Devoted to the call center industry, the agents on the phones, and their managers

Entry #3 is from Matthew:

Well I used to work for a very large bank as a collections call center representative. I have to say that I have had many a bad call where screaming and so forth ensued but I would like to post one of the funnier calls I ever took.

This woman Janice [names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent] calls into my phone. She is flipping out screaming her little head off about any number of different issues.

Why is my interest at 25%
Why am I getting overlimit charges ($35)?
Why can't I use my card?

She went on and on. Now for some background. This is a very small card with a $200 limit (which if you work in the industry you don't even wanna waste time on a call like this). If the balance werent enough, the card was a card for a specific chain of Discount Superstores so I knew that I was talking to the High School Valedictorian or even possibly the latest Mensa candidate [sarcastic grin].

I spend the 1st 5 minutes just trying to get this lady to calm down enough so I can address each issue, one at a time. The whole time I am reviewing the account and seeing that she always pays her $10 minimum payment on time (don't these people know minimum payment = slavery?) Looks like she is trying to live off this card from the purchases she is making.

So I begin to answer her questions.

Why is my interest so high?
-Well you have been overlimit on your card for the past three months. (wait for small explosion to subside while hearing gripes about how I (like it is really me) shouldn't be able to charge such high interest and that Im probably some punk kid just lining my pockets [college student,new wife,1st baby - yeah, im living the good life])

Why am I getting overlimits fees?
-When you go over your credit limit the bank can charge you those fees. (again another explosion this time she says congress should outlaw these fees and she is going to write her congressman [you go right ahead dear])

Why can't I use my card?
-When you go over your limit a certain amount we suspend charging privileges until it is brought back down. (big bad nuclear explosion here with more expletives and a rant on how we shouldn't let her go over her limit [to be honest i could never figure out how a bank can let a cardholder spend 2.5 times their limit])

I then proceed to explain to the woman that in order to keep an account from going over the limit you have to pay more than the minimum monthly amount. I then give her a simple plan of how she can start to bring her account under control.

She stops me and says... ;and by the way I will never forget this till the day I day.

"I thought if I paid the $10 a month then I got to spend $200 a month"

Oh my gosh I about died. She thought that we would let her spend $200 every month as long as she paid $10 every month. The business model associated with such a practice still confounds me.

I calmly let her know how a credit card actually functions and that if she wanted we could send her a copy of the agreement she signed. I also had to tell her that we could not reverse the interest, or the fees, and of course could not reinstate the card as it had been closed.

All in all I think the one thing this call taught me is that people communicate from different perspectives. I was talking from the position of someone who knows how a credit card works and she was talking from the postion of someone who... well who the heck knows where she got that idea.

P.S. [1] I know I sound bitter but working in a call center (especially collections) will do that to you. If it makes you feel better I only feel that way when thinking of my experiences.

P.S. [2] There are cards that work similar to how this women thought but they are for exclusive high rollers and they still have to pay back every penny.