Publicly Revealing the Name of Bank, Credit Card Company....

[Rob]

On Facebook, I posted about a problem I'm having with my credit card company and that I've decided to terminate my business with them.

Two people have asked me for the name of my credit card company. Both times, I said "I don't reveal that information."

The second person I said that to tried putting a guilt trip on me for not sharing on Facebook the name of my credit card company. According to her, I could've helped the next deaf person avoid this bank/credit card company.

I explained why I'm not comfortable sharing that information, that it is personal and private. I wouldn't reveal online the name of my bank, credit card company or mortgage company, etc, because I don't feel safe revealing that information.

My friend seems to think I'm being silly by not sharing the name of my credit card company.

Would you reveal that kind of information on Facebook or anywhere on the internet?

[Juli]

If the institution is big, Citi, Bank of America, Chase, etc., it feels like it would be harder to find my specific account, compared to a smaller regional one. I'm comfortable saying that my main card was through BoA, but the co-brand decided to go with a smaller bank, one I had never heard of before, and I'm not willing to give that bank's name in the open. If there is a true issue with my regional bank, yeah, I'll post in FB groups for local people, just to give a heads up, but I wouldn't post on my wall.

[Gimpy]

I might reveal the type of card but never the banking concern. Every bank does Visa or Mastercard.

[Jim]

I guess it would depend on the issue at hand. One local bank that I don’t use recently had a major clusterfuck of a merger and customers got royally screwed over. If I were one of those customers, I would’ve vented and sought advice on which bank to switch my accounts over. Otherwise,I haven’t ever had a reason to discuss banking issues before this topic came up.

[Stan]

If someone messaged me directly and asked, I might tell them. I wouldn't post it publicly.

[davef]

I've recommended my credit union by name to locals asking for ideas for fin institutions to switch to. I feel comfortable because we have an excellent fraud program with them.

[graham]

I regularly switch bank accounts and credit cards because it's financially beneficial to me.

I've just moved from a Nat West bank account to HSBC because HSBC offered me £200 to switch. The process is simple, done automatically and takes about a week. Any Direct Debits are moved over to the new bank, any payments to the old bank automatically get paid to the new one etc.

It doesn't have a negative effect on my credit score and in 6 months or a year, I'll see what the best offer is then and switch once more :-)

Similarly, I have one (cashback) Visa credit card which I use for my main spending, I have two others (currently HSBC and Tesco Bank) which I have transferred existing card balances to on 0% deals which I pay off at the minimum each month.

When those deals come to an end, I'll look for other, long term, deals and shift again. This generally costs about 2.5% to 3% of the total balance, so effectively I've borrowed several grand at 3% interest ;-)

Finally, my mortgage is with Barclays (they bought out the original one from Woolwich) and is charged at 0.18% above the Bank of England base rate. This meant that, whilst the base rate was 0.25%, I was paying £16 a month interest on a £72k mortgage!!

I have no problems in revealing this information, it doesn't compromise my security in any way and, in fact, I quite happily publicise it because I can help other people learn how to (perfectly legitimately) Play the System to their advantage, instead of to the advantage of the banks and card companies :-)

I don't know if the USA has anyone like Martin Lewis www.moneysavingexpert.com/ but if they don't, they should have!

[Rob]

Jun 2, 2023 23:38:53 GMT -5 Stan said:

If someone messaged me directly and asked, I might tell them. I wouldn't post it publicly.

Someone I trust did ask me in a private message, and I gave him the name. But I refuse to share it in the open.

But I'm considering that maybe after I've terminated my business with this company, then maybe I'll name it publicly.

[martycanuck]

I think it is wise to not make that info public. Even if the risk of having your account attacked is very small giving them a head start on where to look if they want to would raise the risk slightly and that is not in your best interest.

Also agree that if it was someone you knew and trusted I would tell them in a PM but not in a public post. 

[Juli]

Now that I've had time to think about it, depending on the issue and how you (the general "you", not necessarily Rob in specific) word your rant/post, the institution might come after you for libel if you say it in public, especially if you didn't give them a chance to know what was wrong and correct it. If it was a truly horrible thing, like the fraudulent accounts at Wells Fargo, posting on Facebook would be low on the list of places to talk about it, bank corporate offices and whatever regulatory commission should be first.

Rob, you said that someone asking you specified it would help the deaf community to know. Thing is, such issues like you had might not be bank specific, so identifying your specific bank isn't really the solution. It's more to the point to let others know what they could experience from their own bank, and how to address it with the institution, so the bank can take corrective action.

[Rob]

Jun 3, 2023 13:15:20 GMT -5 Juli said:

Rob, you said that someone asking you specified it would help the deaf community to know. Thing is, such issues like you had might not be bank specific, so identifying your specific bank isn't really the solution. It's more to the point to let others know what they could experience from their own bank, and how to address it with the institution, so the bank can take corrective action.

My problem was that I couldn't log into my online account to monitor my credit card activity because a couple months ago, the bank removed the option to receive the sign-in confirmation code via text message. The only option to receive the code was by phone call, which I would not be able to hear.

Seeing no other way to contact them, I was forced to call the bank through the relay service. At first, no one would take the call. I kept getting hung up on. But finally, Friday morning, I got someone to take the call.

They kept putting me on hold, transferring me to different departments, none of them fixing the problem. After an hour and thirty-seven minutes on the relay with them and no solution reached, they just hung up on me.

I agree with my friend that such companies should be called out. If this was some other business and not my credit card company, I would have named it.

[mank]

I would reveal that information. I don't see the big deal at all. My bank with a ton of my investments, checking, etc., is PNC Bank. I have credit cards with Chase for my BP gas card. I use a Capital One credit card too. What is wrong with revealing that information? I haven't given you account numbers just listed major companies.

What am I missing here that people wouldn't give out that information. Oh, and the company I work for uses Empower for its 401k accounts.

And, Lo and behold I agree with Graham on this subject. (The world must be coming to an end... LOL just kidding here)

It seems I cannot vote for some reason but mark me as a yes.

[Rob]

At present, Mank, I can't access my account. I don't know what's going on with it. For all I know, someone has hacked it.

[frodi]

I would ring their help line and keep repeating "I am deaf, could your designated person for dealing with disabilities please contact me via {insert preferred method} . "

[Rob]

Jun 4, 2023 14:22:23 GMT -5 frodi said:

I would ring their help line and keep repeating "I am deaf, could your designated person for dealing with disabilities please contact me via {insert preferred method} . "

I was on the relay with them for almost two hours, and then they just hung up without resolving anything. The department that hung up on me was their accessibility department.

[graham]

Jun 4, 2023 10:15:45 GMT -5 Rob said:

I agree with my friend that such companies should be called out. If this was some other business and not my credit card company, I would have named it.

If I'd been in that position and been treated that way, I'd definitely have a) called them out and b) looked for a new company!

[graham]

Jun 4, 2023 11:50:50 GMT -5 mank said:

And, Lo and behold I agree with Graham on this subject. (The world must be coming to an end... LOL just kidding here)

Checks outside for blue moons... ;-)

[Rob]

Jun 4, 2023 16:58:36 GMT -5 graham said:

Jun 4, 2023 10:15:45 GMT -5 Rob said:

I agree with my friend that such companies should be called out. If this was some other business and not my credit card company, I would have named it.

If I'd been in that position and been treated that way, I'd definitely have a) called them out and b) looked for a new company!

At the moment, I'm more worried about my account being hijacked than I am about justice.

[martycanuck]

Jun 4, 2023 17:24:08 GMT -5 Rob said:

Jun 4, 2023 16:58:36 GMT -5 graham said:

If I'd been in that position and been treated that way, I'd definitely have a) called them out and b) looked for a new company!

At the moment, I'm more worried about my account being hijacked than I am about justice.

Understandably. I may have missed this with the travel I’ve been on but is there a branch you can go into? I know that is a burden on you but for peace of mind maybe worth it?