When are credit card company co-branding partners going to wake up to the fact that the companies they sign up with to issue their cards hurt their customer or member relationships...and start doing better for them?
Here's an example: I recently (and reluctantly) opened a Home Depot card to pay for some major home repairs with one-year interest-free financing. I say reluctantly because I know there are plenty of traps in these offers. One slip up on this card and you're stuck with a 21% interest rate for the entire balance. Ugh. (I won't go into those details here because John Ulzheimer already did a great job exposing them in a previous post).
But besides the "gottchas" in the fine print what really irks me is the way these companies hand all the blame over to the card issuer and take no responsibilty for the card bearing their name.
In this example, I filled out the application in the store, and when the clerk handed me the approval form, he warned me very seriously, "Now we don't issue this credit card, Citibank does. And their policy is that your payment has to arrive before 1 pm on the due date. If you are even one hour late getting here with your check, you will be late, they will charge you a late fee, and there is nothing we can do about it."
It was
pretty clear that this employee had dealt with customers who had shown up at Home Depot's customer services desk at 1:01 pm or later on the due to pay their bills.
As for "we can't control it," I think it's dangerous to have to use that line. Whose name is on the front of that orange card? And, secondly, does a company the size of Home Depot want to convey to customers that it has no clout to seek out better credit card terms for its customers?
Another example: I had a Southwest credit card with an outstanding balance at 3.99% for the life of the balance. I charged a car rental to that card, and guess what the interest rate was on that one purchase? 29.99%! With no lates ever on my credit history, the issuer must have decided they wanted to make money on me one way or another so they socked it to me with the highest interest rate possible.
Now I know that Southwest doesn't issue that credit card and they "have no control over it." But how does that experience reflect on Southwest Airlines, whose name is on the front of the card? Do you think I will
ever use my Southwest Rewards credit card to make another purchase,
much less to purchase Southwest Airline tickets?
If Herb Kelleher could shake up the airline industry you would think he could shake up things with the credit card industry a bit.
I've given up hope that most of the major issuers are going to voluntarily stop some of the egregious practices in the card industry today. But partners like Home Depot and Southwest airlines, have a customer relationship to protect. I would think they have some muscle too. When are they going to use it?
Have you had an experience with a co-branded credit card that turned you off to the sponsor? Please share it here.
Identity Thief - Print out our credit card mask and glue it to a piece of thin cardboard. Dress in all cat burglar black and carry some credit card statements with you. Look menacing.
Bad Bill Collector - Wear a phone headset, our printable monster mask and a suit. Punch people around you in the arm and demand that they give you candy or else you'll destroy their credit. You can also use the mask to be a loan shark or a predatory lender!
