I have been a card member of Credit One Bank for several years. I have never had a problem until within the past few months. Like millions of Americans, I've had slow credit, so I accepted an offer from Credit One. After paying them on time for several years, I had a serious injury at work and was in and out of health care and jobless, with medical bills galore. Unfortunately this happens to a lot of people, and I never asked for any of it to happen. I've always viewed myself as a person who pays bills on time, simply because I hate owing money and you cannot build wealth with debt. But it happened, and my payment cycle for this creditor and others got messed up.
Once I began to get back on track, I focused on getting these cards paid off and done with. Simply, after this experience I learned that I DO NOT want or need credit cards anymore. I wish other Americans would share my thoughts, but all to well millions of Americans get robbed every year by these money hungry credit companies. To help stabilize my accounts, I enrolled myself in Consumer Education Services Inc. (CESI) a member of Care One Credit, a top counseling agency nationally accredited and featured on CNN, MSNBC, Time, Newsweek and others. CESI worked with me very well, and I recommend them to others in need. They set me up on a payment plan and sent proposals to all of my creditors to help reduce fees and interest rate, to pay off these cards as fast as I can.
Now before I continue, I'd like to say that I am not an uneducated consumer. I worked for a Consumer Affairs local Bureau, and was a customer service manager at an airline for 4 years, and also have a BA in Business Administration & Finance. I do not owe a lot of money on these cards. Perhaps about $2,000 between the 6 of them. Perfectly controllable, but not when you've had no income and especially with the health care bills rising and the costs of medical bills I've had. I've never been one to sit back and let my situation get out of control. I like to deal with it as soon as I can and most of all, I consider myself very fair. Not to mention, I now work at a major bank in the Northeast and I am even more familiar with the legal practices of credit cards and banks then before.
About a month after CESI submitted my proposals, and I'd been making my monthly payments on-time through them, I received a letter from CESI and Credit One Bank stating that my proposal to them has not been accepted. Keep in mind all of my other cards, most of them known credit card merchants, not only accepted my proposals and payments, but drastically cut my interest charges and fees, allowing me to focus more of my payment into the balance so I can pay the card of a lot faster then normal. All of them except Credit One Bank.
The first letters from Credit One stated that "Credit One's Debt Management Program is currently in a beta-test and not available for your account at this time." On the other hand, CESI told me "Credit One needs to speak with you before they consider our proposal." So naturally I contacted an agent at Credit One. Now remember, I have been a customer service manager and now work at a major bank, so I know how things are supposed to work. Credit One's agents not only seem to be poor customer service agents, but they seem to have no knowledge of this system and are even in the dark about practices performed by their own company! I discussed the letter I received to them and my situation. One agent's response was "Maybe if you pay what's over the credit limit, we can accept you into the debt management program." This to me seems like a very ignorant statement. First of all, had I been able to pay the ridiculous amount that is over my credit limit in the first place, I would not have had to enroll into a debt management program. Then another agent tried telling me CESI (the nationally accredited agency that handles my debts) is not a member of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling Agencies (which they are completely.) I told her to visit their website at careonecredit.com and look for herself.in a nutshell, I got nowhere with the basic customer care agents, whom you get when you call the 1-800 number on your statement.
I then spoke with a member of Credit One's collection services formerly called ER Solutions. The agent told me my account was in collections and therefore not eligible for debt management. This is news to me, but fair enough. She said if I paid the $34 late charged that has my account in collections, it would bring my account out of collections and be eligible for debt management. I agreed and provided her a post-dated check without hesitation. Days later the $34.00 was paid to them (plus a $7.95 check processing fee, which they neglected to tell me about) and I had CESI submit a new proposal to them.
About a week later, I received the same letter as before, about the beta-testing from Credit One. I now became very suspicious and frustrated. I contacted CESI and put in a claim with them. They got back to me and stated "Credit One Bank has been known to refuse proposals and settlements from agencies and customers, but will still accept payments." Well of course, that sums it up. They refuse to work with customers who have had some problems and WANT TO and are WILLING TO settle their debts and pay what they owe, but they will take any money right out of your pocket. I contacted Credit One again. This time I bypassed the agents and asked to speak with a supervisor on duty. I was connected with "Ken" who has worked for Credit One for some time. I wish I can say Ken was helpful. He seemed just as poorly informed as the agents he was supervising. Maybe it was just the night-shift at Credit One, I don't know. For one, he nor any other agents didn't know anything about the "beta-testing" letter I received, or debt management agency practices. What Ken said was to pay my past due amount of $84.00, to bring my account into current standing, which should entitle me to debt management. Now this sounds like I'm just getting thrown around, but I agreed. I asked Ken if there would be any further charges, as I wouldn't have the $84.00 for about another two weeks or so. He said he would not that I would be paying on the account, and I had about a month before any other charges were imposed on this account. So this was the plan.
About a week and a half later, not to my surprise of course, I received my statement from Credit One in the mail. When I checked the past due amount, it was now $143.00. Keep in mind, I just spoke with the supervisor a week earlier, and he supposedly notated my account and told me I had a month before any other charges were imposed. Obviously, Ken didn't know what he was talking about, since there was a new difference of $59 on my account.
So these is my current situation now. To sum it up, Credit One refuses to accept any proposals from my nationally accredited debt management agency, refuses to work with me in settling this account and getting it paid off, has customer service agents and supervisors who have absolutely no knowledge or understanding of this situation and their company's operation, accepts my payment from CESI, and still imposes late fees, astronomical finance charges, a "closed account maintenance fee" of $3.00 per month, and other petty charges and fees that add up to a cruel amount which cancels out any payments I sent to thema nd racks up my bill twice as high. They also do not follow up on anything and adhere to their guidelines and mission statement on their website: "We are proud of our accomplishments as a company, and perhaps just as important to us is the genuine concern and attention we strive to show towards every one of our customers. We are dedicated to serving the needs of our customers with superior customer service."
I have had credit cards for many years, and I also work for a bank. I am throughly aware of how they work. Before posting this report, I researched Credit One. I found hundred if not thousands of reports and posts from customers of Credit One, who are in a very similar situation to myself. That is unfortunate. Some people may have gotten themselves into a bad situation. Others are hard-working people, who like millions of Americans, are not perfect and has maybe had some problems with their job or financial history and want to do everything they can to resolve it and move on. Credit One, unlike many other banks whom I've worked with personally does not allow that to happen. I am no stranger to financial problems, unfortunately. I have worked with many banks and credit counseling agencies and settled many credit card debts easily, both through counseling agencies and directly with the creditor. It can be done, and this is because one simple reason. Millions of Americans have financial problems today. Nobody's perfect. Credit One, in my eyes is a company (Formerly First Natl. Bank of Marin California) who has a track record of fraudulent practices and poor customer service. FNBM was fined for their practices, so in turn they became Credit One Bank. Same poor company, new name. They also have an F rating with the Better Business Bureau and other consumer agencies. Credit One is an example of a greedy, money hungry bank, stemmed from Corporate Capitalism whose primary goal is not "outstanding customer service" but to make as much money as possible out of suckers with poor credit history, whom none other respectable bank would look at. And maybe that's a good thing, because Credit One is also not an "Official Bank, " such as Capital One or Chase.
Now from all the reports I've read, there are always those who post comments such as "Credit Cards disclose their terms when you receive the card, it's not their fault it's yours. Just pay them what you owe them, etc." I have also been told this by many people, to which, yes I agree. The fine print that we don't read contains all the terms for fees and APRs. However; these people do not fully understand the situation with Credit One, and unless they are going through it, I respectfully ask that they keep those kinds of comments to themselves. I am aware of the Terms and Conditions.in fact I read them all the time. Credit One's terms were different. They weren't as descriptive and everything basically ended with "subject to change without notice." Which is illegal because a credit card company, must officially notify you BEFORE they change their rates or fees, even a penny. These terms disclose the standard APRs, fees, and billing practices. They do not excuse the poor customer service, and just plain fraudulent changes imposed by Credit One and companies like them. I am not alone on this issue, and I know that for a fact. So again, please keep those comments to yourself, If you have no good, real advice for people. Had I not had medical problems, I would not be in this situation. So a comment like, Just pay your bills" is not only ignorant but cold as well.
So I ask that if anyone has any real ideas or suggestions, that they please come forward. If you are in a similar situation with this company, please tell me. I plan on submitting reports to every consumer agency and organization out there, and the BBB. I also plan to submit a copy of this post via FAX to Credit One's corporate offices. I do not sit on the issue of a company like this ripping thousands of good, hard-working Americans off. Credit card debt is one thing, but companies like this not only incise, but add to the situation instead of having willingness to cooperate. If I am willing to work with them, and intend to pay, and actually do pay, they shouldn't add compounding charges and be not willing to cooperate with me. Who agrees on that? Finally, I plan to submit this post and other letters to several media agencies and outlets, exposing this company's practices. Please people, credit is not the way to go, it's overrated! Let's band together and protect our hard-earned money and stop this company and companies like this from ripping other people off!!
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