My BlackBerry 8830 died a painless (to me) death this summer, so I went to a Verizon wireless dealer in Rhode Island to see if it could be fixed. No. So I got a new BlackBerry 9630, which I really like, especially because I got a $100 rebate - until I actually got a notice of the rebate.
I still like the Blackberry, but I hate Verizon's rebate scam. Instead of a check for $100, I got a Citi Bank Visa card with these messages: "Here's your Verizon Wireless Rebate Card - Use everywhere Visa debit cards are accepted!"
I don't want a frigging debit or credit card; I want my $100!
But the letter said these were my options to get my money: "Rebate Card: Use the attached rebate card instantly everywhere Visa cards are accepted; Bank Transfer: Go online to move rebate funds to your bank account; Cash With Card: Use your card to cash by taking your card and identification to any Visa member bank (see package insert for details); Paper Check: Go online to get your rebate funds via paper check to deposit or cash at your bank."
In other words, I had to go to a lot of trouble not to accept a Visa card that I don't want. After getting bailed out by the government to the tune of around $300 billion, Citi is finding new ways to get high-interest rate credit cards in people's hands. Here's what a February 28 Wall Street Journal article noted:
The taxpayer never sleeps when it comes to Citigroup, which yesterday got its third rescue in recent months from Uncle Sam. The amount and terms of the taxpayer commitment keep changing, while the management stays in place. The only institution that has a comparable track record on those two scores is Congress.
We don't mean to laugh, but we have to in order not to cry. No company on Earth has failed more often than Citigroup without being put out of its misery. Taxpayers have already put more than $50 billion in capital into the bank, while guaranteeing $301 billion of its bad assets, and the bank still can't stop its slide.In a better world, Citi would have long ago been put into bankruptcy. The FDIC could have taken over and disposed of the bank's assets, while protecting insured deposits as it always does. The profitable parts of Citigroup could then have been sold off to people who could better manage them.
So how is Citi going to pay the government back? One way is to find new, underhanded ways to get Visa cards into people's wallets. Citi probably paid Verizon something to have the phone company send rebates in the form of debit cards. Verizon saved money by not having to pay postage, buy envelopes, or cut a check. Citi gets millions of cards in people's hands.
Just what the country needs in the middle of a debilitating recession that was caused by, among other things, too much consumer debt, too high interests rates on that debt, and by greedy bankers.
I wouldn't have been so upset if, at the time I bought the new phone, the clerk who told me about the rebate had asked me if I wanted the rebate in the form of a check or Visa rebate card. In other words, if I had had a choice.
I called Verizon outraged and the Verizon service person was very nice and polite and filled out the online form to get my check in the mail. So I was somewhat mollified, but I still believe this is a scam that shoves unwanted and unneeded Visa cards in unsuspecting people's hands and that an ethical, transparent, customer-focused company should give people a choice about accepting a Visa card.
But I don't hear a lot of people using the adjectives ethical, transparent, or customer-focused to describe Verizon or Citi Bank. This current scam isn't going to up the count.
Follow Charles Warner on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CHWarner
Sen. Chris Dodd: Reform in the Age of Plastic
Over and over we've heard that consumers should act responsibly when it comes to credit cards. I agree -- but it's time we held credit card companies to the same standard.
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* Fees: "You agree to pay all fees set forth in the Fee Schedule (the "Fees") [...]"
(No "Fee Schedule" on the terms sheet. See back side of colorful cardboard poster holding rebate card. It shows a harmless $3 monthly account maintenanc
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Follow that?
* Changes to this Agreement: Citi may change the terms of this agreement, including its ability to "add or increase Fees at any time."
You translate.
Oh, you innocent crackberry consumers, you thought you were just getting $100 in a neat little card. Maybe the old man was right.
* Arbitratio
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Ok, so they got you for $2.55 or maybe the $100 card never worked. Who cares?
* Collection of Negative Balances: If you try to go over your balance, the vendor will likely reject it. But if it goes through, you pay the negative amount plus applied fees and "you authorize [Citi] to initiate an Automated Clearing House Transfer on your behalf in payment thereof if, we have the requisite bank account informatio
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What are "Fees"?
All the cards you get from them have higher credit limit them the rebate you're supposed to get.
Why?
Because if you go .01c over the rebate $ you're allocated they will charge you a $15 Over-Limit Fee per incident.
So if you don't watch it, the fees you're going to pay for using the card "might" be higher then the rebate you were getting to begin with.
Its actually an easier way to spend your $100.00 rebate. You can use it instantly at almost any store (online or offline), whereas a check you would have to run to the bank to cash before you could use it.
Next time do some research before you make a whole blog post that is utterly pointless and untrue.
Convert a $100 rebate card to a credit card? Um... you don't know how these things work, do you? $35 overdraft is a real problem with real Debit cards, but NOT these rebate cards. You just get denied if you go over limit.
You are disseminat
And you are completely ignoring the real scam of these cards, which is the few bucks on it left-over for purchases that will never be claimed. I got a Verizon card in my wallet with $2-5 bucks on it. I'm upset about that. You don't seem to be.
As for the "lisst" you mentioned.
But these is no conceivabl
$100 debit card is identical to cash. Unless you're some Luddite ala Unibomber.
Come on, get with it.
It's like this:
Verizon sends you a check. That check is drawn on a bank. You're not a customer of that bank, you just have a check from them. It works the exact same way.
Here's the difference
If you get a check, you have to go to a bank to cash it. And if you don't have a bank account, or you're on check-syst
So they send you a Visa Debit card. You have the option of going into ANY bank getting the money directly off of the card. Tell them to do a "Cash Advance" to get the money off. It's not really a cash advance, it's just the way the transactio
What's more "Customer Centric"?
You can get
A. A check- cashable at your own bank or at the bank it's drawn off of, and nowhere else.
B. A debit card. You can use it at any store, or get the money out at any bank.