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I was just going through my mail/bills and found a note from Chase Visa.

Canceling is helpful?

It thanked me for being a customer… and then proceeded to tell me that because my account hadn’t been used in a while, they assumed that I didn’t need it and had closed it! The whole thing was presented as if they were being helpful.

I couldn’t see how so I called Chase to find out what had happened. They said, oh it helps you because your credit score will go up, and in this crisis we can’t have open and unused credit lines because the credit bureaus charge us (in case you might use the credit).

Is this about me?  Or them?

Aha! So, it’s not about ME at all. It’s about THEM!! The scary thing is, I just nearly used the card about 10 minutes ago. I was buying model train stuff for my dad, and the site didn’t take Amex.

I finally settled on my debit card instead because a) I figured I hadn’t used the Visa card in a while and model trains were so odd (for me) they might think it was fraud and b) one less addition to my credit card bill next year. Imagine if I’d tried to use the card!!!

Chase doesn’t care

I promised to blog about it. They said they’d seen lots of other people complaining too (including today). But, they didn’t seem to care. It didn’t bother them at all that thousands of their customers were angry. The rep said there was “nothing she could do” and she didn’t even seem sorry about it.  Guess they forgot there’s a person at the other end of the bill.

Don’t hurt your tribe – build it

I wonder, instead of canceling the account, why not send me a letter offering me something to get me to use the card? A discount? Coupons?

Many years ago, when my dad hadn’t used a gas card for a while, the company sent him a letter saying , “We miss you”. Got his attention AND he talked to other people about it. It was viral! Why not make people feel happy instead of angry? Encourage/strengthen your tribe of customers, rather than break it.