I have a few credit cards. I like to think I’m responsible with credit. I only use credit when my wife tells me it’s ok – hence the reason I think I’m responsible with the use of credit.
So, the other day I received a call from Capital One to tell me that I’m a valued customer they would like to ‘upgrade’ me to their new Venture card. It has no annual fee, I can earn all kinds of ‘perks’ like ‘free miles’, ‘rewards’, etc… Note the quotation marks?
My informed consumer radar is usually pretty strong. I understand that nothing in life is free. That doesn’t mean companies are the enemy. You’d hope they’d provide great service or some value to you to compete in a competitive market. Yet, the financial services industry isn’t a competitive market per se. It can be if you have stellar credit and are generally a well informed consumer. Even then, when understanding what does and doesn’t effect your credit can be a mystery. It’s getting better but, we have a ways to go as far as this industry is concerned.
Anyway, back to Capital One and my upgrade. So, I decide to let them ‘upgrade’ me to the Venture card. In doing so, shortly after I receive a letter detailing the card and the jump in my interest rate. Needless to say I’m no longer a Capital One customer. They provided me a nice shiny card and a humongous interest rate jump to go along with the new card. Bonus! (not)
Moral of the story, I should have asked some very simple questions. I was blinded by the ‘generosity’ of a company I had decided to do business with and have had great relations with in the past. Shame on me for not doing my homework.
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