kitten
5-4-11, 12:55pm
I wonder if anyone else has a Discover card and has received a call like this? The lady was so nice, I feel sorry now that I yelled at her and hung up. I'm angry, but mostly at myself for getting into debt.
She starts with, "Hi, how's your day going?" And doesn't identify who she's with. It was an 888 number, so I figured it was the card. But what do they get out of playing that politeness game? I know you want money!
So she's all, "Miss Kitten, we value you as a customer, and we were wondering if we could be of any assistance in helping you pay off your card. Are you planning to pay it off?"
I said I was. She said, "Is there anything that has happened recently that has made it more difficult for you to make payments?"
I said, "Sure, you tripled my interest rate about a year ago. It suddenly made it very hard to pay off my card."
No response for a sec, papers shifting under the phone. "Oh, okay. I was wondering if there's anything specific to the economy that has affected you lately?"
She wants to have an economic discussion with me? She apparently wants to bond with me, urging me to put the blame on large, vague forces for my situation - the economy, civilization, the invention of money, the emergence of carbon-based life forms on the planet billions of years ago. If the fault is way out there somewhere, then it's not Discover's fault for sending my interest rate sky high. And it's not my fault either. So it's kind of a nice thing, except it skirts the issue.
So I said, "Can you lower my interest rate?" I might have added a terse "Yes or no!" I was in the middle of my work day and already behind. Just getting cranky.
"Oh, ah, sure, I can look at some options..." And I don't know whether she was actually going to look at some options, or whether she was going to start asking me about my political views. I just hung up.
Now I feel bad. Should I feel bad?
I owe $3000 on my card, and I'm also paying off another card that mushroomed into 10K over the past few months. We are way behind for the first time since we got out of debt two years ago. Just feeling really sad and overwhelmed...I shouldn't have blamed the twelve year old on the phone whose job it is to read a script. I just get annoyed at this stuff, whether they use hardball or take the absurd I-feel-your-pain tack.
I'm just mad at myself for being in debt!
She starts with, "Hi, how's your day going?" And doesn't identify who she's with. It was an 888 number, so I figured it was the card. But what do they get out of playing that politeness game? I know you want money!
So she's all, "Miss Kitten, we value you as a customer, and we were wondering if we could be of any assistance in helping you pay off your card. Are you planning to pay it off?"
I said I was. She said, "Is there anything that has happened recently that has made it more difficult for you to make payments?"
I said, "Sure, you tripled my interest rate about a year ago. It suddenly made it very hard to pay off my card."
No response for a sec, papers shifting under the phone. "Oh, okay. I was wondering if there's anything specific to the economy that has affected you lately?"
She wants to have an economic discussion with me? She apparently wants to bond with me, urging me to put the blame on large, vague forces for my situation - the economy, civilization, the invention of money, the emergence of carbon-based life forms on the planet billions of years ago. If the fault is way out there somewhere, then it's not Discover's fault for sending my interest rate sky high. And it's not my fault either. So it's kind of a nice thing, except it skirts the issue.
So I said, "Can you lower my interest rate?" I might have added a terse "Yes or no!" I was in the middle of my work day and already behind. Just getting cranky.
"Oh, ah, sure, I can look at some options..." And I don't know whether she was actually going to look at some options, or whether she was going to start asking me about my political views. I just hung up.
Now I feel bad. Should I feel bad?
I owe $3000 on my card, and I'm also paying off another card that mushroomed into 10K over the past few months. We are way behind for the first time since we got out of debt two years ago. Just feeling really sad and overwhelmed...I shouldn't have blamed the twelve year old on the phone whose job it is to read a script. I just get annoyed at this stuff, whether they use hardball or take the absurd I-feel-your-pain tack.
I'm just mad at myself for being in debt!