Images by John 'K'

Random rant number 6: What’s the point in keeping records if you don’t check them?

 

Twice recently I ran into issues applying for things where had the companies involved simply checked their own records they would have taken a totally different course of action than was chosen as a result of going through an external agency.

 

Let me elaborate a bit. Problem number 1) I requested a credit limit increase on a credit card I’ve had since December of last year. Having not long had the account set up (8 months), I expected a possible kick-back here,  but the account had been run smoothly, the balance paid in full every month, and it was opened as a result of years of good history with the UK branch of the same organisation. The reasons that came back were "proportion of revolving balances to revolving credit limits is too high" and "too many accounts with balances". Now up until last month I only had 1 form of credit in the US, and it was the card I have with this company, and the balance had been paid in full each month. This month we added a store card which has a balance but only because we haven’t had the first request to pay the balance yet, and we only took this to qualify for a 10% discount from the store! A quick phone call to the card company sorted the confusion out, but had they simply looked at their own records for my account they could potentially saved them and me some time!

 

Problem number 2 was with my bank. It was for an application for a credit card with them. They rejected the application quoting the following reasons; "unable to verify employment" and "unable to verify income". Well given the bank verified my employment when they let me open my checking and savings accounts with them, and given that my salary is paid every 2 weeks into the checking account I have with them, these reasons came as somewhat of a shock, so I rang them about it. It seems they don’t check their own records when processing credit card applications, and the external agency they used goofed up. Needless to say the situation was sorted as soon as they checked their own data, but again this was one where the process led to an irate call from a customer and wasted time at both ends.

 

Funnily enough, the same bank also refused to add my wife to my bank account because a process they use got her ID information confused. Again all sorted now, but it all builds a perception that they’re not as good as the say they are. Were it not for some good customer service representatives stepping in things would be in a bad state.

 

Rant over for a bit….. 😉