%, which we only discovered by noticing that more than 75% of our minimum payment was going to pay interest.
So basically we were paying more and more each month while getting deeper and deeper into debt. Likewise, we had to charge things like groceries and diapers, because with today's housing prices there simply wasn't enough money left over from my paycheck for those things. I got used to eating less (and I've lost weight as a result), but Sebastian has to be properly fed. Likewise, I had to have gas for my car in order to go to work.
Within a year our debt with Discover had quadrupled. It was a completely impossible sum, and I couldn't see any way out of the trap. It put a hell of a stress on us in all sorts of ways.
Jump to yesterday. We now have the money to pay off all our debts, and to be sure of not getting into debt again (as long as we're reasonably responsible, of course). So we write out the check to Discover, and Teri calls them to cancel the card.
They would not take no for an answer. Over and over Teri told the woman on the other end of the line that she wanted to cancel the card. The woman offered a lower rate. Then lower still. And then she started arguing with us!
Teri had told her that if we needed a credit card, we'd get one with a company we trusted: my credit union. She explained that they'd screwed us by raising the rates, and that we wouldn't do business with them again under any circumstances. I put in that having been in their trap and escaped, we were NOT going to go into it again. The woman insisted that since we were going to transfer our balance to a new card, we should just stay with Discover at a lower rate. Teri repeated that we were NOT transferring the balance, we were paying the card off in cash. The woman pretended not to understand her. Teri got fed up and handed the phone to me.
The woman immediately insisted that we were transferring the balance, and that we shouldn't. I explained that we were paying the balance off, not transferring it. And then repeated myself two more times, adding that it wasn't any of her business anyway.
But if we needed a credit card, she said, we should keep our Discover. Why would we continue to do business with a company that had already screwed us, I asked. We had money, we were going to pay off the balance that day, we wanted the card cancelled. Did we have to call our state attorney-general to have some action taken?
At this point the woman got nasty. "You can't cancel the card," she said, "because you're not the primary account holder. You just have your name on the account, that's all."
I handed the phone to Teri, who repeated that she was canceling the card. Over and over. At some point the woman apparently gave up, because she told Teri that if we used the card before final and complete payment was received it would be considered an application to keep the card, and then the Discover agent hung up on her! Quite rudely, too.
We went to Sears and paid the account off. I wonder if the card has been cancelled? Time will tell, I guess. I wouldn't be surprised if we have to go through all this again.
Man, those Discover card bastards are real leaches!