Consumer Anger With Credit Card Companies Mounts

This will probably come as no surprise to the majority of our readers but we thought we should bring it to your attention anyway because the numbers are quite interesting.

Recently (July 2009) Consumer Reports conducted a poll of 1200 credit card account holders and the findings should put credit card issuers on notice that their customers are getting fed up with shabby treatment.

To whit, since January of 2008 more than a third of the 1200 consumers queried said that they have paid off their credit cards in full and closed their accounts. More than half of those people said that they did so because of the lousy treatment they received from their credit card company.

The lousy treatment refers to raised interest rates, reduced borrowing limits and fees suddenly being imposed that didn’t exist before.

The credit card companies for their part, point to a record high number of defaults and pending credit card reform legislation to justify their actions. But as you can imagine, they are not getting much sympathy or traction with that line of reasoning.

The poll found that 21% felt that they were being treated unfairly. Only 41% reported that they were ‘highly satisfied’ with their credit card issuer. Of all the services that Consumer Reports covers, credit cards rank amongst the lowest in customer satisfaction.

In response, 45% of the consumers said that they are now charging less, while 43% they are using their credit cards about the same, and 11% said they are using them more than they did a year ago.

Some other numbers from the poll you may find interesting include; 54% of the respondents now pay their balances off in full each and every month, 13% carry balances totaling over $10,000, and 33% have balances on one or more credit cards up to $10,000.

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