I have a Chase credit card with a low $800 limit that I never use. I called Chase to close the card and consolidate the credit line onto another one of my other Chase cards.
I called up Chase and the first customer service representative (CSR) I spoke to spoke perfect English but couldn’t consolidate my cards because the system wouldn’t let her. She said she had to transfer me over to “lending operations”.
As soon as someone at “lending operations” picked up I knew I had been transferred over to a call center in India. The lady said she needed to do a review on my credit profile before she could consolidate the cards. I immediately asked if it was a hard inquiry and was assured it was not. I was put on hold for roughly 20 minutes.
The lady comes back on the phone and then informs me that she sees some alarming items in my credit profile. She then informs me that two accounts (out of 11 total) are showing high utilization and asked me to explain why. The two accounts in question were two recent cards I obtained (from other banks) in the past 6 months that came with relatively low limits, $1,000 and $2,000. I’ve been charging roughly $800 and $1,500 to each card monthly and paying off in full.
So she makes me explain to her why the utilization levels are so high. I explain that the credit limits are low to begin with and it’s not a red flag in that I pay off the cards in full each month. Everything I said flew right over her head. I like how she conveniently ignores my other credit lines such as my Citi Dividend which has a $15k credit line and I charge roughly $50/month to it so they don’t close it for inactivity (it’s my oldest card). She said there’s no way to prove that I’ve been paying off the cards in full each month.
At this point I’m just really annoyed and insulted. I make comments like “Why does this have any bearing on me consolidating my credit line?” and “I make payments in full each and every month on YOUR credit cards so you can verify that at least”. She puts me on hold for another 10 minutes and then comes back on to say she will be able do it. She moved $700 worth of credit line to the other account and then kept the account open with a $100 credit limit. Now I have to call back.
Congratulations Chase on outsourcing the job of evaluating credit risk to a bunch of idiots.
Don’t know what’s worse. The confusing way Chase dealt with your request or your inability to express displeasure without using the word “retarded”.
If you did your research you would know that banks cannot outsource credit. Did you ever thiink that the person was a US citizen with an accent?
This was rather late at night. I’m pretty sure it was an outsourced call center/office.
What makes you think banks cannot outsource that job?