Credit Card Company’s Dirty Tricks
A very strange and frustrating thing happened today… I was at local Home Depot store in the High Desert (Southern California) to collect some chicken wire for a client for one of my businesses. The total amount of the bill came to about $120 including taxes.
I presented my commercial home depot card to pay only to be informed that the credit card was declined. I was current on my payment and owed less than 50% of what the total credit line is on the account and so I was baffled as to why the card would be declined. I have had this company credit card for 4 years though I had not used it in the last months. I had checked my balance online just a couple of days earlier and it showed available credit for almost $600 (see picture to the right).
Credit Account Closed, Without Notice
Of course, the teller could not help and I had to go the Special Services desk to find out more. The lady behind the desk, after asking for my drivers license and the credit card, was very helpful and called their credit department. She explained the situation to the lady on the other end of the telephone and finally handed me the receiver. The reason for decline, the lady on the phone explained, was because my credit card account had been closed on in April of 2009!
The reason for closure was poor payment history. Now, it is true that I was 30 days late on the Home Depot card because of my office move from one city to another. The lady on the phone went on to explain that because the account had been closed for more than 30 days they could not re-open and that I would have to re-apply online or in the store. My question to her was that did Home Depot have a practice of closing accounts without first informing their customers? Of course I did not get an answer that made any sense.
I asked to speak her supervisor who was annoyingly chirpy and wanted to know how “this beautiful day was going for me”. Of course, it had been going great until I tried to pay for the materials and the card was declined. Her tone changed promptly and she says that they do not call people to let them know that their credit card is being cancelled, but just that the account needs to be brought current.
Once again my question was why they wouldn’t send a courtesy notice instead of letting people find out at the store that the account is closed. Her response to that was a complete “kop-out”… “it clearly states in our Terms and Conditions that the account may be cancelled at anytime by our credit department”.
Credit Lines and Accounts Being Slashed
My only choice was to fill out another application at the store or online. I paid by check and left the store thoroughly disgusted.
I have a lot of other credit cards cancelled or the credit line reduced, as have most other people. Nothing new there. However, for every account that was cancelled I received a written notice of the cancellation.
Home Depot, however, has decided that they will not tell their own customers that their account is cancelled. Furthermore, their online system not only show the account open, but also that there is credit available. This is wrong and deceiving. After such under-handed tactics, what incentive do people in my position have to ever payoff their credit cards
If I had known that the account was closed I wouldn’t have wasted my time and gas to go the store. I could have just ordered the materials from another store much closer by. This is the kind of bank stupidty that is causing a tremendous strain on American small businesses.
Once I got back to the office, I decided that I am not going to do credit card business again with Home Depot. I wrote a check for the balance owed on the card. Done.
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