Jewel
Ashland,#2UPDATE EX-employee responds
Wed, June 12, 2002
I am an ex-representative for Cross Country Bank (also doing business as Applied Card Systems) doing outbound collection and I'd like to add my observations on collection practices employed by these companies. First of all: it is a game to them. The collection department has competitions, dividing collectors into "teams" with catchy names, seeing who can collect the most dollars (with a fat bonus check as a reward.) There is no concern whatsoever with consumer happiness. If a collector must tell a cardholder that the account will be cured with a payment of $60, when in reality the payment is $100 that he will not receive, he is encouraged to do so. Collectors can get very good at mind manipulation and convincing cardholders to believe what they need to believe in order to make a payment. If a cardholder has a checking account in the system, then management REQUIRES collectors to place as many phone calls as it takes to the home and residence and CLOSEST RELATIVES even, until contact becomes impossible or payment is obtained. Applied Card Systems (who handles all collection activity for CCB, and is my ex-employer) is also conveniently exempt from the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act because they technically do not qualify as a "collection agency." They are a "credit card servicing company" who handles internal collections on loans made by THAT company. -------------------------- On the other hand, as for interest and fees being high, CCB is in a high-risk MARKET. Have you shopped around for other cards? When you say "whopping" interest, that is in comparison to a credit card that you see on tv and you will not be able to obtain due to your credit problems. Other high-risk providers (like Providian, capital-one) charge 29.9% interest (ccb: 20.99), $35-40 late/overlimit fees (ccb: $30) and charge $12-20 for a pay-by-phone (CCB: $7.) Even though I dont approve of ACS/CCB's barbaric collection practices, please shop around (or try applying for anything cheaper!) before you complain about the fees that are all outlined in a cardholder agreement that YOU put your name to. There's my input... i'm out.
Jewel
Ashland,#3UPDATE EX-employee responds
Wed, June 12, 2002
I am an ex-representative for Cross Country Bank (also doing business as Applied Card Systems) doing outbound collection and I'd like to add my observations on collection practices employed by these companies. First of all: it is a game to them. The collection department has competitions, dividing collectors into "teams" with catchy names, seeing who can collect the most dollars (with a fat bonus check as a reward.) There is no concern whatsoever with consumer happiness. If a collector must tell a cardholder that the account will be cured with a payment of $60, when in reality the payment is $100 that he will not receive, he is encouraged to do so. Collectors can get very good at mind manipulation and convincing cardholders to believe what they need to believe in order to make a payment. If a cardholder has a checking account in the system, then management REQUIRES collectors to place as many phone calls as it takes to the home and residence and CLOSEST RELATIVES even, until contact becomes impossible or payment is obtained. Applied Card Systems (who handles all collection activity for CCB, and is my ex-employer) is also conveniently exempt from the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act because they technically do not qualify as a "collection agency." They are a "credit card servicing company" who handles internal collections on loans made by THAT company. -------------------------- On the other hand, as for interest and fees being high, CCB is in a high-risk MARKET. Have you shopped around for other cards? When you say "whopping" interest, that is in comparison to a credit card that you see on tv and you will not be able to obtain due to your credit problems. Other high-risk providers (like Providian, capital-one) charge 29.9% interest (ccb: 20.99), $35-40 late/overlimit fees (ccb: $30) and charge $12-20 for a pay-by-phone (CCB: $7.) Even though I dont approve of ACS/CCB's barbaric collection practices, please shop around (or try applying for anything cheaper!) before you complain about the fees that are all outlined in a cardholder agreement that YOU put your name to. There's my input... i'm out.
Jewel
Ashland,#4UPDATE EX-employee responds
Wed, June 12, 2002
I am an ex-representative for Cross Country Bank (also doing business as Applied Card Systems) doing outbound collection and I'd like to add my observations on collection practices employed by these companies. First of all: it is a game to them. The collection department has competitions, dividing collectors into "teams" with catchy names, seeing who can collect the most dollars (with a fat bonus check as a reward.) There is no concern whatsoever with consumer happiness. If a collector must tell a cardholder that the account will be cured with a payment of $60, when in reality the payment is $100 that he will not receive, he is encouraged to do so. Collectors can get very good at mind manipulation and convincing cardholders to believe what they need to believe in order to make a payment. If a cardholder has a checking account in the system, then management REQUIRES collectors to place as many phone calls as it takes to the home and residence and CLOSEST RELATIVES even, until contact becomes impossible or payment is obtained. Applied Card Systems (who handles all collection activity for CCB, and is my ex-employer) is also conveniently exempt from the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act because they technically do not qualify as a "collection agency." They are a "credit card servicing company" who handles internal collections on loans made by THAT company. -------------------------- On the other hand, as for interest and fees being high, CCB is in a high-risk MARKET. Have you shopped around for other cards? When you say "whopping" interest, that is in comparison to a credit card that you see on tv and you will not be able to obtain due to your credit problems. Other high-risk providers (like Providian, capital-one) charge 29.9% interest (ccb: 20.99), $35-40 late/overlimit fees (ccb: $30) and charge $12-20 for a pay-by-phone (CCB: $7.) Even though I dont approve of ACS/CCB's barbaric collection practices, please shop around (or try applying for anything cheaper!) before you complain about the fees that are all outlined in a cardholder agreement that YOU put your name to. There's my input... i'm out.
Jewel
Ashland,#5UPDATE EX-employee responds
Wed, June 12, 2002
I am an ex-representative for Cross Country Bank (also doing business as Applied Card Systems) doing outbound collection and I'd like to add my observations on collection practices employed by these companies. First of all: it is a game to them. The collection department has competitions, dividing collectors into "teams" with catchy names, seeing who can collect the most dollars (with a fat bonus check as a reward.) There is no concern whatsoever with consumer happiness. If a collector must tell a cardholder that the account will be cured with a payment of $60, when in reality the payment is $100 that he will not receive, he is encouraged to do so. Collectors can get very good at mind manipulation and convincing cardholders to believe what they need to believe in order to make a payment. If a cardholder has a checking account in the system, then management REQUIRES collectors to place as many phone calls as it takes to the home and residence and CLOSEST RELATIVES even, until contact becomes impossible or payment is obtained. Applied Card Systems (who handles all collection activity for CCB, and is my ex-employer) is also conveniently exempt from the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act because they technically do not qualify as a "collection agency." They are a "credit card servicing company" who handles internal collections on loans made by THAT company. -------------------------- On the other hand, as for interest and fees being high, CCB is in a high-risk MARKET. Have you shopped around for other cards? When you say "whopping" interest, that is in comparison to a credit card that you see on tv and you will not be able to obtain due to your credit problems. Other high-risk providers (like Providian, capital-one) charge 29.9% interest (ccb: 20.99), $35-40 late/overlimit fees (ccb: $30) and charge $12-20 for a pay-by-phone (CCB: $7.) Even though I dont approve of ACS/CCB's barbaric collection practices, please shop around (or try applying for anything cheaper!) before you complain about the fees that are all outlined in a cardholder agreement that YOU put your name to. There's my input... i'm out.