Consumers Are Angry with Credit Card Issuers
More and more consumers are making their anger known to banks and credit card issuers in response to what they perceive to be, and probably rightfully so, poor treatment from their credit card company.
They’re angry because they have had their credit limits cut, interest rates raised, and are now being charged fees that didn’t exist before.
When a consumer is late on a payment or fails to use their credit responsibly these actions can be seen as justified. However, in many cases these cardholders have played by the rules and have made their payments on time.
The highly respected consumer advocate magazine Consumer Reports ran a poll where they surveyed more than 1200 cardholders in July of 2009. The results are stunning and I’m sure that the credit card companies have taken notice.
More than a third of those respondents in the poll stated that they have completely paid off and closed one or more credit card accounts since January of 2008. More than half of them said that they did so in response to how they were treated by their credit card company.
21% of the 1200 consumers polled felt that they were treated unfairly by their credit card company. According to Consumer Reports, that number makes the credit card industry one of the lowest rated services, as far as customer satisfaction goes, that they review.
45% of the people polled said that they are using their credit cards less, while 54% said that they are now paying off their balances in full each and every month.
Some other interesting numbers revealed in the poll include that 13% of the respondents carry balances over $10,000 and 33% carry balances up to $10,000.
The credit card companies for their part contend that they must somehow make up for shortfalls caused by record high defaults. That argument however, has fallen on deaf ears for most credit card customers.
Related Information:
- Credit Card Issuers Getting Creative with Their Fees Credit card issuers are finding new ways to charge their account holder's fees...
- Consumers Grow Increasingly Unsatisfied with Their Credit Card Companies Cardholders are becoming more and more angry at credit card companies. Check out the survey results here....
- Credit Card Issuers Raise Interest Rates Again Banks and credit card issuers have once again raised interest rates on credit card account holders....
- Credit Card Issuers Are More Open to Debt Management Plans Credit card issuers willing to work out debt management plans with struggling cardholders....
