Beware of Banks issuing Credit Card " help" during Covid

[Celand]

So, my bank who issued me a credit card almost 20 years ago just fucked me.

For all these years I have paid always on time and a lot more then minimum payments. Last year they actually gave me an additional credit line of extra $ 8,000 increasing it to $ 25,000. Nice bank I have said.

About a month ago I get an email that the bank has a special COVID assistance for its CC customers, so I phoned and asked. They offered 3 month pause in payments without carrying any interest. "Great" I have said to the guy " I take the offer" and thanked him.

About 45 minutes later I get an e mail stating: "Since it appears that you have difficulty paying monthly payments and thus became a credit risk, your card was immediately cancelled, but your payments must continue until all amounts are paid".

So, all this "help" was a ploy, in this case by TD bank of Canada, just enticing folks with high credit line to avail themselves of this "help" just to fuck up them up!

So beware of other banks and these tricks !

If you have other such horror stories, feel free to post them here.

 

[Biggs_Darklighter]

Sounds to me like you're just a dumbass and I don't believe for a second that a legit email from a bank said that.

 

[tog18]

So, my bank who issued me a credit card almost 20 years ago just fucked me.

For all these years I have paid always on time and a lot more then minimum payments. Last year they actually gave me an additional credit line of extra $ 8,000 increasing it to $ 25,000. Nice bank I have said.

About a month ago I get an email that the bank has a special COVID assistance for its CC customers, so I phoned and asked. They offered 3 month pause in payments without carrying any interest. "Great" I have said to the guy " I take the offer" and thanked him.

About 45 minutes later I get an e mail stating: "Since it appears that you have difficulty paying monthly payments and thus became a credit risk, your card was immediately cancelled, but your payments must continue until all amounts are paid".

So, all this "help" was a ploy, in this case by TD bank of Canada, just enticing folks with high credit line to avail themselves of this "help" just to fuck up them up!

So beware of other banks and these tricks !

If you have other such horror stories, feel free to post them here.

Call the ban to see if the email is legit. I have a hard time believing this.

When I called AMEX, and asked if I can skip paying for a month or so, they said yes. I asked if it will carry interest and penalties, they said no. When I asked if they will report it to credit agenicies, they said no.

I then said, Im going to pay it in full, do I get anything in return? They said no, seems unbalanced to me

 

[Lancecastor19]

Banks should beware of customers who think money is free.

 

[toeskr]

It is in Canaduh so...

 

[LupusDei]

Once, just to make a point I made a copy of a bank's front page set it up and sent out email inviting to that fake front page, all in under twenty minutes in front of a couple of people, with a running commentary. It wasn't ideal and super easy to spot as a scam but I didn't want to fumble around polishing it (and basically, that comes down to owning dyslexic version of target domain and so forth) and, as I said, it was just to make a point, and that got try nicely. It's super easy, actually.

That said, banks wouldn't miss a beat to fuck up people either, as long as there's some tangible gain to be had.

As far nightmare stories, different land and different times, before the real estate bubble burst of 2008 in ex-Soviet space. Short-term mortgages was a big deal, often given out for lots and houses that gained value at rates of over hundred percent per year. So, for the last six months or so out of a five to ten year credit bank stopped sending out monthly due statements. If you wasn't diligent enough to pay on your own, they took over, without giving any chance. It was a pure scam, but one not easy to defend against once you missed a few payments. Simple as fuck, but people fell in it, for tragical results (literally, I know a case that ended in suicide). Now there's less incentive for such, and people are schooled to be watchful, and regulations are advanced, but the moral is, watch their fingers as anyone's else, where money is involved you have no friends.

 

[tog18]

, where money is involved you have no friends.

“Men sooner forget the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony”

― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

 

[SugarDaddy1]

Because credit card debt is unsecured, banks are concerned accountholders will max out their accounts and walk away. Banks interpret your response to their 'help' emails as an indication an account holder is currently (or anticipates) experiencing cashflow problems and is a default waiting to happen. Cancelling your account is your banks way of protecting itself and its shareholders.

 

[tog18]

We were offered by our bank to suspend mtg payments for 3 months. Sounded ok, until we found out they report that to credit agencies and ruins credit. We, smartly, declined the offer.

They should be upfront with the implications of these offers.

 

[bellisarius]

This all sounds like a class action suit that hasn't been filed yet.

 

[RobDownSouth]

We were offered by our bank to suspend mtg payments for 3 months. Sounded ok, until we found out they report that to credit agencies and ruins credit. We, smartly, declined the offer.

They should be upfront with the implications of these offers.

You can't pay your house mortgage, you can't pay your credit cards, and you scratch your unibrow in bewilderment wondering why the bank cut you off?

What the hell did you do with your $1200 check?

 

[tog18]

You cant read and understand what I wrote. You sound like an angry person.

 

[FL30]

We were offered by our bank to suspend mtg payments for 3 months. Sounded ok, until we found out they report that to credit agencies and ruins credit. We, smartly, declined the offer.

They should be upfront with the implications of these offers.

if you check with them, once you start making payments again, the bad credit is removed and your payments are reported as being made.

It won't happen until you start making your payments again, though.

All the banks are doing it this way for credit cards, mortages, car loans, etc.

It has been written about at msn, cnn, forbes, etc.

Usually with these types of "skipped" payment offers, you'll still accrue interest, though, so you need to be careful of what payments you skip.

I skipped mine with Ford credit because I have 0% interest so it didn't cause me to owe any more on the loan, just extended the months to pay it off.

 

[FL30]

So, my bank who issued me a credit card almost 20 years ago just fucked me.

For all these years I have paid always on time and a lot more then minimum payments. Last year they actually gave me an additional credit line of extra $ 8,000 increasing it to $ 25,000. Nice bank I have said.

About a month ago I get an email that the bank has a special COVID assistance for its CC customers, so I phoned and asked. They offered 3 month pause in payments without carrying any interest. "Great" I have said to the guy " I take the offer" and thanked him.

About 45 minutes later I get an e mail stating: "Since it appears that you have difficulty paying monthly payments and thus became a credit risk, your card was immediately cancelled, but your payments must continue until all amounts are paid".

So, all this "help" was a ploy, in this case by TD bank of Canada, just enticing folks with high credit line to avail themselves of this "help" just to fuck up them up!

So beware of other banks and these tricks !

If you have other such horror stories, feel free to post them here.

This actually sounds like an automation system failure. They have a automation system that searches for skipped payments. Since you skipped it, it then found you and did it automatically.

No one went in and overrode the system. You need to call the bank and notify them that this happened. If you do, I'm sure that the problem will be corrected and your limit will be restored.

The automation systems have not been programmed to recognize skipped payments and that is where the problem lies.

This has been reported in cnn, msn and several other news reports, too.

 

[phrodeau]

This thread title only needs the first three words.

 

[Hugh_Essay]

Sounds to me like you're just a dumbass and I don't believe for a second that a legit email from a bank said that.

Seriously. What bank would send an email telling you your card is cancelled? I call bullshit.

 

[chillywilly2]

We had an Ironworker here..yeah, ironworker...duh that heard he could skip his mortgage payment and he says, yeah, I', gonna do that even though I'm still working and just catch up when the deal is over. I'm like, wtf, you think a bank is going to let you off of owing the interest anyway?
He thought for a second...oh, yeah, guess thats a bad idea.

The credit card company will let you off of paying for a couple months but you will still accrue the interest... deeper in debt

 

[tog18]

if you check with them, once you start making payments again, the bad credit is removed and your payments are reported as being made.

It won't happen until you start making your payments again, though.

All the banks are doing it this way for credit cards, mortages, car loans, etc.

It has been written about at msn, cnn, forbes, etc.

Usually with these types of "skipped" payment offers, you'll still accrue interest, though, so you need to be careful of what payments you skip.

I skipped mine with Ford credit because I have 0% interest so it didn't cause me to owe any more on the loan, just extended the months to pay it off.

We pay all our credut card in full, we pay all our mtg debts as they are due. Banks and CC companies can screw up your credit real bad.

 

[Celand]

Call the ban to see if the email is legit. I have a hard time believing this.

When I called AMEX, and asked if I can skip paying for a month or so, they said yes. I asked if it will carry interest and penalties, they said no. When I asked if they will report it to credit agenicies, they said no.

I then said, Im going to pay it in full, do I get anything in return? They said no, seems unbalanced to me

You did NOT read my post! I did talk to the bank ( the # is on the back of the card) NOT some phishing e mail. They confirmed it all... Dumbass

 

[Celand]

Because credit card debt is unsecured, banks are concerned accountholders will max out their accounts and walk away. Banks interpret your response to their 'help' emails as an indication an account holder is currently (or anticipates) experiencing cashflow problems and is a default waiting to happen. Cancelling your account is your banks way of protecting itself and its shareholders.

I believe this is close to the truth. What I did object to is that I have excellent credit rating and 100 % good payment history, yet they send me e mail ( even though mass one) offering help. That was my point.

 

[Celand]

We were offered by our bank to suspend mtg payments for 3 months. Sounded ok, until we found out they report that to credit agencies and ruins credit. We, smartly, declined the offer.

They should be upfront with the implications of these offers.

Smart move, I was stupid to go for it

 

[Celand]

This actually sounds like an automation system failure. They have a automation system that searches for skipped payments. Since you skipped it, it then found you and did it automatically.

No one went in and overrode the system. You need to call the bank and notify them that this happened. If you do, I'm sure that the problem will be corrected and your limit will be restored.

The automation systems have not been programmed to recognize skipped payments and that is where the problem lies.

This has been reported in cnn, msn and several other news reports, too.

I have NOT skipped any payment !

 

[oggbashan]

One of my banks offers payment holidays on credit cards BUT the condition is that when the crisis ends you must pay off the full outstanding balance within 14 days, no matter how large that balance might be.

How could you do that if you are paid monthly?

 

[LLCox]

I have been banking with the same bank for years. Last Oct. I received a notice that if I did not keep a five thousand dollar monthly balance they were going to start charging me twenty five dollars a month. I have always only kept enough in the bank to cover the monthly bills. I keep my money in the mattress... possession is nine tenths of the law. I also have two credit cards with that bank which I pay off every month and they were happy to let me keep them, heh.
I immediately opened an account in another bank. They said they had a five hundred dollar minimum balance requirement.

and so it goes.

 

[Celand]

I have been banking with the same bank for years. Last Oct. I received a notice that if I did not keep a five thousand dollar monthly balance they were going to start charging me twenty five dollars a month. I have always only kept enough in the bank to cover the monthly bills. I keep my money in the mattress... possession is nine tenths of the law. I also have two credit cards with that bank which I pay off every month and they were happy to let me keep them, heh.
I immediately opened an account in another bank. They said they had a five hundred dollar minimum balance requirement.

and so it goes.

Somebody should sue them