I am on a structured payment agreement with Advanta and have been paying $110.00 a month for many months (this is more than the amount I agreed to pay)
Last month I went online to make the payment and knew that my minimum payment was basically $105.00 so I paid that amount, two weeks before the due date. Got my statement today and the fine people at Advanta charged me a $39.00 "Late Fee".
I called their call center somewhere in India and the person on the other end tells me "well sir, the reason you were charged the late fee is because you did not pay the full amount due of $105.34". You heard me right, they charged me a late fee because I underpaid the payment by a whopping $0.34
The lady on the phone was adamant that she would not reverse the charge so I asked to speak to her supervisor. Some guy gets on and basically becomes a broken record about how even if I had underpaid by one single penny, I would be charged the late fee and that he too would not reverse the charge.
I asked to speak to his supervisor and he tells me "I don't have a supervisor" so I ask him if he owns Advanta Bank and he says "no". I ask him "do you have a boss" he says "yes" so I say "Then you do have a supervisor"..."Yes" he answers. "What's his name" "David Anderson" is his reply. So I ask him to please transfer me to David Anderson. "Mr. Anderson does not talk to customers. There is nobody you can talk to but me."
I finally asked him if there is someone in the United States I can talk to and he says "no, I can give you an address and you can write them a letter". Meanwhile in the background I hear the rest of the call center laughing and when I called him on it he mutes his phone and when he comes back on there is silence in the background.
With business practices like these I sincerely hope Advanta Bank ceases to exist as a company and that their management will get everything they deserve as a result of their greed.
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