DrumGit, Curtis Cunningham’s blog.

Some history between B of A and myself…

I was originally signed up for a MBNA Linux Fund card. I deliberately chose them over banks like B of A as I didn’t like what I’d read about banks like B of A in various online reviews. B of A bought out MBNA not so long ago, so despite trying to avoid them I became their customer in the end anyways.

Less than a couple months ago I was checking my online statements and noticed my bill said I was being charged something like a 20 or 25% interest rate. I found this shocking as I (like many others) get many offers for credit cards for interest rates much less than this, even after the special 0% intro rates.

I called B of A to discuss this, and was passed round a number of people before settling on one person that I had a very heated discussion with about my interest rate. I demanded to know why I was being charged such a rate, made it clear I was extremely unhappy about it as I’m a very active customer and regularly pay my bill in full. They responded that it had jumped to that rate as a penalty as I’d made a late payment. I asked when the penalty interest period would stop and the rate would drop back down, and they said it doesn’t automatically drop down again without intervention.

To clarify .. I’d continue to be charged this very high interest rate unless *I* took some action.

I responded that I’ll be taking advantage of the many other credit cards offers I get in the mail almost daily and for rates less than half of what they were charging me, and demanded my account be closed immediately. At this point the guy I was speaking to put me on hold for a few minutes. When he came back, he said he’d drop my interest rate to a more reasonable 15.x%.

Fast forward today. I was checking my credit card balance online today after receiving an email reminder that payment was due on my account. As I was out of the country over the xmas holidays I took a quick peek at my statement for that period. I scrolled down a bit and this jumped out at me..

Note the rate in the bottom right hand corner of 35.89%. Now I don’t know about you, but this is WAY above anything I’ve ever seen advertised and I’m sure you’ll agree is an absolutely ridiculous rate to be charged. I very occasionally pay a little late but usually drop thousands in to pay the complete balance at once as I often do US wide travel with occasional international travel.

A little googling around turned up interest rates for B of A credit card holders substantially less than what I was being charged, even after then intro 0% period had ended. For example ..

(click to go directly to B of A site directly with this ad on it)

Note my card actually has “Platinum Plus” underneath the “Bank of America” logo, which to me implies I should be getting 9.9% as advertised here.

So I called B of A AGAIN today. I got a very nice pleasant lady on the phone who asked what she could do to help. I told her I’d looked at my online statement today and noticed the interest rate of 35.89% being charged for that recent billing period, and I’d like to know why I was being charged that. She said “One moment sir”, and I was put on hold.

After another minute or two a guy answered. I asked who I was speaking to, did he know who I was, why was I speaking to him, and why was I transferred. He said he was in some department like “account retentions”. Read into that what you will.

I explained to him what I was looking at on my bill, and said I’d like an explanation of the 35.89% number. He said I wasn’t being charged that, that my rate was actually 15.99%. This figure is on the image above. I continued to ask what that 35.89% number meant, and why it was on my personal bill, referring to a specific billing period. He responded they had to put that on there for legal reasons and that I wasn’t really being charged that rate.. every customer is different. So, I asked, if we all get different rates, what does that number mean for me? I could NOT get a clear answer out of him. I don’t think he knew.

I kept drilling him on this, asking why it’s there at all, why it’s specific to me, and he got very obviously irate. I took the time to explain my other recent previous experience, when I saw a number like this on a recent statement, I had to call and found out it was my interest rate, etc.

He had no response.

Even after speaking to their expert, I still have no idea what this number means, and why they’re legally obligated to put it on my statement.

I’m going to be looking for a new credit card next week.