Searching for Credit Card Company with the Best Reputation
Author: credithelp
Joined: 23 Aug 2004
Posts: 47
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 4:24 pm
Post subject: Card issuers reputation
Which card issuers have the best reputations right now and which have the worst ones? I guess this is an opinionated question but was curious.
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Author: NightStar
Forum Moderator
Joined: 07 Nov 2003
Posts: 2358
Location: Illinois
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 4:34 pm
Providian is one of the creditors at the bottom of the list, but they have been trying to change that - like giving credit scores to customers (I believe they are allowing consumers to view the credit card model scores) not just the generic ones the bureaus would sell to the customer. American Express, I was just horrified with the slam site I read, their employees are rude beyond beleive, almost like a god complex.. I think they are over rated, like Discover myself. Citi Bank I think of in the middle like Capital One, easy to obtain on a regular basis, but they can be preditory, on catching people with high interest rates... Household is another lower lender, being that they deal more in the sub market, like Best Buy, and other stores that would only offer 18% interest rates.. same true with Lowes, JC Penney, K-Mart, Yonkers, Sears... all of them department stores are not worth the 10% discounts they offer to get customers just for the high rates, if you are in the habit to holding balances. I hear Native say a lot of good stuff about Bank of America though, and they just took over another sub lender Fleet... will be interesting to see how that goes. I really don't know too much about other creditors out there, very limited experience myself... like Chase, Bank One, First USA, Pulaski, think of them mid to upper range creditors.
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Author: credithelp
Joined: 23 Aug 2004
Posts: 47
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 5:05 pm
One thing about pulaski is that they seem to sell accounts. Ive only known 3 people to have a pulaski card but each one had it sold to someone else and they were all in good standing. The new creditor raised their rate to around 20%. In my opinion it should be illegal to sell an account.
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Author: guessindigo
Joined: 19 Sep 2004
Posts: 51
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 5:50 pm
This is my list Top Issuers (aka the BEST) MBNA Citi AMEX Chase Bank of America Mid Issuers (aka Just OK) Household Providian Direct Merchants Bank Capital One Discover Bottom Issuers (The WORST) Cross Country First Premier Aspire
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Author: consumercity
Joined: 10 Nov 2004
Posts: 61
Location: Cincinnati, OH
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 6:03 pm
From my own personal experience, I consider Citi Bank to be the best. I have a card from them with an interest rate that is about 45% of what I had with Capital One. I don't recommend Capital One because their interest rates are too high and they won't offer better terms to customers that have been with them for 5 years and never paid late. Also, every time I called Cap One's customer service department they aggressively tried to sell credit insurance and credit monitoring services. Before selecting a company, you should type their names into some search engines and see what kind of complaint sites turn up. Also, there is a lot of valuable credit card info on this site.
Consumer City.org
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Author: Polonius
Credit Expert (100+ Posts)
Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Posts: 418
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 6:21 pm
Basically, this question has no answer. Most of those who are posting have good experiences with some banks and bad experiences with others. We all have different credit profiles and have different issues. For example,
Quote:
I don't recommend Capital One because their interest rates are too high. I have one CapitalOne account with a 7.9%. I'm currently on a 2.9% balance transfer on it, good for the life of the loan. I have a second one with an 8.9% rate. Both cards allow no-fee balance transfers treated as purchases with a 25 day grace period. At one point, CapitalOne called me concerned about my account and said it was going to reduce my $20,000 credit limit to $16,000. It said it would restore the credit limit to $20,000 if I made a $2,000 payment. So I did--and it pushed the limit back to $20,000. No problems since. On the other hand, I am livid with rage at the way I was treated by BankOne and MBNA. I've had no problems with Citibank, Chase, AmericanExpress or Discover. Generally I've found Customer Service from all the banks to be polite and fairly responsive, even when I don't agree with the outcome. I'm always considerate and cordial when I call, regardless of how I feel inside. Different strokes for different folks, as they say!
Polonius
"Neither a borrower, nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend"
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Author: credithelp
Joined: 23
Aug 2004
Posts: 47
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 6:38 pm
Overall ive had good experiences with capital one, my main complaint is how they report the credit limits. I'll probably keep that one unless they mess with me. I also have a household card but my scores are getting close to being able to get a better card so i may swap that one for a better one after i pay down more of my balances. Right now i'm at 660,678, and 690.
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Author: NightStar
Forum Moderator
Joined: 07 Nov 2003
Posts: 2358
Location: Illinois
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 7:52 pm
Capital One is really a mixed result card company.. I had them years ago, and didn't mind customer service at that time, but could not get better rates so I eventually balance transferred to another lender. Years later I did hook up with Captial One again, but it was through K-mart, was stuck at 15% interest... they would not lower the interest rate.. every time I asked they told me it was locked in... then this year they sent notice to most of their customers announcing that the account was being switched over to a fee paying card.. $48 per year, or $4 per month. I had been trying to pay that account off and get rid of them. Citi Bank, they are preditory, I know that from experience... they wait until you get a high balance, or if they see something negative with another creditor then they send you a change in terms agreement... I felt like a yoyo babysitting this card, how many times I had to call customer service to get them to keep my rates the same. I do know of another creditor I can say that I did like, and that is National City, we did our checking and I had a credit card with them... it was a fixed rate 9.9% customer service was nice, and I liked using their online services... could get copies of checks through the site going 6 months back. They do have checking account and online fees, but we were happy with this company.
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Author: ccdeals
Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 9
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 10:54 pm
Nice and very informative website. MBNA, CITI bank, Chase and AM Ex worked best for me MBNA(platinum plus)- Not good with APR and rewards but have good balance transfer deals and high credit lines. Love their online info/pay system has everything you will ever need to maintain your account. Citi bank (Dividend platinum) - Good balance transfer deals and rewards. High credit lines Chase(platinum) - Good rewards program and low APR. These guys have a problem with going over $10000 credit limit with auto increases without credit checks. Other then that they are great. AM EX (blue)- Best looking card and good rewards program. Customer service not bad but is in India and dont look like they have any authority to reduce APR, BT deals etc BofA(platinum) - Customer service is great but thats about it no rewards,no auto credit line increases and OK APR. Just had this card for around 1.5 years so things may change WellsFargo(platinum) - Ditto as BofA Discover(platinum) - Closed the card after the a@@Holes made a hard enquiry against my credit report for nothing and wouldnt delete it after repeated complaints to their executive office. Dont have a good opinion of their customer service or their products. Bank One(now owned by chase ) - Used to own a platinum card, they sent me the bill late a few months( this was couple of years back) and used to take 2 weeks to post the credit to the account after mailing the payment. Had a couple of instances when they charged me late fees for that, they removed the fees after me raising stink with their exec office but would never to business again with them and closed the account. Retailers national Bank - As bad as it gets, only had Target and Mervyns card with them closed both.
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Author: Ira
SENIOR MEMBER (Member for 2 yrs.+)
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 777
Location: NJ
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 11:23 pm
I have never had a bad experience with any credit card. I have never had an arbitrary increase in finance rates, I have never come across rudness or insolence from any CSR. I always pay my bills on time and never carry a balance, unless it's a 0% balance transfer offer. Used correctly and responsibly all credit cards are your friends. Used irresponsibly any card could become your worst nightmare. I have been told that I will be the ruination of the credit card industry because I only use rewards cards, refuse to incur finance charges, late fees, over limit fees, etc., and always take advantage of 0% intro rates. If that's true, so be it, but if they're giving I'm taking.
Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
Ira
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Author: NightStar
Forum Moderator
Joined: 07 Nov 2003
Posts: 2358
Location: Illinois
Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2004 12:19 am
You have been very lucky to not have one bad experience to be said about any credit card companies customer service. My usual complaints is calling in to get a rep that is not even in the USA that can speak clear english... or understand what I am requesting. They can give the run around it if is too complicated for them, and they will cut you off if they can't deal with what you want. If you ask for something they don't understand, they don't take the time to take your name, and have a more competent rep contact you back, nor do they offer to transfer you to such a person. It can be very flustrating - just count your blessings, cause I don't think it will be much longer with the jobs shipped out of US that you will eventually run into what others keep talking about.
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Author: guessindigo
Joined: 19 Sep 2004
Posts: 51
Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2004 11:07 am
While I am less than thrilled about AMEX bluecash CS going overseas to india, I want to say they suck and have no power to do anything and are inferior to their USA counterparts.................Unfortunately, I can't. I've been connected to CS in india a few times and CS is on par to what it is when I get connected to a US rep. They handle APR reductions and account questions very efficiently.
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Author: ccdeals
Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 9
Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2004 2:29 am
Just spoke with Bank of America CS all i got to say is WOW.. told the CS rep that i was a card member since a year and had no credit limit increase. She looked at the account and said "i can increase the limit by $3000 without a credit check and if you need more i can increase it by $6000 if you do a BT". They were offering 0% till may 2005 but chose to pass it because of $50 BT fees and relatively short BT period. The rep then informed me about BillPay service available on my checking account(i also have a checking account with them), the Billpay service is awesome and its free for all checking account holders. I think i have a new fav card now just a shame they dont have same reward programs as Chase and AMEX or else they would get my business anyday. MBNA goes to sock drawer and out comes Mini me BofA card , MBNA has great CS but their APR and BT deals are not the same they used to be To the last poster- I have nothing against AMEX reps in India, think they are as good as the US counterparts. I generally call AMEX during night and always get hold of some Roger/John with a strange accent who says " Roger from AMEX,how MAY i help YOU today?!?!" kind of funny but who cares as long as give what i want, after all its not a rocket science.. most of the CS reps even here in US have no more than a high school degree.
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Author: creditnewbie
Joined: 30 Oct 2004
Posts: 30
Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2004 7:12 am
Bank of America DOES have rewards programs. Check their website. They also have a program they don't advertise "Financial Rewards Visa Platinum" where you get 1% cash back. the APR was 13.90% when they offered it to me, but I ended up switching to regular visa platinum because it had a lower APR 9.74% even though I never carry a balance but I thought it was a good idea to have a low apr just in case one day I need to carry a balance. To enrol in those different rewards, they will have to change your card and issue a new number which usually isn't a problem. I had them change my card 4 times until I settled for what I had originally except with a much better rate. they lowered it for me from 15.74% to 9.74%.
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Author: Ira
SENIOR MEMBER (Member for 2 yrs.+)
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 777
Location: NJ
Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2004 12:58 am
Nightstar, I see what you mean, and yes, I have come across individual CSRs who gave me answers that were less than satisfactory. I remain very polite with these people, thank them very much, say goodbye, hang up, and calll right back. I always get someone more knowledgable the second time around. I don't consider this bad customer service. It's just somebody who doesn't have the highest competence level. Everybody is a bit different and everybody has a different skill set. If the person you get when you call doesn't have the necessary skills to deal with your issue, it takes but a few seconds to call back. BTW, making a second call, IMHO, gets better results than asking to speak with someone else
Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
Ira
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Joined: 23 Aug 2004
Posts: 47
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 4:24 pm
Post subject: Card issuers reputation
Which card issuers have the best reputations right now and which have the worst ones? I guess this is an opinionated question but was curious.
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Author: NightStar
Forum Moderator
Joined: 07 Nov 2003
Posts: 2358
Location: Illinois
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 4:34 pm
Providian is one of the creditors at the bottom of the list, but they have been trying to change that - like giving credit scores to customers (I believe they are allowing consumers to view the credit card model scores) not just the generic ones the bureaus would sell to the customer. American Express, I was just horrified with the slam site I read, their employees are rude beyond beleive, almost like a god complex.. I think they are over rated, like Discover myself. Citi Bank I think of in the middle like Capital One, easy to obtain on a regular basis, but they can be preditory, on catching people with high interest rates... Household is another lower lender, being that they deal more in the sub market, like Best Buy, and other stores that would only offer 18% interest rates.. same true with Lowes, JC Penney, K-Mart, Yonkers, Sears... all of them department stores are not worth the 10% discounts they offer to get customers just for the high rates, if you are in the habit to holding balances. I hear Native say a lot of good stuff about Bank of America though, and they just took over another sub lender Fleet... will be interesting to see how that goes. I really don't know too much about other creditors out there, very limited experience myself... like Chase, Bank One, First USA, Pulaski, think of them mid to upper range creditors.
View our latest credit card ratings!
Author: credithelp
Joined: 23 Aug 2004
Posts: 47
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 5:05 pm
One thing about pulaski is that they seem to sell accounts. Ive only known 3 people to have a pulaski card but each one had it sold to someone else and they were all in good standing. The new creditor raised their rate to around 20%. In my opinion it should be illegal to sell an account.
View our latest credit card ratings!
Author: guessindigo
Joined: 19 Sep 2004
Posts: 51
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 5:50 pm
This is my list Top Issuers (aka the BEST) MBNA Citi AMEX Chase Bank of America Mid Issuers (aka Just OK) Household Providian Direct Merchants Bank Capital One Discover Bottom Issuers (The WORST) Cross Country First Premier Aspire
View our latest credit card ratings!
Author: consumercity
Joined: 10 Nov 2004
Posts: 61
Location: Cincinnati, OH
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 6:03 pm
From my own personal experience, I consider Citi Bank to be the best. I have a card from them with an interest rate that is about 45% of what I had with Capital One. I don't recommend Capital One because their interest rates are too high and they won't offer better terms to customers that have been with them for 5 years and never paid late. Also, every time I called Cap One's customer service department they aggressively tried to sell credit insurance and credit monitoring services. Before selecting a company, you should type their names into some search engines and see what kind of complaint sites turn up. Also, there is a lot of valuable credit card info on this site.
Consumer City.org
View our latest credit card ratings!
Author: Polonius
Credit Expert (100+ Posts)
Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Posts: 418
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 6:21 pm
Basically, this question has no answer. Most of those who are posting have good experiences with some banks and bad experiences with others. We all have different credit profiles and have different issues. For example,
Quote:
I don't recommend Capital One because their interest rates are too high. I have one CapitalOne account with a 7.9%. I'm currently on a 2.9% balance transfer on it, good for the life of the loan. I have a second one with an 8.9% rate. Both cards allow no-fee balance transfers treated as purchases with a 25 day grace period. At one point, CapitalOne called me concerned about my account and said it was going to reduce my $20,000 credit limit to $16,000. It said it would restore the credit limit to $20,000 if I made a $2,000 payment. So I did--and it pushed the limit back to $20,000. No problems since. On the other hand, I am livid with rage at the way I was treated by BankOne and MBNA. I've had no problems with Citibank, Chase, AmericanExpress or Discover. Generally I've found Customer Service from all the banks to be polite and fairly responsive, even when I don't agree with the outcome. I'm always considerate and cordial when I call, regardless of how I feel inside. Different strokes for different folks, as they say!
Polonius
"Neither a borrower, nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend"
View our latest credit card ratings!
Author: credithelp
Joined: 23
Aug 2004
Posts: 47
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 6:38 pm
Overall ive had good experiences with capital one, my main complaint is how they report the credit limits. I'll probably keep that one unless they mess with me. I also have a household card but my scores are getting close to being able to get a better card so i may swap that one for a better one after i pay down more of my balances. Right now i'm at 660,678, and 690.
View our latest credit card ratings!
Author: NightStar
Forum Moderator
Joined: 07 Nov 2003
Posts: 2358
Location: Illinois
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 7:52 pm
Capital One is really a mixed result card company.. I had them years ago, and didn't mind customer service at that time, but could not get better rates so I eventually balance transferred to another lender. Years later I did hook up with Captial One again, but it was through K-mart, was stuck at 15% interest... they would not lower the interest rate.. every time I asked they told me it was locked in... then this year they sent notice to most of their customers announcing that the account was being switched over to a fee paying card.. $48 per year, or $4 per month. I had been trying to pay that account off and get rid of them. Citi Bank, they are preditory, I know that from experience... they wait until you get a high balance, or if they see something negative with another creditor then they send you a change in terms agreement... I felt like a yoyo babysitting this card, how many times I had to call customer service to get them to keep my rates the same. I do know of another creditor I can say that I did like, and that is National City, we did our checking and I had a credit card with them... it was a fixed rate 9.9% customer service was nice, and I liked using their online services... could get copies of checks through the site going 6 months back. They do have checking account and online fees, but we were happy with this company.
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Author: ccdeals
Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 9
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 10:54 pm
Nice and very informative website. MBNA, CITI bank, Chase and AM Ex worked best for me MBNA(platinum plus)- Not good with APR and rewards but have good balance transfer deals and high credit lines. Love their online info/pay system has everything you will ever need to maintain your account. Citi bank (Dividend platinum) - Good balance transfer deals and rewards. High credit lines Chase(platinum) - Good rewards program and low APR. These guys have a problem with going over $10000 credit limit with auto increases without credit checks. Other then that they are great. AM EX (blue)- Best looking card and good rewards program. Customer service not bad but is in India and dont look like they have any authority to reduce APR, BT deals etc BofA(platinum) - Customer service is great but thats about it no rewards,no auto credit line increases and OK APR. Just had this card for around 1.5 years so things may change WellsFargo(platinum) - Ditto as BofA Discover(platinum) - Closed the card after the a@@Holes made a hard enquiry against my credit report for nothing and wouldnt delete it after repeated complaints to their executive office. Dont have a good opinion of their customer service or their products. Bank One(now owned by chase ) - Used to own a platinum card, they sent me the bill late a few months( this was couple of years back) and used to take 2 weeks to post the credit to the account after mailing the payment. Had a couple of instances when they charged me late fees for that, they removed the fees after me raising stink with their exec office but would never to business again with them and closed the account. Retailers national Bank - As bad as it gets, only had Target and Mervyns card with them closed both.
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Author: Ira
SENIOR MEMBER (Member for 2 yrs.+)
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 777
Location: NJ
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 11:23 pm
I have never had a bad experience with any credit card. I have never had an arbitrary increase in finance rates, I have never come across rudness or insolence from any CSR. I always pay my bills on time and never carry a balance, unless it's a 0% balance transfer offer. Used correctly and responsibly all credit cards are your friends. Used irresponsibly any card could become your worst nightmare. I have been told that I will be the ruination of the credit card industry because I only use rewards cards, refuse to incur finance charges, late fees, over limit fees, etc., and always take advantage of 0% intro rates. If that's true, so be it, but if they're giving I'm taking.
Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
Ira
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Author: NightStar
Forum Moderator
Joined: 07 Nov 2003
Posts: 2358
Location: Illinois
Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2004 12:19 am
You have been very lucky to not have one bad experience to be said about any credit card companies customer service. My usual complaints is calling in to get a rep that is not even in the USA that can speak clear english... or understand what I am requesting. They can give the run around it if is too complicated for them, and they will cut you off if they can't deal with what you want. If you ask for something they don't understand, they don't take the time to take your name, and have a more competent rep contact you back, nor do they offer to transfer you to such a person. It can be very flustrating - just count your blessings, cause I don't think it will be much longer with the jobs shipped out of US that you will eventually run into what others keep talking about.
View our latest credit card ratings!
Author: guessindigo
Joined: 19 Sep 2004
Posts: 51
Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2004 11:07 am
While I am less than thrilled about AMEX bluecash CS going overseas to india, I want to say they suck and have no power to do anything and are inferior to their USA counterparts.................Unfortunately, I can't. I've been connected to CS in india a few times and CS is on par to what it is when I get connected to a US rep. They handle APR reductions and account questions very efficiently.
View our latest credit card ratings!
Author: ccdeals
Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 9
Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2004 2:29 am
Just spoke with Bank of America CS all i got to say is WOW.. told the CS rep that i was a card member since a year and had no credit limit increase. She looked at the account and said "i can increase the limit by $3000 without a credit check and if you need more i can increase it by $6000 if you do a BT". They were offering 0% till may 2005 but chose to pass it because of $50 BT fees and relatively short BT period. The rep then informed me about BillPay service available on my checking account(i also have a checking account with them), the Billpay service is awesome and its free for all checking account holders. I think i have a new fav card now just a shame they dont have same reward programs as Chase and AMEX or else they would get my business anyday. MBNA goes to sock drawer and out comes Mini me BofA card , MBNA has great CS but their APR and BT deals are not the same they used to be To the last poster- I have nothing against AMEX reps in India, think they are as good as the US counterparts. I generally call AMEX during night and always get hold of some Roger/John with a strange accent who says " Roger from AMEX,how MAY i help YOU today?!?!" kind of funny but who cares as long as give what i want, after all its not a rocket science.. most of the CS reps even here in US have no more than a high school degree.
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Author: creditnewbie
Joined: 30 Oct 2004
Posts: 30
Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2004 7:12 am
Bank of America DOES have rewards programs. Check their website. They also have a program they don't advertise "Financial Rewards Visa Platinum" where you get 1% cash back. the APR was 13.90% when they offered it to me, but I ended up switching to regular visa platinum because it had a lower APR 9.74% even though I never carry a balance but I thought it was a good idea to have a low apr just in case one day I need to carry a balance. To enrol in those different rewards, they will have to change your card and issue a new number which usually isn't a problem. I had them change my card 4 times until I settled for what I had originally except with a much better rate. they lowered it for me from 15.74% to 9.74%.
View our latest credit card ratings!
Author: Ira
SENIOR MEMBER (Member for 2 yrs.+)
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 777
Location: NJ
Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2004 12:58 am
Nightstar, I see what you mean, and yes, I have come across individual CSRs who gave me answers that were less than satisfactory. I remain very polite with these people, thank them very much, say goodbye, hang up, and calll right back. I always get someone more knowledgable the second time around. I don't consider this bad customer service. It's just somebody who doesn't have the highest competence level. Everybody is a bit different and everybody has a different skill set. If the person you get when you call doesn't have the necessary skills to deal with your issue, it takes but a few seconds to call back. BTW, making a second call, IMHO, gets better results than asking to speak with someone else
Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
Ira
View our latest credit card ratings!
posted by CardRatings.com at 10:13 AM
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