Is My Credit Union My Frenemy?

My mission for Get WalletWise (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578937875)

is to help consumers make better personal financial decisions. Many years ago, fed up with commercial banks’ high credit card interest rates and membership fees, Clark Howard’s radio program introduced me to my local credit union and their no nonsense credit card. Their card had a lower interest and no nonsense customer service.

Sadly, it appears those days are over. I engaged, last year, an internet advertising company to drive traffic to my website to sell my book. Let’s just say “rip off” doesn’t quite describe my experience. I disputed the credit charge and waited. Nothing happened for three months. I called each month to verify the dispute was in their system. I received no correspondence from the credit card. In the fourth month, I called again and insisted that the charges be reversed and the customer service rep complied and the charges were finally reversed. Two months later or eight months after the original incident, I get an email from the credit hard department of the credit union letting me know how I would like to respond to the dispute of my dispute. There was a six-day deadline. It took me four months to get action, but the dispute of the dispute had a six-day window. Nice. I responded and a few days later, the charges were back on my account without explanation. There was no correspondence. I called customer service, asked for a supervisor and was told there was nothing they could do. The dispute of the dispute was final and that was that. I was asking for additional information. The phone, without warning, went to hold music and after thirty seconds, to the survey invitation. I pressed one and received the invitation for the survey again. I pressed one and was promptly disconnected. That reminded me of the good old days of dealing with legacy credit card “no customer” service.

I’ve filed a complaint to the BBB after a professionally worded letter to the CEO resulted in no response. Apparently, a 900k salary comes with no responsibility. If you plan to use a credit union credit card, ask who manages the credit card. Credit card services contracts a separate company that is more interested in their bottom line instead of doing right by their customer. In fact, at no time of the multiple interactions, was I treated well. Caveat emptor–Let the Buyer Beware.