My company is going through many banking changes at the moment - mostly having to do with debt and credit cards. My business’s Simply Cash American Express credit card is almost one year old, so my 12 month promotional 0% rate is almost up. I had planned to shift some of the balance to my American Express line of credit, but last month they reduced my available credit, much to my dismay.
Therefore, I applied for a few new credit cards on behalf of my company:
* Bank of America Business Power Rewards Card
* Citibank Points Card
* Chase / Amazon.com credit card
None of the cards gave me an instant approval, but I’m happy to report that I was eventually approved for the Citi and Chase cards. I haven’t heard from Bank of America yet about my Power Rewards application. Speaking of Bank of America credit cards, I recently took them up on an offer for a 7.9% fixed rate on a cash advance on my FIA Platium Card. Not a bad deal since its for the life of the balance. Speaking of which, I should setup auto-payments for that!
The Chase card looks great, it comes with a 6 month promotional rate of 0% on purchases, balance transfers, and balance transfer checks.
The Citi looks good too. The credit line is lower, and the promotional rate is only good for balance transfers, but it is 0% for 12 months.
My wife is looking to buy a new car, and so we’re shopping around for auto loans.
When I bought my 2006 Toyota Corolla, Toyota was having a promotion and I landed 2.9% financing. The same dealership is now offering 7%, no thanks.
USAA
We called USAA, and they said they could offer 5.99%, a little better.
FIA Card Services / Bank of America
FIA Card Services is really Bank of America, and they are offering 6.04% according to their website.
Capital One
Capital One also has 5.99% car loan rates on new cars.
Credit Cards
While there are no doubt better deals on credit cards, the available credit won’t be as high, and it will also have a negative impact on our credit score, so no thanks.
Promotional Car Loan Rates
We’re hoping to find a promotional auto loan rate within the next few weeks. If I find anything good, I’ll post it here!
UPDATE:
We ended up going through Toyota Motor Credit Company (TMCC) as they were able to provide a slightly better rate and a faster turnaround. My wife got her new Toyota RAV4 in less than two days!
I got my FIA Card Services business credit card statement today, and I’m glad to say that they are indeed honoring the offer they sent me months ago for 2.9% interest on cash advances.
The first statement I received had an interest rate of 19.9%, so I called and asked them what that was all about. Although the CSR was helpful and agreed that it was a mistake, I wasn’t sure if they were going to come through with a fix.
I know FIA Card Services isn’t doing as good a job as MBNA did in managing their private bank branded cards, but I’m so glad that in this case they fixed their error.
Also, here’s a link just in case you are looking for FIA Card Services contact information.
I just got an inquiry from a Citi credit card representative about debits on a customers account from FIA Card Services. Unfortunately, contacting FIA Card Services is difficult for many, so I will link back to the original post with their contact information:
FIA Card Services Contact Information
Here’s what I wrote back to the Citi representative:
FIA Card Services is the new name for MBNA since Bank of America bought them. Please see our post about FIA Card Services for their contact information:
FIA Card Services Contact Information
Informed Banking Staff
I just opened my FIA Card Services monthly statement (first one since MBNA was bought by Bank of America / FIA) and was greeted with an unpleasant surprise. While I was offered 2.9%, they tried to charge me 19.9%. I called up their customer service department and dug out a copy of the offer.
Surprisingly, someone picked up the phone fairly quickly. I explained the situation, and after verifying my identity (which I appreciated) found that my complaint was justified. The customer service representative was also surprised by the error, and said he would fix the rate. He said the correct rate of 2.9% would be applied to my account retroactively and moving forward.
Can you believe it? That only took about 5 minutes. Its nice when people admit their mistakes.
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