Credit Card BS...

[Henro]

Only posting this because it kind of blows me away...

We have been using Citi bank 2% cash back cards for a LONG time. So recently they changed to giving Points, rather than straight out cash back. Claim is you can cash the points in for the same cash back amount. OK, I thought. Don't like playing games, but I suppose it's ok.

So today I try something new, that is ordering a Subway hoagie on line using my citi bank card, through PayPal. No big deal, the hoagie was $9. So what do I get but an email from Citi Bank saying thanks for using the equivalent of $11 in points! What? I never use points, and ALWAYS use the cash method.

Tried calling to rectify the situation. Automated systems sounds good. PITA getting a real person though. First person I could not understand, mainly because the connection was terrible. Then I got cut off.

Second time I jumped through all the automated hoops again, which takes literally five minutes probably, and that person sounded a little better, but I recognized the accent, since I spent time in India when traveling, and I asked are you in India, and she said yes. Then the connection went bad again.

Third time something went wrong and the connection was lost again, and understanding what was being said at that end was difficult to say the least.

Forth time, I could barely hear the person that came on the line, to the point I wondered if she was there, since I could hear what I thought was a female voice...never could hear her enough to make sense, so this time I HUNG UP.

I always pay my credit card off each month and use it for the 2% cash back feature, as well as the convenience. At least $30K in purchases per year, as we use the credit card for EVERYTHING possible. Even the dentist.

So my guess is I will dump the Citi bank card, and move on to Wells Fargo Visa which also now pays 2% back. I actually tested their customer service number and got a real person almost immediately. I confessed the reason for my call was just testing if a real person would answer the phone with having to jump through too many hoops at my end.

I guess this is a rant, now that I think about it. All I wanted to do was to have them restore the excessive points that were used to pay for the hoagie, and to charge me the correct price.

Now Citi Bank is going to lose some income from my annual purchases...Better for me anyway. I hate playing games like they started with the points per purchase thing.

Just a bit of a pain changing the monthly charges like utilities to a new credit card number...but now it will feel good doing it...LOL

 

[BCfromVA]

Only posting this because it kind of blows me away...

We have been using Citi bank 2% cash back cards for a LONG time. So recently they changed to giving Points, rather than straight out cash back. Claim is you can cash the points in for the same cash back amount. OK, I thought. Don't like playing games, but I suppose it's ok.

So today I try something new, that is ordering a Subway hoagie on line using my citi bank card, through PayPal. No big deal, the hoagie was $9. So what do I get but an email from Citi Bank saying thanks for using the equivalent of $11 in points! What? I never use points, and ALWAYS use the cash method.

Tried calling to rectify the situation. Automated systems sounds good. PITA getting a real person though. First person I could not understand, mainly because the connection was terrible. Then I got cut off.

Second time I jumped through all the automated hoops again, which takes literally five minutes probably, and that person sounded a little better, but I recognized the accent, since I spent time in India when traveling, and I asked are you in India, and she said yes. Then the connection went bad again.

Third time something went wrong and the connection was lost again, and understanding what was being said at that end was difficult to say the least.

Forth time, I could barely hear the person that came on the line, to the point I wondered if she was there, since I could hear what I thought was a female voice...never could hear her enough to make sense, so this time I HUNG UP.

I always pay my credit card off each month and use it for the 2% cash back feature, as well as the convenience. At least $30K in purchases per year, as we use the credit card for EVERYTHING possible. Even the dentist.

So my guess is I will dump the Citi bank card, and move on to Wells Fargo Visa which also now pays 2% back. I actually tested their customer service number and got a real person almost immediately. I confessed the reason for my call was just testing if a real person would answer the phone with having to jump through too many hoops at my end.

I guess this is a rant, now that I think about it. All I wanted to do was to have them restore the excessive points that were used to pay for the hoagie, and to charge me the correct price.

Now Citi Bank is going to lose some income from my annual purchases...Better for me anyway. I hate playing games like they started with the points per purchase thing.

Just a bit of a pain changing the monthly charges like utilities to a new credit card number...but now it will feel good doing it...LOL

I hear ya. I hate poor customer service. A lot of my working career dealt with customer focus, so I guess I am more tuned in to it that some people. Call trees have their place, but man can they be ridiculous sometimes.

 

[radas]

Only posting this because it kind of blows me away...

We have been using Citi bank 2% cash back cards for a LONG time. So recently they changed to giving Points, rather than straight out cash back. Claim is you can cash the points in for the same cash back amount. OK, I thought. Don't like playing games, but I suppose it's ok.

So today I try something new, that is ordering a Subway hoagie on line using my citi bank card, through PayPal. No big deal, the hoagie was $9. So what do I get but an email from Citi Bank saying thanks for using the equivalent of $11 in points! What? I never use points, and ALWAYS use the cash method.

Tried calling to rectify the situation. Automated systems sounds good. PITA getting a real person though. First person I could not understand, mainly because the connection was terrible. Then I got cut off.

Second time I jumped through all the automated hoops again, which takes literally five minutes probably, and that person sounded a little better, but I recognized the accent, since I spent time in India when traveling, and I asked are you in India, and she said yes. Then the connection went bad again.

Third time something went wrong and the connection was lost again, and understanding what was being said at that end was difficult to say the least.

Forth time, I could barely hear the person that came on the line, to the point I wondered if she was there, since I could hear what I thought was a female voice...never could hear her enough to make sense, so this time I HUNG UP.

I always pay my credit card off each month and use it for the 2% cash back feature, as well as the convenience. At least $30K in purchases per year, as we use the credit card for EVERYTHING possible. Even the dentist.

So my guess is I will dump the Citi bank card, and move on to Wells Fargo Visa which also now pays 2% back. I actually tested their customer service number and got a real person almost immediately. I confessed the reason for my call was just testing if a real person would answer the phone with having to jump through too many hoops at my end.

I guess this is a rant, now that I think about it. All I wanted to do was to have them restore the excessive points that were used to pay for the hoagie, and to charge me the correct price.

Now Citi Bank is going to lose some income from my annual purchases...Better for me anyway. I hate playing games like they started with the points per purchase thing.

Just a bit of a pain changing the monthly charges like utilities to a new credit card number...but now it will feel good doing it...LOL

Wells Fargo is a shit company, if you haven't already pulled the trigger, Chase credit cards have given me 0 hassle for many years and the points redemption is 1:1 when you redeem for statement credit.

 

[Daren Todd]

I've had good luck with my capital one credit card.

Had good experiences with Chase as well when they purchased my mortgage.

Had a credit account with Wells Fargo for a home improvement project. But once the account was paid off, I haven't done any business with them since then. Seemed alright to deal with.

 

[Mak65]

Yes, Citi went to points (1 pt = $1). Not sure why they do it but you can still request to get cash sent to your bank account (I cash mine in when it reaches $1k) or you can use it to offset your balance. I pay in full so no running balance (I won’t give them interest). Or, you can use points against purchases which I have never done.

 

[lynnmor]

I read the fine print when a credit card changed to the point system, nowhere did it say that a point equaled a dollar. Someday we will know the real motive behind this scam.

 

[Henro]

I read the fine print when a credit card changed to the point system, nowhere did it say that a point equaled a dollar. Someday we will know the real motive behind this scam.

In my case with the citi card one point equals one cent, so 100 points equals one dollar.

What irked me was they charged me 1135 points for a $9.03 purchase. I’ve cashed the points in previously at one point equals 1 cent, sent to my bank account, as cash. So for unknown reasons I was charged $11.35 for a $9.03 purchase. And I never intended to use points to begin with. Never have.

Not a big deal, just seems dishonest. PayPal was the middleman in the transaction maybe they are the cause. But I have used PayPal for other things and there were no such issues. AND PayPal said $9.03 was paid.

Might call Citi this morning again just for “fun” LOL

 

[DeepWoods]

I’ve had my Amazon Chase Visa for maybe 10 years? We Earn 5% back at Amazon.com and Whole Foods Market with an eligible Prime membership, 2% back at restaurants, gas stations and drugstores and 1% back on all other purchases. Yes I know it costs me the annual membership fee to belong to Amazon prime, but for us the Amazon benefits out way the cost. If I wanted to, I can get actual cash back, and for the amount we charge each year, we could easily pay our membership fees. We pay off our charges each month, so no interest charges. In the past 12 months we have earned over $400 cash back.

Wells Fargo is dead to me after some of their bad practices, and personal experiences that we had with them. I can’t think of one time we have had problems with Chase Visa.

 

[Norman]

One word..."Discover". Best customer service.

 

[DustyRusty]

I have Capital One for both business and personal. Zero problems for over 10 years! NO FEES, except for year one. You can use the "cash back" any way that you want. I believe that it was how you processed the purchase that caused the "overcharge", and that overcharge was a "convenience fee".
As for companies outsourcing customer service to foreign lands, Capital One doesn't. They have US location contractors that work from their homes and are well trained in every aspect and available 24/7. The only thing that I can fault Capital One for is that they haven't gone to "flat" cards and still use raised embossed cards. They might have changed in the past year, but I wouldn't know because I haven't needed a replacement in over 1 year.

 

[Freeheeler]

Ditti on Discover. I usually redeem the cashback by buying gift cards for Christmas gifts. $25 gift cards for $20 is a pretty good deal any day. Pretty good customer service for the past 30 some years.

 

[Daren Todd]

I have Capital One for both business and personal. Zero problems for over 10 years! NO FEES, except for year one. You can use the "cash back" any way that you want. I believe that it was how you processed the purchase that caused the "overcharge", and that overcharge was a "convenience fee".
As for companies outsourcing customer service to foreign lands, Capital One doesn't. They have US location contractors that work from their homes and are well trained in every aspect and available 24/7. The only thing that I can fault Capital One for is that they haven't gone to "flat" cards and still use raised embossed cards. They might have changed in the past year, but I wouldn't know because I haven't needed a replacement in over 1 year.

They've gone to the flat card. Should receive it when your current card expires.

I don't have the cash back option, but have the point/ per purchase instead. I use the card for recurring bills with the auto pay option. (Cell phone, Amazon Prime, ect...) Would probably be better off with the cash back option. Pay off every month as well. And really don't use the card a lot. Maybe $150 each month for recurring bills, and an occasional big ticket item (Hotel, AirBnb) where a credit card is the best method.

Wife and I booked our dream vacation for this year. In 13 years, I've never used my points. So when I booked this vacation, I used them and booked our plane tickets.

Was pretty easy through capital ones website. Round trip tickets to Hawaii cost us $160 out of pocket Would have cost us $2400 or more. I did put the resort on the credit card and paid off over the next 3 months, so I didn't dip into savings. So when we do leave for our trip, the only thing out of pocket will be our entertainment.

 

[Ridelght]

In my case with the citi card one point equals one cent, so 100 points equals one dollar.

What irked me was they charged me 1135 points for a $9.03 purchase. I’ve cashed the points in previously at one point equals 1 cent, sent to my bank account, as cash. So for unknown reasons I was charged $11.35 for a $9.03 purchase. And I never intended to use points to begin with. Never have.

Not a big deal, just seems dishonest. PayPal was the middleman in the transaction maybe they are the cause. But I have used PayPal for other things and there were no such issues. AND PayPal said $9.03 was paid.

Might call Citi this morning again just for “fun” LOL

that is strange....I have had completely opposite experience with Citi. 4 years ago I bought an Optima battery through Advanceauto website. 250 bucks at the time, no other charges on the card. about a week later I got a email saying to call Citi. I did my account had been hacked somehow to the tune of $25000.00
Another state of course, I provided proof I was working they wrote it off went looking for crooks. Always got a customer rep when I called.
This fraud was crazy, they got my account info somehow electronically created new card a different name. They had pics of the dude at very nice hotels in Washington State and car rentals. all fake ids scary really.

I started using credit cards for everyday things like you at that point to protect my real accounts. The same money once you pay it off each month and no matter the perks cash or points for cash, better than not getting anything. I use the points throughout the year for staples off Amazon.
As all things I'm sure 4 years ago and now with no one wanting to work, customer reps are scarce.

I use Paypal religiously for same reason and credit card is linked there. Never put straight number in on any site after that day.

 

[Bmyers]

Customer service seems to be lacking now days.

We received letters in the mail yesterday from a life insurance policy I have and it had my wife's last name misspelled and our street address was misspelled.

Called the customer service support line, got a robot. Had take answer 7 different questions and the robot stated once complete that it would be transferring me and I wouldn't have to repeat any of the info.

I was transferred, the person had a heavy India accent, which I had a very hard time understanding her. She started asking the same questions the robot did and I told her that I already answered to the robot and that I wasn't supposed to have to answer these questions again.

Her response was that "the robot was in training and didn't get all the information".

At that point I handed the phone to my wife and I was done talking to them.

They are sending out forms to update our account.

 

[mikester]

Points suck, just give me cash back and automatically deposit it on my card balance at the end of the year like my visa does. The costco cash back card is stupid where I have to physically go to costco for them to give me cash. Waste of time and money on both sides - one for the bank to print and mail a cheque, the other for me to make a trip to costco to cash it in.

 

[fried1765]

Only posting this because it kind of blows me away...

We have been using Citi bank 2% cash back cards for a LONG time. So recently they changed to giving Points, rather than straight out cash back. Claim is you can cash the points in for the same cash back amount. OK, I thought. Don't like playing games, but I suppose it's ok.

So today I try something new, that is ordering a Subway hoagie on line using my citi bank card, through PayPal. No big deal, the hoagie was $9. So what do I get but an email from Citi Bank saying thanks for using the equivalent of $11 in points! What? I never use points, and ALWAYS use the cash method.

Tried calling to rectify the situation. Automated systems sounds good. PITA getting a real person though. First person I could not understand, mainly because the connection was terrible. Then I got cut off.

Second time I jumped through all the automated hoops again, which takes literally five minutes probably, and that person sounded a little better, but I recognized the accent, since I spent time in India when traveling, and I asked are you in India, and she said yes. Then the connection went bad again.

Third time something went wrong and the connection was lost again, and understanding what was being said at that end was difficult to say the least.

Forth time, I could barely hear the person that came on the line, to the point I wondered if she was there, since I could hear what I thought was a female voice...never could hear her enough to make sense, so this time I HUNG UP.

I always pay my credit card off each month and use it for the 2% cash back feature, as well as the convenience. At least $30K in purchases per year, as we use the credit card for EVERYTHING possible. Even the dentist.

So my guess is I will dump the Citi bank card, and move on to Wells Fargo Visa which also now pays 2% back. I actually tested their customer service number and got a real person almost immediately. I confessed the reason for my call was just testing if a real person would answer the phone with having to jump through too many hoops at my end.

I guess this is a rant, now that I think about it. All I wanted to do was to have them restore the excessive points that were used to pay for the hoagie, and to charge me the correct price.

Now Citi Bank is going to lose some income from my annual purchases...Better for me anyway. I hate playing games like they started with the points per purchase thing.

Just a bit of a pain changing the monthly charges like utilities to a new credit card number...but now it will feel good doing it...LOL

I have a Citi Bank card, and was very suspicious of the recent change in points name designation too.
Not wanting to trust ANY bank, I still have my Citi card, but now mostly use the Wells Fargo card.
We shall see how it goes.
I also use a Capital One card.

 

[Henro]

The plot thickens a bit...

The issue is really a non issue, but I really wanted to understand it!

Tried again this morning, and after suffering through maybe 10 layers of telephone prompts, I did get a person that I could hear and pretty much understand when I called this morning.

What puzzled me yesterday was I could not see the transaction on my Citibank account when viewed online. Talking to this person this morning it turns out they are not seeing the transaction either, and since it cannot be viewed it can only be assumed that it was canceled. Now this person claimed that there is no record maintained of transactions that are canceled. I kind of found that hard to believe but thought maybe it’s the truth.

So at that point in time rather than feeling like I was overcharged, now I felt like I was under charged and actually did not pay for the hoagie...But I felt I should pay for it, since I picked it up and ate it.

I kept asking questions until I felt I was understanding what he was claiming...totally...without question I understood.

Hung up, then looked on line at the Citi Bank credit card again, and something did not make sense. The points I had at the beginning of May, showed up as being about 1100 points more than now. BUT I did not cash any in.

So I call back and fight through the automated system AGAIN, only because I can do it while reading the news, woodworking and tractor sites as I always do in the morning...and chose a different option this time. I get a person that is obviously in India again, but I can actually hear him and understand him mostly.

He ends up transferring me to the rewards department (I assume), and the guy I get there is still on a pretty good connection, which suddenly turns bad, and I can only hear every other word! I ask him to speak very slowly, as the connection is really bad. He does and somehow we are able to actually communicate.

Turns out he can see that indeed points were deducted from my account in payment of the hoagie. BUT instead of charging one point per penny of purchase, PayPal charges 1.25 points per penny of purchase. So my purchase that should have been $9.08 was charged in points, which are real money to me, at 25% higher than the purchase price.

Now I did not agree, at least not intentionally, to pay for the purchase in points. I never do and never would. BUT I now know the answer to what happened.

My guess this is a kind of scam driven by both Citi Bank and PayPal. PayPal likely ends up with more commission for a purchase, and Citi Bank ends up with paying less to PayPal, all covered by the 25% excess charged to me.

The guy I talked to said he can cancel PayPal's ability to charge me points for purchases, and that he had done that.

Still, I am turned off by this experience. I will start using the Wells Fargo card if they send one, which I think they will, as my credit rating is pretty high, in the exceptional range, whatever that means.

Anyway, the story has an ending...LOL...not necessarily a happy one, but at least something...

Edit: I used to use Discover but 2% back is MUCH better than 1% back, so I cancelled the Discover card and went with Citi. For me it is all about cash back...usually have no need for customer service...If they actually answer the phone, with a native speaker at the end, that is all I need, which is rare. Also want a good connection. LOL Wells Fargo actually did that when I tested them. BUT that could change tomorrow.

I do have a 1.5% cash back with USAA Bank...but again, 2% is better than 1.5%.

 

[Mak65]

Oops! I‘d blame it on fat fingers but just bonehead mistake in my thoughts. With Citi 1 point = $0.01. It hasn’t changed anything. What I had in dollars before is now in points X 100. You can still cash the points in and redeem as cash to your bank account if you wish. This is the only option I do. Sorry for the mistake.

 

[ejb11235]

I have a citi card cash back card. The conversion of dollars purchased to points awarded is whatever it is ... 100points per $ or something. But you have to be careful on how you redeem the points. If you use it directly for purchases you get one rate. But last I redeemed points, I redeemed for gift cards, and it was at a higher of $/point. On the occasional times I order from Amazon, I've been given the opportunity to pay with points, but the conversion ratio isn't as good so I don't do it.

One thing worth pointing out is Citi's Virtual Account feature. I assume that some of the other credit card issuers have this as well, but it allows you to create a new credit card number that's good with only a single merchant, with a daily charge limit, and you can cancel it whenever you want. Good for buying things online with merchants you're not sure of; or for paying for ongoing subscriptions that you might have trouble cancelling in the future.

 

[ejb11235]

Wells Fargo is dead to me after some of their bad practices, and personal experiences that we had with them. I can’t think of one time we have had problems with Chase Visa.

I'm glad that someone mentioned Wells Fargo's business practices. I personally will never do business with Well Fargo in any way.