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Report: #582539

Complaint Review: Credit First National Association - Firestone - Internet Nationwide

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  • Reported By: Marcus — San Diego California U.S.A.
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  • Credit First National Association - Firestone Nationwide United States of America

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If you are considering this credit card, don't.  There are a number of practices you need to be aware of, and they've only gotten worse with the CARD Act.

First, most credit cards will provide you with a given credit limit, a minimum payment, and a period of time in which to make the payment.  Usually there is a grace period after this, but for some reason, CFNA does not give you a grace period on payments.  That's fine, but unlike most companies, CFNA handles this situation unusually, and it's this behavior that you need to watch out for.

In 2009 I was approved for a $1,200 limit card at my local Firestone, which I used on an older car I owned.  I only used the card once for about $500, then I began paying down the balance.  I knew the minimum payment was around $25, and would always pay twice that amount.  This continued for a few months, and then I applied for a line increase online and was approved...so now it was $1,800.  I was generally happy with CFNA.  Now mind you, I never heard a peep from them about anything being wrong, so I ignored all of the paper statements that came in the mail.  There was no letter telling me about a problem, no call, no email, nothing.

A bit later I happened to log on to find out what the remaining balance was, and was shocked to see my credit limit sent back down to $1,200.  I never got an email about the increase, and I didn't think there'd be a problem so I didn't print the confirmation page.  I called CFNA who told me that the payment was due on the 5th of every month, but my payment was arriving around the 15-20th.  This is a known situation: I always book payments in the middle of the month.  She said that if you don't pay exactly by the due date specified, the "monthly account review" will revoke any increase.  I was stung, but I accepted it, and asked her to change the due date to the 28th of every month so that I made sure the payment was always received timely.  She said she took care of it.

Fast forward to 2010.  I knew the balance on the card had to be near zero by now, so I logged on to verify the payoff.  I saw it was only $4, and I'm thinking everything is well, but then I see the credit limit is now cut down to $700!  Livid, I called into CFNA again.  The chick was blatantly rude, and I asked her why the limit was cut yet again.  She said the same thing as the first chick - that the due date was the 5th, payment received on the 23rd.  I didn't even bother bringing up the change of due date, it didn't matter.  What bothers me is the idea that they will just continually cut the credit line because the payment isn't received when they want it.  I just told her to close the account and I would pay off their little $4.  She started to argue with me, claiming that "all banks are doing this on credit cards due to the CARD Act" and that "no credit cards have grace periods" and that "every credit card cuts limits for late payments".  Of course, I have three other credit cards, none of which do this behavior.  I also used to have 6 other credit cards, all of them subprime, and they didn't do it either.  They would send me a letter telling me a payment was not received by the due date, and I would fix it.  But they would not cut my credit line.  I've never had a credit card cut a credit line except CFNA, and believe me...I've had a LOT of credit cards from various companies over the years.

Now, it's the bank's discretion on how to handle payments; I get that.  The CARD Act does not stop banks from cutting limits at their whim, with or without notification; I get that too.  But I paid the same amount on or around the same day, every month.  They didn't start cutting my credit line until I asked for an increase, and this "account review" didn't begin until after that time.  If they had cut my line from the beginning due to the payment not arriving when they wanted, I could have fixed the situation early and avoided all of this.  I went ahead and looked at some past statements, which did indicate past due, but I was not charged a fee.  Also the date of each statement was around the 15th of each month - so if I received a statement on February 15th, they expected a payment on March 5th...20 days, or 15-ish business days, instead of the industry-standard 30 - 45.  Additionally, that they would not send me a letter advising me that there was a problem, or that they cut the line, is appalling.

I just advise you to steer clear of this company.  If you like Firestone, that's fine...use a standard Visa/MasterCard/AMEX/Discover.  Don't go for their credit card, don't be enticed by their 10% discount and coupons.  It's just not worth the pain to deal with CFNA.  As a side note, CFNA only has one card line: Firestone.  They don't do any other credit card.  It makes you wonder if they got relieved of their duties from other companies.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 03/18/2010 11:15 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/credit-first-national-association-firestone/nationwide/credit-first-national-association-firestone-firestone-credit-card-cfna-nearly-criminal-582539. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
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2Consumer
0Employee/Owner

#4 Author of original report

Repeating myself a second time

AUTHOR: Marcus - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Saturday, March 20, 2010

As I've said this before.

THE STATEMENT DID NOT SPECIFY ANY ADVERSE ACTION TAKEN AS A RESULT OF THE PAYMENTS.  Meaning, even had I read the statement when it was mailed to me, it wouldn't have told me anything was wrong.

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#3 Consumer Comment

It's the consumer's obligation to read statements

AUTHOR: Violet - (USA)

POSTED: Saturday, March 20, 2010

Reading the statements any company sends you is not optional, if you want to keep everything in order.  Sending statements for a debt you have agreed to - statements ARE courtesies, they are not mandatory nor legally required on the part of the company.

I expect, always, for the credit card companies to pull shady tricks such as changing due dates, banking on customers not reading the statements and just figuring nothing changed.  That truly costs the consumer and the businesses know very well what an effective method just that little trick is for creating a cash cow.

 

 

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#2 Author of original report

Please read more carefully.

AUTHOR: Marcus - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Friday, March 19, 2010

I stated clearly that I have other credit cards where, if a payment is not received timely, they send a courtesy letter.  I have other credit cards where if they haven't gotten the payment up to 5 days prior to the due date, they send a courtesy letter.  I've had two credit cards notify me in advance that the terms were going to change, via courtesy letter, two others notify me of an acquisition of the card.

In any case the statement indicated "past due" (even though the second time, it wasn't...the girl didn't change the due date like I'd asked her to).  It did not say anything about dropping the credit limit as a result of the payment not arriving when they wanted it.  The bottom line - I was never notified in writing that adverse action was taken as a result of payment history; it was only by happenstance that I found out.  That's my issue.   If my payments are going electronically and I never see a LETTER telling me a payment was not received, or anything, I'm going to expect that they're happy.  If the balance keeps going down and I get no late fees, I'm going to assume that there's a grace period.  CFNA just wanted to use the late pays as an excuse to get more money from the CARD Act changes that locked them down in other ways.

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#1 Consumer Comment

You need to widen your perspective

AUTHOR: Violet - (USA)

POSTED: Friday, March 19, 2010

In the report it was stated: ''Now mind you, I never heard a peep from them about anything being wrong, so I ignored all of the paper statements that came in the mail. There was no letter telling me about a problem, no call, no email, nothing.''

How is sending you a printed statement every month not issuing a peep or sending a letter?  Does an item have to be designated ''letter'' to be opened, is it your personal policy to not open any envelopes containing statements? 

If you aren't advised via email or a phone call, does the issue therefore not exist because you don't prefer the method you are being notified with?

If the bank is going to foreclose on your home and for whatever reason only notifies you via U.S. mail, does this mean you feel entitled to disregard anything that appears to be a ''bill'', not a written notification fitting your definition of ''letter'' nor is it an email or phone call?  You will still be out of your home if they are advising you of problems but don't use the format you prefer.

There are also times a document MUST be printed and sent via U.S. mail in order to be legally binding.

This is very strange thinking, to say you were not notified of any problems while in the same sentence you clearly state you had a policy of ignoring the monthly mailed statements as they somehow don't qualify as notification. 

 

 

 

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