I got my bill from Discover Card and Discover acts as though it is my problem that they have charged me for things I did not authorize. They then say the only way to be safe is to close this account and open a new one (a waste of my time). I would think it would be easy to not charge customers from fraudulent places but Discover seems to think this is beyond them. Once I was transferred to the fraud person (the 3rd person I had to speak to) they said they frequently saw fraud reports for this company and so it would most likely be fixed without a problem. They then said ok, we can setup a new account. I told them that I told the previous person if Discover didn’t fix this without closing the existing account I would take my business elsewhere so no new account was needed.

What do I want from a credit card? I want to be able to use it to buy what I want. I want them to not charge me for things I don’t authorize. If I tell them I have been charged for something I didn’t order I want them to think that is a problem and fix it. I want good customer service which basically boils down to being able to reach them on the phone without wasting a bunch of my time and having the person that answers treat me like a valued customer they want to serve instead of acting as though I was bothering them. Their failure (charging me for things that I did not authorize) was wasting my time. Those are the important factors. Now if I can get a cash rebate too, great. Anyone have suggestions? Since I don’t carry a balance I don’t care what the interest rate is.

It is fairly amazing how horrible the customer service is for credit cards given the huge profits the companies make. The main thing I want is one that treats my time as valuable and does everything it can to avoid wasting my time.

Update (from the Washington Post today): Americans Can’t Do Without Their Credit Cards, But the Card Companies Are Another Matter

It is difficult to imagine trying to live without the convenience of credit cards. Yet many get into financial trouble in part due to their misuse of credit cards. By following a few simple rules you can avoid the missteps and use credit cards to improve you personal finances instead of falling into the credit card traps.

First, don’t use your credit card for loans. Pay off your balance each month. Pretty obvious advice but way way too many people don’t follow it. If you use your credit card for a loans – 98% of the time that is a mistake and big risk to your personal financial future. Don’t do it. There is a reason pretty much all the advice from financial advisers on credit cards starts with this – it is the most important advice.

Second, if you don’t follow the advise above pay off your loan as soon as possible. Payment the minimum payment is huge mistake. You should not be making any discretionary purchases if you are not paying down your credit card debt substantially each month.

Continue reading credit card tips.

Currency conversion costs from bankrate.com:

Follow the link for a list of how much each company charges. Until the credit card companies compete on trying to serve customers well instead of trying to trick customers well such articles are extremely important. The companies have more resources to invest in tricking you than you have to try and find all of the tricks they use.

Related: Don’t Let the Credit Card Companies Play You for a Fool – Hidden Credit Card Fees – Too Much Personal Debt

One of the goals for this blog is to help people protect themselves from predatory behavior from corporations. I love capitalism and love being able to benefit from the innovations created by the marketplace. I wish companies tried to do well financially by providing value to the customer. This is what Google, Toyota, Berkshire Hathaway, Apple… do.

However there are many that seek to trick and take advantage of gullible customers. This is especially true of financial companies. If a company tries to trick you by selling you on a less than truthful description of their offer (such as $1 for the first month, or 1% interest for the first 6 months) my experience leads me to believe they don’t have faith that they offer a real value. They don’t believe people would buy what they offer for the real price, so instead they try and trick people with misleading information. And there are plenty of financially illiterate people that fall for these bad deals – don’t let yourself be one of them.

Credit card companies seem to be especially bad at this type of behavior. Most often they just take advantage of people that don’t bother to understand what the real fees and interest rates are. The consumer obviously should accept some of the blame. But tricking people that are not financially literate is not an honorable way to make money. But there are many who don’t seem to mind taking advantage of those that don’t educate themselves.

Business Week has a good article on this topic: Cap One’s Credit Trap. And PBS, Frontline, has a good show on it too: The Secret History of the Credit Card.

Continue your financial literacy education by visiting both those sites and reading and watching (you can watch the entire PBS show online) and learning. If you don’t make the effort to increase your financial literacy it will cost you as others take advantage of you.

Credit Cards’ Hidden Costs by Kathleen Day

Credit cards can be a convenient tool but if you do not pay the balance off every month on time that is a very bad sign for your financial health. And leaves you open to onerous fees from credit card issuers. If you do pay off the whole balance every month (as you should under almost all circumstances) you should have a credit card than pays you a rebate (1% of your spending is common) and has no annual fee.