Cancel Your Credit Card - Comments Page 2

I've also had no problems cancelling credit cards by mail. A formal letter has always done the trick for me, and small cost in writing and sending a letter is worth it to not deal with the hassle on the phone. I think I even had luck with cancelling AOL this way, though we still got a gazillion "come back!" calls from them after.

Good advice. They do get testy when YOU say that you are going to record THEM! "Sir, "that" is not legal." I guess that equates to "Do as I say, not as I do."

That being said, if it's a service that I kinda / sorta still like, calling to cancel may get an offer of months of free service or a discounted rate. Before I got broadband, I used this trick on AOL and got 8 months of free service, two months per call. :) Heard that Netflix does this too...

"There is a HUGE fine for not honoring the Do Not Call list."

True, but NOT if you've established a "business relationship", which you have if you've accepted a credit card.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I'm sure that a specific request for Do Not Call must be honored, even if you have done business with a company.

I had no trouble cancelling a MSN free trial five years ago. They offered me 3 months free to stay and I said, "Lady, the trial alone was hell. You couldn't pay me enough. If it were free forever I wouldn't take it." Cancelled stat. I never had to resort to "What part of 'No' don't you understand?"

AOL had some TOS items I questioned which their phone people (from India) couldn't answer; they suggested I write the home office (in Florida). (Ditto Wal-Mart Connect, which resells AOL for $10 a month.) I did. No reply. Gave it another month, sent a copy of the letter. No reply. AOL may be hard to cancel, but it's also hard to get if you don't do it exactly their way. (Example: It is impossible to read the Terms of Service off the disc without first giving them your credit card number. How'd you like it if a store owner made you put money on the counter just to walk in?)

I love your idea to announce you are recording the conversation! You might also tell them you work for NPR and promise to put them on the air, as if you're their ticket to show biz.

Good idea about recording the call, I like that. Some benefit of keeping credit cards:

About 3 years back I got a credit line of $20,000. from one CC Co. and they sent me a cash advance (cost $75.) with "0"% interest for 6 months. After 5 1/2 months I answered another of those "0"% interest and transferred my balance again for another 6-8 months for ($40. transfer fee). Recently, I was able to transfer my now $12,000. balance for "0"% Int. for 11 months. As long as I pay my bill on time (Principle Only) I never have had to pay interest.

I call this system Credit Card Tennis. As long as you stay on top of payments, this may lower your credit score a little, but it works very well until they stop offering "0"% Int. I have been through 4 Credit Card companies, 2 of them twice. I will be playing Tennis until I run out of balls.

Cancelling Credit Cards by postal mail is an excellent choice. You can specifically mention that you expect the account to be closed at the request of the consumer on your credit report. You also now have a copy of the letter you sent.

While I would not go to the extreme of sending it registered or anything, I have almost always cancelled by mail...unless I am trying to make other arrangements with the card as well.

To cancel AOL (after 3 months) I finally called the bank and said Do Not Pay AOL Ever, not authorized charge. How many phone calls does it take, or emails, or letters...

I believe that if you have a credit card with a bank, you have in the Terms of Agreement somewhere in teeny letters a statement along the lines of, "I agree to be pestered at Bank's discretion with junk mail trying to get my into credit card-induced bankruptcy."

On the topic of "I'm recording you" I've had great fun with asking folks that call to verify their mother's maiden name... That almost always brings the conversation to a halt...
" I need to vefiy to whom I am speaking, please verify with me your mother's maiden name ". Usual response is a long pause and a click when they hang up. Have fun

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That's very odd that he got upset when you said you were going to record the call. I have worked in a couple different call centres, and representatives are always told that if the customer states they want to record the call, they should let them. (After all, it's not like the rep is doing anything illegal or immoral...right?) These companies were large, American, and dealt with both individual consumers and businesses.

As a side note, unelss someone is a paid telemarketer, "wasting" their time by keeping them on the call probably doesn't bother them that much. Most of them get paid hourly wages. Many don't care whether they spend an hour talking to you or an hour talking to ten different people. Call centres will have metrics they want the reps to strive for, but unless you're in a commission-based telesales environment, missing those metrics for a day really has no consequence.

Oh, and they ALWAYS have a supervisor. My husband once had to call a regional plan coordinator (halfway across the country) to get out of our university's health and dental plan. He spent twenty minutes on the phone like so:

Husband: Well if you can't take me out of the plan, I want to speak to your supervisor.
Him: I don't have one.
Husband: Do you own the company?
Him: Well, no.
Husband: Then I want to speak to your supervisor.

Eventally the other guy just gave up and took him out of the plan.

Phone solicitations and snail-mail offers all fall in the
same category. When talking to phone reps, make a note of the persons name, the date and time of the call and if possible, the location where he/she is located.
Follow up with a letter to AOL or who-ever. Show details of your previous attempt(s) to cancel and be sure to indicate on the bottom of the letter that you have forwarded a copy to your State Attorney Generals Office. For written offers of credit cards, CitiBank, Chase Manhattan or whoever, send them a letter similar to the AOL letter. Finally, do, absolutely do, get on the do not call and do not mail lists. These will help preclude lots of offers that you really don't want to hear or see. As a plus, it offers a legal financial stinger (possible fines) to your request(s) against companies that are harrassising you.
Konrad L.