Time To Take A Stand Against Sear's Billing Practices

CitiBank is the worst credit card company in the world. I won't have a
Sear's account because they are now using CitiBank.
CitiBank has outsourced their customer service to India. I do not like
people in foreign countries having access to my financial information.

Sear's has nothing to do with it!! They sold their credit card
division several years ago to CitiBank. If you check your credit
contract you will see that CitiBank is the creditor not Sear's. So to
be angry at Sear's is ludicrous!! Furthermore it is illegal for a
credit card company to just arbitrarily raise your rates. They would
have sent you a letter or put a billing insert in your billing telling
you the rates were going to change at a certain date in the future and
if you do not agree with these rates to pay off your account and
return your card

Shop around for a better card. These credit card companies are just
waiting for you to make an error so they can profit on you. But when
you get another card, do read the fine print. As tedious as it is,all
their little tricks are disclosed right in the fine print. If your
credit is really good, you can phone them and ask them to eliminate
the fee. Sometimes they will do it provided your credit history is
good. If not, get a different card. Sears has one of the highest
interest rates around. I would only use them if there was a great
incentive, and pay it off in full each month. If not get rid of it.

I could hardly understand exactly what the problem was...however, if
you got a bill from Sears, you should have paid attention to what you
owed.

In the top left hand corner, there's a box. It listed the total
account balance, the due date of the bill, and then the minimum
balance due. You should review what the bill says when you receive it
just in case something's wrong or changed.

Perhaps they should have included a letter that told you of the
change, but oh well.

I don't think this was Sears fault.

I really think there is a valid complaint in there somewhere, of them
having raised your monthly payment without telling you and then
charging you late fees on the difference that you didn't know about.
I think that stinks, and if it's accurate, I think Sears should be
ashamed of themselves.

But...but...you have to dig so deep for that message in this
letter...I'm not sure your average joe is going to get it! I assume I
am finding it based on my uniquely empathic abilities (and 12 years
experience of chatting with people who are painfully inadequate
communicators), but can you be certain the folks at Sears will have
the same abilities? Nay, I say...NAY!!

Write the letter again - this time with a very clear progression:

This is how it was. Then something changed, and I noticed it. I
called and they explained it to me, but I didn't understand the
explanation. Then I noticed I was being charged late fees for the
charge I had found all on my own who knows how long after it happened!
I think it was an illegal billing practic for you to raise my rates
without telling me. I am more than happy to pay the new rate, and
even make up the past due difference, but I would like you to waive
the unneccesary late fees. Yours truly, You.

I bet you'll get a much better response. That is, if Sears cares.

Poorly written letter. My advice would be to re-write this letter and
re-send.

Wow - what an appallingly bad letter.

Gladys,

With all due respect, what the others are telling you about this
letter is correct. It is horribly written. You've made spelling
mistakes and typos throughout. And, as Chris pointed out, even a math
error.

The problem is how you represent yourself to the reader. It's not
enough to explain the problem to Sears, but to represent yourself as
someone educated enough to handle an account without such issues.
After reading your letter, I began to wonder if the error was on your
part. They may have warned you of an interest and minimum payment
increase, which you did not read or understand. Or was there an
additional purchase placed on the account, which may explain the
increased payment and the additional $28 that is unaccounted for.

Yeesh...you expect to be taken seriously when you write like that?
Nobody's going to know what the problem is.

I bet what happened is you either missed a payment or you didn't pay
your full balance for a month, which led to you being charged a late
payment fee and having your interest rate raised.

That's how credit cards work. Sorry we have to be the ones to tell
you.

And even if you close the account, you must still pay off the balance.
I would hope you don't need to be told this,. but I can't be sure from
your letter.

Uggh, this will be painful....

"I have been making more than the monthly payment for over 6 months on
my credit account. I am then assessed a $35 late fee for underpaying
my May bill by $20. I called to find out why my minimum payment went
up and they said that my interest rate was raised. Why would you
raise it? I have been paying $130 per month and now they want $150
per month as the minimum payment. With the addition of the late
charge of $35, I now owe $185 (ok, so she said $213, but I could never
get there with any weird math). For what do I owe this much? Is this
how you treat customers of 30 years? It is time to take a stand!"

Anyways, could any of this have to do with the new laws regarding
minimum balances? I know recently the law went into affect requiring
3% (?) min payment for the balance instead of 1 1/2 % (?) ???

Why would I start going to another thread to continue the conversation
I'm having?

Doesn't change the fact the letter is bad.

What?!

This is one of the worst letters I've ever tried to read. Next time
get someone to write for you.

Needless to say, your letter is so poorly written that it's difficult
to understand what happened. It sounds to me like you didn't pay the
total minimum due for May and for that they charged you a late payment
fee and raised your interest rate which is probably within their right
as outlined in your cardholder agreement. It doesn't matter if you've
been a customer for 30 years - - you must make the minimum monthly
payment to avoid late payment fees and to maintain the lowest possible
interest rate.