Dude, I got Punk'd - by a credit card company

The BBQ Pit
1

So. It’s early Saturday morning (well, early enough, anyway). I’m trying desperately to get the word count on my novel for NaNoWriMo up. The last thing I need is any sort of large distraction.

Then the phone rings. “Hi, is this look!ninjas? Ms. ninjas, this is Mr. X from Y Credit Card. I’m looking at your account right now, and you’ve got an outstanding balance of $217 on your account, and I just want to know why you’re messing your credit up for $217.”

Wait. What? I had that credit card, yeah. The classic freshman-year credit card mistake. But the thing is, when I graduated and got a job, the first thing I did was pay that damn piece of plastic off. For two years now, I’ve been walking around, secure in the knowledge that, though I’ve got massive student loans and a car in constant need of repair, the credit card from hell is all but erased from my record. Now I suddenly owe them $217?

I keep my cool. Okay, maybe I freak out a little… So I freak out a lot, but he explains that the credit agency that I wrote my checks to may not have charged interest, whatever, whatever. I don’t know. I just know that he’s really fucking insistent, and I did have a card with them, and… Maybe the interest didn’t get paid. I can’t find the paperwork first thing in the morning on a Saturday. Maybe he’s right. So I make arrangements to pay. I can’t really afford it, but it’ll be taken care of, at least, so I’ll suck it up. Bill taken care of, I hang up the phone and collapse.

Seconds later, it rings again. “Hello, Ms. ninjas? This is X from Y Credit Card…”

Guess what? They fucked up. The $217 I owed was paid two goddamn years ago!!! I never owed them shit! They called me and ruined my morning for no fucking reason! I didn’t tell him that on the phone, because of the sense of overwhelming relief at not owing the damn money, but shit! You can’t just fuck with people like that! Dammit!

But, it’s over now. I’ll get some more coffee, try and get some writing down, and catch my breath. Meanwhile, I’ll ignore the strange feeling that somewhere, some Mr. X at Y Credit Card company is laughing his head off.

2

Is it just me, or does it seem like nobody who makes phone calls before noon on Saturday ever has anything useful or interesting to say?

With the exception of, “let’s go get some breakfast.”

Mmm… Western omelette…

3

Look- I don’t think he is laughing his head off. He is breathing a sigh of relief that you didn’t go ballistic on him, which is what typically happens. If that happened at our company, and your account was still open with us, we would apologize profusely and waive a lot of fees for the error and inconvenience.

4

Like I said, I was too relieved to even think about being angry. It all just blindsided me. They shouldn’t call about these things at on a Saturday morning in the first place. The last thing I want to do is argue about the level of my debt with someone who can’t pronounce my name before I’ve had more than a cup of coffee.

5

See, this is why I never answer my telephone.

6

heh I got a bill for a credit card I got in college…one I never used one I never filled any paperwork on. One I threw in the trash when it showed up ‘pre approved just do X to activate your card’

I called the company explained that I never had said card and certainly never signed up for their travel program (which was what the CC was billed for) Fine no problem all fixed up.

Next month a bill shows up with late charges on it. Second phone call second “Fine no problem all fixed up”

Month three bill shows up. Late charges reversed travel program charges reversed. New bill from the travel company. The cycle begins again.

Month four this time when I call I tell them I want to speak to a supervisor. The lady asks isn’t there something she can do without me talking to her supervisor? Nope apparently no one on your level seems able to fix this already. Supervisor reverses all charges and SWEARS the card has been utterly cancelled so no new billing can happen.

Month five not only did the supervisor not reverse the charges but there’s new bills from the travel program new late charges and two of the charges that did get reversed are back on it. This time when I call I get (swear to god) “Bubba how may I help you?” (picture deep south accent) Bubba told me he’d get this shit handled. And you know what? He did. I didn’t get another thing from them. So my advice with anyone with credit problems call Bubba. He’ll get that shit handled. Guaranteed.

7

ditto that

8

That sounds like a Bubba I used to know. Everything from Car Repair to Grand Larceny, could be taken care of with one call to Bubba. Credit would have been no problem at all.

9

I’m glad you got your problem squared away without too much difficulty. However, it is not in your interest to agree to pay something over the phone. You should ask for more information, some kind of documentation, or time to look into the matter.

I was recently contacted by a collection agancy about a 12 year old debt to a company that has been out of business for a while. It turned out that this was not my debt, but the debt of my husbands ex-wife, and the agency wanted to collect from my husband. If we would have agreed to pay or sent a payment, it may have opened us up to a lawsuit from the collection agency.

My state has a 4 year limit on consumer debt. The company who is owed can sue for non-payment any time during that 4 years, but after 4 years cannot collect unless the consumer agrees to pay. Agreeing to pay or paying any part of the debt restarts the 4 year collection term.

I told the collector that I wasn’t sure it was my debt (and it wasn’t), that I couldn’t recall having a account with the company in question and asked him to send me some paperwork about it. He didn’t. I had to investigate the situation to figure out what was up. I think he was just fishing around for some with some spare cash.

I am not advocating that anyone not pay their debts. But I’m not willing to pay $1700.00 for my husbands ex-wife’s 12 year old bedroom set either.

10

I realized that giving that information over the phone was not in my best interests about half an hour to an hour after the whole thing got squared away. I’m fairly certain that it was in fact my old credit card company and they are not in fact going to swipe money from my checking account when I’m not looking…

But I’ll be checking my balance pretty frequently for a while. Just because I’m paranoid like that.

11

I feel your pain. I’ve been working on getting out of debt ever since a “friend” stole money from my bank account, causing hundreds of dollars in bounced check and late fees. I’m just now getting caught up (5 years later).
Anyhoo, last October, I finally paid off a student loan. I was so proud because I paid off my second of 6 debts. Things were finally looking up. On my birthday 3 months later, as is my traditional birthday gift to myself, I bought my 3 bureau credit report. The damn collection agency said I still owed them money and that I was 90 days past due. You know how much they said I owed? ONE FREAKING DOLLAR!!!
Anyway, the following Monday, I called them. They apologized profusely and promised to take care of it. Much to my astonishment, they not only took care of it but they also reported to the credit bureau that it was their mistake and I actually paid them off in October. My credit score went up a whole point because of that.

12

Can I get Bubba’s phone number, please?

  • PW