Apparently even highly-rated credit cards and their banks engage in bait & switch and predatory lending. After 6 months with Advanta, thats what I now believe see if you agree after reading this one. Dont take my word for it, just read the facts and draw your own conclusion:
PROFILE: Married couple (26 years) in mid-50s, kids through college and married. Wife has 30-yr high-paying fulltime career, works because she wants to. I own a small LLC with 2 divisions building and marketing custom crafted enthusiast items ($5K-20K per sale) primarily to wealthy people including TV and sports figures. Revenues doubled every year since 2008 already has surpassed 2007 sales after only 2 months. We own the shop and offices, overhead almost nil.
CREDIT RATING: Long near perfect, zero late/missed payments, all FICO scores a hair under 800. Debt a mortgage under $1K/mo with a perfect payment history, wifes 2nd year car lease payment less than $500, also perfect payment history thats IT. We arent wealthy, but bill paying nights dont include any nail-biting.
CREDIT CARDS: (3) #1 Visa Platinum 8.99% fixed $40K limit w/zero balance (personal use), #2 Visa Platinum 7.99% fixed $25K limit w/zero balance (personal use). After a huge surge in sales, in August 07 we applied for and received #3, the Advanta Platinum Business M/C 7.99% fixed with a $20K limit we carry our ONLY balance on this card, from $2-15K varying monthly, purchasing materials and supplies for our business. Every payment EARLIER than on time, NEVER over limit, made ONE minimum payment first billing cycle, remainder ranging from $200 to $3400 OVER the minimum, last months over $5000 We could write a personal check today to pay the card off, but we choose to use Advantas cash to even out our business cash flow, and we gladly pay them their 7.99% (still high with rates as low as they are today) for this privilege. Our sales are all 2-3 month projects, with one lump payment by our clients at the end of the job.
THE HONEYMOON: It was time to separate our Schedule C business/personal expenses to make accounting easier. We shopped business cards we DONT DO variable rate cards. We questioned Advanta sales people and made it clear that we were NOT interested in any card that would start as a low fixed rate and then magically change to a high-rate variable (todays treasure, tomorrows rip-off) and were ASSURED that this card was different and as long as we paid our bills on time, wed have what we wanted! First 6 months was great Advanta does a beautiful job with their business statements, most of their customer service people speak English, and the online bill paying was free and a snap to use. We especially liked the cash back checks (4 in all, at least $50 each) In short, we were very happy with Advanta and we were sure they were happy with us we paid all our bills on time, didnt even approach the credit limit, used the card exclusively for business purchases, paid more than the minimum payment. We didnt even switch cards when we found the AmEx SimplyCash Card with 0% purchases for 12 months and 6.5% fixed after that nice but not worth the trouble of changing cards THEN
LAST WEEKS ENVELOPE: One of about 8 so far from Advanta stuffed with those exorbitant-rate pre-printed checks. They want us to use these to let them charge us 3% plus 27% interest or whatever. Those all immediately go through the shredder. Hidden among these checks, a miniature piece of paper that we needed a magnifying glass to read expounding on the virtues of the checks and oh by the way, read the microscopic print on the back side for important account information. The print is so small we could barely read it.
After 6 months of perfect payments, abiding explicitly to the original terms we all agreed to, Advanta says theyre changing our rate from fixed to variable, at an exorbitant 16.99%! And, the only option I have to avoid this ridiculous charge is to close the account. I immediately called the Customer Service number, only to be told that there was OBVIOUSLY some problem with the way we are handling our account. I asked her to tell me what that was, and she said theres no way to know exactly what the problem is, which I take to mean this sudden change has nothing to do at all with our credit-worthiness.
GIVE ME A BREAK!: If all this werent so sad, it would almost be funny. Humbly speaking, Id have to say my wife and I come pretty close to the desirable customer for Advanta we arent in debt up to our eyeballs, we can and DO easily pay our bills on time, every time, we care about and work hard to maintain a pretty darned good credit rating, and we even say nice things about the way they have performed for us so far. We carry a small balance (less than 15% of our total available credit) that results in them receiving thousands in interest annually.
All we ever wanted, asked for, applied for, and were promised, was a credit card that we could use for our business that charged a fair interest rate base on our means and our record of payment. There is no free lunch, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with Advanta or anyone else that lets us use their money making a reasonable and ethical profit for doing so I know Im in business to make money. But I cannot believe what Advanta and these other obese lending institutions are attempting to cram down the publics throat! This isnt banking, this is pure, unadulterated greed, and apparently nobody is safe, regardless of how faithfully they pay their bills, how good their credit rating is, or how many FICO points they tally!
OK, THE QUESTION Is Advanta Bank Corp. Playing fair, or have they also jumped on the bait and switch, max the profit, screw the customer, loan-sharking bandwagon? After our experience and reading of the same kind from other business people who have tried this card, its about the only conclusion I can arrive at. What do you think?
Obviously, we are sending the letter to Advanta saying we do not accept these terms, but it angers me no end that we are being forced to do that. Advanta marketed that card to us furiously, telling us how straightforward and honest they are. We held up our end of the bargain explicitly. Simply put, Advanta has wasted us as a customer, and along the way wasted hours of our time and inconvenience in having to switch just 6 months later. We have a good income with no debt other than our mortgage and a car lease (which technically is not even a debt, as the lease is paid in advance). We have 3 credit cards with available credit totalling $84,500, and continually carry a zero blance on two of them. We have never made a late payment or exceeded our credit limit. If we dont qualify for their 7.99% fixed rate, who does? (Interestingly enough, on the same day we received the notice from Advanta, we received a notice from our insurance agent that our homeowners insurance and our car insurance rates were being lowered by 23% and 27% respectfully due to our excellent credit rating and perfect payment history).
Quite obviously to us, this entire Platinum Business Card product line was engineered all along as a bait and switch intended to lure small businesses into comfortably incurring balances on the card and then simply switching the terms to ridiculous rates at a pre-determined point to maximize their profits.
Actually, we have in our possession one additional very critical piece of written, black and white evidence, mailed to us by the culprit themselves, that proves Advantas bait and switch intent beyond a shadow of a doubt to us but in fairness, because I really like their service capabilities, were going to reserve that until we see the result of my letter going in the mail to Salt Lake City Monday morning. Should they realize their error and choose to continue our business relationship in the honest manner they did before The Envelope showed up in my mailbox, that piece of damning evidence will probably see my shredder. If not, well, good-bye Advanta 7.99%, hello AmEx 0%/6.5%, and Ill reveal the nature of the evidence and offer copies to the class-action people as a second installment to this report.
Wise up Advanta earn your interest money by providing good service at a reasonable rate thats how you can become the number one card. Leave the predatory lending, dirty dealing, slimy hidden surprises, and customer abuse to the other low-life companies out there. You say youre better than that start acting like it. You seem to forget that customers have long memories. Once were gone, were gone for good!
Thank you! To consumer complaints and all who read this. We dont have to lay down and take this abuse from the wolf pack that the credit card industry has become.
Stopgreedylenders
Someplace In, Michigan
U.S.A.
0 comments