Corporate Outrage of the Day: A Fee of Up to $100 to Close a Card Account
OUTRAGE: A credit card account closing fee, assessed if you close your account before paying off your balance in full, of 3% of the balance (minimum $10, maximum $100!) (Hat Tip to e-mailer MS)
THE PERP: National City Bank
To complain, if you are an affected National City cardholder:
Office of the Chairman
NCC
1 NCC Parkway, K-A16-4A
Kalamzoo, MI 49009
In the classes I teach at companies, I normally suggest that people immediately close accounts they are working on paying off; obviously that’s a problem here. I called National City’s credit card customer service group, and they made it clear that they intend to enforce this fee. So I asked “What should a customer who is trying to dig out of a debt hole do to remove the temptation of available credit?” Their only suggestion was that the person should periodically reduce their credit line as they pay off the balance (snide remark–there’s no fee for that–yet).
I would suggest that you complain, whether or not you are a National City customer, to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (occ.treas.gov), the alleged regulator of national banks. But don’t waste your time, unless you get satisfaction out of utter futility. The OCC rep I spoke with told me:
“There are no laws or regulations that address fees that banks may charge to an account. It is a purely contractual matter. If they disclose the matter in their Terms and Conditions and give you adequate notice, they can legally change their terms in any way they choose.”
Could somebody tell me why the OCC exists?
AND: Can there be more clear reason than the above quote to oppose the current one-sided bankruptcy “reform” (BR) legislation?
Expect more of this unrestrained fine print abuse if BR passes. A link to an overview of the bill as passed by the Senate is HERE. The current best link for reasons to oppose it is HERE.
This is the first instance of a closing fee above $10 I have ever seen. I would like to hear about specific examples of other cards with percentage-of-balance closing fees or higher flat-rate closing fees. Please e-mail any examples, preferably with links. If you don’t have one, which is likely, I’ll take a toll-free number and follow up myself. National City’s Terms and Conditions are only accessible if you are considering applying for a new card, and the closing fee is NOT disclosed (which is OK according to National City, because the Closing Fee doesn’t take effect until April 16–zheesh).
UPDATE: Politology explains why a bill like BR can become law even though there’s no hue and cry for it (though IMHO he stretches the analogy a little far).
