Geek Soap Box

First things first: I owe a tremendous amount of money in unsecured credit card debt.  This total has accumulated incrementally over the years, across any number of individual cards and carriers, and is the result of questionable spending and poor bill management.  This situation is completely my fault; I acknowledge and accept responsibility for such, and I endeavor with every paycheck to make a small gesture of amends towards the sea of red that has swallowed me whole.

Heck, I even cashed out one of my major retirement plans last year so that I could aggressively pay off several accounts and maintain enough liquidity to ensure regular, prompt, on-time monthly payments going forward.

That being said, sometimes after dealing with the massive corporations that encompass the financial landscape, I can’t help but want to “go Tyler Durden” on their collective enterprises.  Why?  Because these entities, many of which received billions of dollars courtesy of the federal taxpayer last year as a “bailout” for their own ineptitude, still think it’s OK to be at war with their customers in some perverted zero-sum mercantilistic crusade.

I am Jack’s raging bile duct.

This week, I called Chase, receiver of $25 billion via the Troubled Assets Relief Program.  My Amazon.com Visa with this corporation is not a particularly high debt (around $2500), but the bloated APR of 28% makes it difficult to stay ahead of the curve, nor does it provide any incentive to continue to use the card.  I figured, maybe if we can work to lower that percentage rate (and, resultantly, the minimum monthly payment), it would go a long way towards righting my financial ship and leave me a more satisfied, engaged customer.

Again, for the record, I was not asking for any reduction or elimination of debt, just a decrease in interest charged on the already-accumulated balance.

Well, Chase was not exactly accommodating to my request.  The impolite customer service representative informed me that the firm is not performing any re-evaluations of percentage rates for anyone through the remainder of the summer — I had to write that one down to ensure I didn’t “misremember” it.  Then, adding insult to injury, the representative informed me that if I didn’t like this scenario, I was free to leave and take my business elsewhere.

Unbelievable.  I’ve heard of the little mom and pop restaurant maybe telling a customer never to darken its doorstep again after a disagreement or mishap, but for a major international corporation to authorize its front-line, script-reading consumer interaction representatives to speak in such a manner is shocking to say the least.  I am not in competition with Chase, I am its loyal customer for over five years.  My car is financed through the same company.  There is little sense involved in “punishing” or “taunting” me, or in refusing to help me out in troubled times.

A happy and satisfied customer is a loyal one, and it makes far more long-term financial sense to keep me in the fold than to squeeze me short term for this last drop of interest.  But then again, our massive corporations have seem to have lost sight of that, haven’t they?  It’s the same mentality that creates a rush to invest in thrice-removed mortgage-backed securities: what can you do to maximize stockholder value this quarter, so that the Board of Directors can get their big, fat bonuses?  The entire mindset of Wall Street has left America and good business sense behind, and the rest of the world teeters in its wake.

Of course, the difference between today and yesteryear is that I, as the ordinary average consumer, no longer have to stand for it.  I have this little soapbox here to tell the entire world about what happened, not to mention my 850 followers on Twitter.  It may not be much, but if my experiences even influence one person to reconsider doing business with Chase — and then they in turn influence two others via the same channels — well, the dominoes have begun to fall.

And imagine if that one influencer is someone with tens of thousands of followers, or a blogger with millions of visitors.  The spiral will only extend its arms faster.

Today, brands need to partner with consumers, not antagonize them.  The days of disruption and agitation are over.  Now, the consumer has the advantage, and a major corporation better heed that lesson well or it may find itself going the way of Lehman Brothers and others.