Credit Card Woes

You know, over time you get used to how credit cards work and what happens when you drop the ball or when someone drops the ball for you.

Well, Exxon/Mobile changed who their credit card company is or something and they changed how things behave. Over the years I have been late with the occasional payment. Or missed it completely. Then I'd get the next bill, say 'oh, crap, I missed a payment. ' Send the payment with enough for both payments and all would be well.

But it seems the standards have changed. We get registered mail at my house and we get one every year. Well, out of the 5 years we have been at this house we have never had it delivered by our mail man. In fact, sometimes we'd get 3rd notice with our mail, and never have gotten 1st or second notice or anything with a threat to send the registered mail back.

This year, we got registered mail, from an old employer of mine that stopped paying us just before they passed from existence. It was a check and it was sent mid-December. We got final notice almost mid-January and had to complain for the post office to hold it so we could pick it up.

Then our annual registered mail came in or rather didn't and we complained.

That month, our Exxon bill didn't come and we missed a payment. I suspect it was a gentle hint from our mail man not to fuck with him. (sorry about the expletive, but sometimes it is necessary.)

So, we missed a payment. We get a bill with a past due from Exxon. We pay it. A few days later we get a notice that we're late and that they will be withdrawing our credit. What?

So, I pay that (not realizing my wife already paid it a few days earlier). Then some time passes and we get another notice that we are late. WTF?

You know, something fishy is going on here. What happened to the courtesy of waiting until the end of the payment of the next month to kill me with stuff like this? Is there no room for error?

So, now you should understand, I've been a Exxon Card owner and purchasing only Exxon gas for the past 10 years or more. Can you imagine the thousands of dollars I have spent with them? Picture a minimum of $200 a month and you'll get a glimmer of an idea.

And now they treat me like trash. What next, are they going to send me to collections?

So, I call them immediately after I get this second letter and they tell me, oh yeah, you are flush, you've got $140 credit on the card (both payments hit, but this amount of credit should be low, maybe purchases have already been applied against it).

Top all of this off with the fact that my sister-in-law is having problems with the credit portion of Exxon as well. And Exxon is in jeopardy of losing not $200 a month, but $400 to $600 a month. Maybe it isn't much in the big picture, but I wonder how many people who use Exxon Credit are also having issues with these folks.

Way to chase the customers off that are beating your door down. Hey, there are still other gas stations, and while my wife's grandfather and great-grandfather worked at Exxon, I don't feel any particular loyalty to them. Not when they treat me like dirt.