Credit Cards

Sometimes you run across a credit card company that is not very helpful with addressing wrongs that have been done to you.

This could range from unreasonable fees to being double charged for items to any number of other issues. I’m sure you can think of one or two scenarios yourself.

The first step is to contact the customer service of the credit card company. Their number is usually printed on the back of your credit card.

Keep notes of who you talk to, what was said and the date and time of the call(s).

If things are not going well, ask to talk to a supervisor. Good customer service centers always have supervisors you can talk to.

If the agent refuses, that may be the first sign that this company is not good at handling customer problems.

You can try looking up the corporate office for credit card companies as well.

If all of this fails to provide the help that you need, then it is time to go a little further.

This is also where the detailed records that you previously kept will come in handy.

The more documentation you can provide either to customer service managers or government agencies is going to aid your case.

Organize the data in a clear and concise way that illustrates what happened and how your attempts at using the ‘normal’ channels for help failed.

1. Use the US government website to lodge your complaint (see below)

2. Use your State’s Attorney General Office as well as the State Attorney General’s office of the State the company’s corporate office is in. (see example further down the page)

Here is a web page for a US government website where you can file a complaint against any credit card issuer that has crossed the line as far as what is right and morally acceptable.

https://help.consumerfinance.gov/app/creditcard/ask

You can log a complaint against credit card companies there and you can also get a tracking number.

They have a large section of categories for complaints that (at the time of this writing) include:

Advertising and Marketing

Application processing delays

APR or interest rate (some companies are quite ridiculous in what they charge)

Arbitration

Balance Transfers

Balance Transfer Fees

Bankruptcy

Billing Disputes

Billing Statements

Cash Advance

Cash Advance Fee

Closing/ Cancelling Account

Collection Debt Dispute

Collection Practices

Convenience Checks

Credit Determination

Credit Card Payment / Debt Protection

Credit Line Increase / Decrease

Credit Reporting

Customer Service / Customer Relations

Delinquent Accounts

Forbearance / Workout Plans

Identity Theft / Fraud / Embezzlement

Late Fees

Overlimit Fees

Other Fees

Payoff Process

Rewards

Sale of Accounts

Transaction Issues

Unsolicited Issuance of Credit Card

Even if your complaint does not fall into this rather extensive list, you can leave your complaint anyway.

Sometimes you need a third party to intervene on your behalf.

When customer service is stubborn and unhelpful and you cannot get injustices corrected, perhaps you do need such help.

Remember, credit card companies are there to provide a service and they make a lot of money off people like you and me.

If there is a problem, they should definitely take care of it. If not, perhaps you can transfer your balance to another credit card company? Hopefully, that will be one that provides better service.

What I said here is stated in general and does not apply specifically to any individual credit card company.

In addition, the attorney general for every state has a consumer protection role and function. They will often write a letter to the company that gets A LOT MORE attention than your personal complaint to the company.

You should exhaust other options first and only turn to the attorney general when you feel there is little other option.

Each state has its own Attorney General. As an example, here is some information for the Attorney General of The State of Virginia:

the State of Virginia can be found here: https://www.oag.state.va.us/Consumer%20Protection/index.html

The site states: ” Individual complaints play an important role in notifying the Attorney General about possibly deceptive or otherwise illegal practices taking place in Virginia, which can lead to enforcement actions or legislative initiatives; however, the Attorney General’s office is not the central clearinghouse for consumer complaints in Virginia. The Virginia Office of Consumer Affairs (“OCA”), one of our client agencies within the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, serves this role. “

In an issue unrelated to credit cards, I was having trouble with a heating and cooling company.

They even told me that their owner was on vacation when I asked to talk to him. That same owner later told me that he was not on vacation.

So his employee lied to me.

Anyway, they ignored my calls for help until I contacted the Attorney Generals of two different states.

This was because I lived in a different state than their office was in.

I got very prompt service after that and their top worker came out to fix my problem. He discovered additional problems as well and admitted that his workers had not done a good job.

He also admitted that he did not inspect this job the way he inspects other jobs.

The moral of the story is that it sometimes pays to contact the attorney general when you are having a problem.

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