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Congratulations, You've Been Upgraded
04-08-2011, 10:09 AM
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#1
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 12,880
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Congratulations, You've Been Upgraded
I'm tired of this type of corporate-speak, which is essentially lying.
We get new credit cards from BofA with a letter saying "Congratulations. As a valued Bank of Americal customer, your account is being upgraded to the World MasterCard credit card..."
Now instead of a credit limit of $25,000, we have "no preset spending limit for additional spending flexibility," which I understand to simply be an undisclosed credit limit.
I called to say "Thanks for the great upgrade, but we'd like to stay with the current system." But of course it doesn't work that way.
Fine, they want to make a change, why don't they just say "we are making a change in your account." Why do they have to lie and pretend that it's benefiting us?
I wonder if there's anyway to work with some super small bank that doesn't work this way?
__________________
Al
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04-08-2011, 10:18 AM
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#2
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 47,501
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More credit card aggravation. Sorry to hear this is happening to folks.
__________________
Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harbourless immensities. - - H. Melville, 1851.
Happily retired since 2009, at age 61. Best years of my life by far!
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04-08-2011, 10:21 AM
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#3
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gone traveling
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Eastern PA
Posts: 3,851
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TromboneAl
Why do they have to lie and pretend that it's benefiting us?
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Because they can?
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04-08-2011, 01:42 PM
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#4
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 739
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Similar thing happened with my United Visa card at Chase, they just sent me a letter with a new (uglier) card and said "you got upgraded". For the life of me I could not see any change in the card except the name. It went from Gold Card to Signature.
I preferred the Gold Card. Nope, Chase was not offering it.
So in reality, same deal as Al, they tried to self-flagellate themselves and try to con me. Not happy with that style.
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04-08-2011, 02:02 PM
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#5
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 4,391
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The three great lies augmented...
"Of course I'll respect you in the morning"
"The check is in the mail"
"We're from the government, and we are here to help you"
augmented with...
"Congratulations, We are improving your account"
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04-08-2011, 02:23 PM
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#6
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 213
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check into your local credit union, often you can join if you live in the county. The ones around me offer simple reward credit cards with no fee and calling up and saying "I want a xxx limit" works.
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04-08-2011, 02:31 PM
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#7
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Dryer sheet wannabe
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: SACRAMENTO
Posts: 14
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I got one from Wells Fargo that said someone was trying to access my account, so for security reasons, they upgraded my account from Gold to Platinum and increased the credit limit. Hmmm...
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04-08-2011, 03:27 PM
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#8
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Waimanalo, HI
Posts: 1,881
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Sometime in the last year I got an offer from Discover card to replace my card with a designer picture card of my choice. No extra charge. I picked a butterfly picture for me and a horse picture for my wife. The colors are rather gaudy, but they liven up my wallet. Fun.
__________________
Greg (retired in 2010 at age 68, state pension)
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04-08-2011, 05:18 PM
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#9
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 2,657
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I got "upgraded" at my grocery store this week. The checker gave me a new membership card and told me all the benefits, which are pretty much the same as the current program you need to get the sale prices. I wonder if they are preparing to "downgrade" all the people not moved into the new program.
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04-08-2011, 06:09 PM
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#10
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 12,660
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Our Sears card is also being "upgraded" to a Master Card (we already have a better MC, with 1% cash back, which we use on rare occasions when Penfed VISA is not accepted).
Does anyone know if the so-called "upgrading" has any impact on one's credit rating? Does the clock re-start on the account, lowering the average age of all accounts? I would rather cancel the Sears card (which is not very old) than drag down our rating.
Amethyst
__________________
If you understood everything I say, you'd be me ~ Miles Davis
'There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way.’ Christopher Morley.
Even a blind clock finds an acorn twice a day.
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04-08-2011, 06:27 PM
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#11
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 1,324
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We can get a Lakers debit card. My wife wants it. What do I care? How pliable am I that anything a bank card company does would change my financial habits? What do I care what they do?
__________________
We are, as I have said, one equation short. – Keynes
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04-08-2011, 07:34 PM
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#12
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 702
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I have a no fee Amex card which gives me some bonus or cash back based on usage. I have a debit visa with my credit union checking which pays a rate of 2% on my checking account balance and a debit mastercard with a local community bank checking account that pays a bit of interest each month.
The credit union I use for all my daily expenses. The community bank I use for anything that might be a tax deductible event. I use the Amex for major purchases/repairs.
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04-08-2011, 09:59 PM
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#13
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Where the stars at night are big and bright
Posts: 2,847
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The card issuers are desperate to find new ways to skin us since Congress yanked on their leash a little.
I haven't gotten the full-blown upgrade yet, but I got a zillion offers to add a business/commercial card. Stumped me for a bit until I learned that the small business cards are exempt from the recently added restrictions.
The other sneaky thing they have been doing is jacking up my available credit. I went on an appliance buying spree recently while remodeling the kitchen. Before I bought the last appliance I decided to double check and make sure it wouldn't put me over limit on the card I was using. Not a problem, the little sneaks had almost doubled my limit. Same for all but one of the other cards.
__________________
There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is having lots to do and not doing it. - Andrew Jackson
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04-09-2011, 08:11 AM
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#14
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 12,660
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Leonidas, why is raising your credit limit bad? I tend to see raising my limit as a not-very-useful compliment to my credit worthiness. Useless, because the only thing we'd buy that costs as much as the limit would be a car, yet a car dealer won't accept a credit card because the bank would charge the seller a big fee.
We did earn $200+ by putting our kitchen renovation bills on the PFCU Visa, but we made those purchases over several months, so the limit was never approached.
Amethyst
Quote:
Originally Posted by Leonidas
T
The other sneaky thing they have been doing is jacking up my available credit. I went on an appliance buying spree recently while remodeling the kitchen. Before I bought the last appliance I decided to double check and make sure it wouldn't put me over limit on the card I was using. Not a problem, the little sneaks had almost doubled my limit. Same for all but one of the other cards.
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__________________
If you understood everything I say, you'd be me ~ Miles Davis
'There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way.’ Christopher Morley.
Even a blind clock finds an acorn twice a day.
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04-09-2011, 09:08 AM
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#15
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 739
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ronin
We can get a Lakers debit card. My wife wants it. What do I care? How pliable am I that anything a bank card company does would change my financial habits? What do I care what they do?
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The bank may "upgrade" you to a Bulls card!
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04-09-2011, 12:52 PM
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#16
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 1,324
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After the last 4 games, it's a definite downgrade. Playoffs can't arrive a minute too soon !
__________________
We are, as I have said, one equation short. – Keynes
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04-09-2011, 03:47 PM
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#17
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: South Texas~29N/98W Just West of Woman Hollering Creek
Posts: 6,674
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On our recent Panama Canal cruise we were actually upgraded by the cruise line. Instead of having our cabin on the "A deck" we were housed on the Main deck, one story above. Not sure how this benefited us as both had the same view out of the window, only one of them was about 10 feet higher up.
__________________
Part-Owner of Texas
Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. Groucho Marx
In dire need of: faster horses, younger woman, older whiskey, more money.
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04-09-2011, 07:38 PM
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#18
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: northern Michigan
Posts: 2,215
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 52andout
check into your local credit union, often you can join if you live in the county. The ones around me offer simple reward credit cards with no fee and calling up and saying "I want a xxx limit" works.
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I agree, I stopped dealing with the big banks (B of A, Citi, etc) a long time ago. Went with the local credit union for most of my stuff, and have been much happier. I think the country would be better off if a lot of us just stopped doing business with the greedy megabanks......you know the ones, they are "too big to fail".
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04-10-2011, 10:06 AM
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#19
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Hooverville
Posts: 22,983
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zero
... they tried to self-flagellate themselves and try to con me. Not happy with that style.
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I hope it gave some satisfaction to them anyway.
__________________
"As a general rule, the more dangerous or inappropriate a conversation, the more interesting it is."-Scott Adams
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04-10-2011, 11:37 AM
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#20
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gone traveling
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 3,864
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mickeyd
On our recent Panama Canal cruise we were actually upgraded by the cruise line. Instead of having our cabin on the "A deck" we were housed on the Main deck, one story above. Not sure how this benefited us as both had the same view out of the window, only one of them was about 10 feet higher up.
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If the ship hit an iceberg, you'd get to live a few minutes longer...
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