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I am a credit card user for more or less five years from now but never in my entire life that I had felt underdog until one of my ex-trusted credit card company treated me one. Now is the best time to share with you not just my thoroughly bad experience but the worst ever in the history of my finance!

It started last year when I got hospitalized for a week. This was my first time I was confined and bed-ridden in a hospital where I’ve cancelled everything in my planner. It was really an unpleasant experience for me with all the dextrose and syringes. But the good thing there was I’m a full time employee who gets paid regularly so I was able to settle my account at the hospital including the post medical treatment expenses such as medicines and follow up check up.

However, the supposed-to-be payment of my regular responsibilities such as my credit card was affected since I regularly charge the grocery and personal expenses to it. This time, I wasn’t able to pay for the monthly due of June 2012. But the sooner I went home (although I wasn’t fully recovered yet) and even before the June statement was given to me, I was able to call their hotline and asking for consideration to waive the interest that might occur for that month since I already foresee that I cannot pay for it (not even the minimum amount). The agent told me to call back after a week or soon after the June statement will be posted to their system.

I followed what she told me and when I called back, the agent said that they cannot waive the charges of my account. I even asked them if I need to furnish them a copy of my Medical Certificate just to give consideration to my request, but still they refused. Thus, she gave me an option that I could apply it to their straight-to-instalment program which I did. She told me to call back after a week to follow up my request, unfortunately, it was declined. This was the first time that my request was declined so I asked her what the next best thing to do in my situation. She told me that I could still re-apply it to the same program for the next month which I did.

The following month, I called them back for another straight-to-instalment request. The same response I got from the agent: which was to call back after a number of the days or until they got a response from another department which approves or disapproves the request. I already got the financial statement of that month but the agent I spoke with told me that there was no response yet from their department. I told the agent that I’m worried of the finance charge and interest that my account would acquire if I could not settle the total balance on the due date. The agent has suggested me to pay at least the minimum amount before their due date so that the other charges won’t be applied. I asked the agent, “how about my application for their program?” She just told me that I could still pay the minimum amount while waiting for the approval of my request by which I then foolishly obeyed.

I requested for the third application. During this time, I’ve regularly used my credit card for my groceries and the like which was a normal thing for me to do since I already paid half of my total balance. Thus, I’m confident enough that my reapplication will be approved. Unfortunately, it was declined again.

I already lost my hope for the approval of my application and I was much more worried of the interest and finance charges that they would imposed to my account due to the recent transactions I’ve made.

Surprisingly back in November, I got a personal phone call from this bank and they were offering for the same straight-to-instalment program under my account. I was a bit excited about it however; they were just offering a portion of the total balance which was not even half of the total balance of my account. When I spoke with the agent, I already sensed that something wrong was going on. This could be one of the filthy strategies of this bank just to hook up their customers and prolong the agony of paying the interest and finance charges. I frankly told the agent that I like to apply but it should be the whole amount. She insisted that only a portion of the amount was offered. Again, I honestly told her that I already applied for it three times but were declined. She said she could reapply another same request to my account which I felt secure because this time, it was the bank that called and offered me for such reapplication.

Unfortunately, the reapplication was declined for the fourth time. This made my total balance got bigger and bigger until I found myself looking for another bank that offers a balance transfer at a low rate.

Earlier this January, I received a feedback from the new bank where I applied for a balance transfer that the only reason that my application will be disapproved if the amount that I’ve applied was more or less than the actual total amount. I’ve made my serious finance computation with the agent including the amount that I need to settle from the old bank to approve my request.

Luckily, it was approved. However, when I called the ‘worst local bank’ back to close my account, they said that my account has incurred additional interest and I still need to pay for that interest before closing the account! I cannot fully understand the situation because the balance transferred that I have applied to the new bank has been approved with no issues. And if ever I still have interest to pay from the old bank, my balance transfer application will be disapproved! The agent simply answered me that it was a system generated. At first, I told her that I am not willing to pay for that amount and insisted to close my account. She boastfully said that she cannot do it unless I pay for the interest! During that time, I really felt bad as if I would like to curse the day I applied for the said credit card.

As to date, I have paid them the additional unreasonable interest and charges, and finally closed the account. But with that being said, they cannot stop me from spreading this information! I do have friends who are working in that company and now I know the reason why most of the employees of that bank don’t avail their own credit card, it’s simply because of their absolutely rotten business strategy: to dig and earn money from their painfully paying customers. Right now, I positively believe that credit cards are not bad as long as you manage your accounts wisely. Moreover, I’ve learned my lesson that even if you manage it carefully, you need to cautiously choose what bank is behind that credit card. Based on my experience, I don’t just believe they are the world’s local bank but certainly the world’s worst bank ever! (AAP)