A visitor wrote me today stating that he called his credit card company after getting a typical accept a huge rate increase or close your credit card notice in the mail and chose to opt out of the higher rate. According to the visitor, the account was supposed to be closed on May 1st. However, his wife recently called the company to see if she could negotiate a better deal to keep her account open. Not surprisingly, she was told no. However, she was also told that there was no record of the first call placed to opt out of the rate increase.
I hope this is an isolated incident that can be chalked up to some kind of miscommunication. If it’s not, and this credit card company’s dog ate the opt out notice, this is an ugly situation.
So, out of an over-abundance of caution, I recommend that anyone who opts out of a credit card rate increase request a written confirmation that they have opted out. A fast and easy way to do this would be to use the company’s online message center.
While I must stress that this is in all likelihood a very isolated mistake, taking an extra minute to get something in writing could prove very useful if your credit card company has a hungry dog.
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