HUCA – Hang Up Call Again – is an extremely useful acronym. It works in every life arena: for example, if a call to a credit card company (or a store, or an airline, or just about any other business call) doesn’t seem to be going the direction you want – HANG UP CALL AGAIN.
It’s so simple. The hardest part about using this valuable tool is remaining calm enough to avoid arguing. Know when it’s not going anywhere and just HANG UP CALL AGAIN! My advice: keep your ego out of it.
One area I’ve used HUCA repeatedly (with huge success!) is with credit cards when an annual fee (that I don’t want to pay) hits my bill. Sure it was nice having that shiny card last year with no annual fee for the first year, but do I really want to pay $95 (or $125 or $450) for this next year? Regardless of whether you are actually willing to pay the money (you may think that the card is valuable enough to pay the renewal fee), a phone call to the credit card company saying you are exploring your options on keeping or canceling the card, can be hugely beneficial. In this regard, another favorite adage of mine is it doesn’t hurt to try!
My Chase Ink Bold charge card is up for renewal. The $95 hit my account. I called and asked about whether there were any promotions or offers on my account. The Chase rep told me, in no uncertain terms, that there was nothing, nada, zilch, that could be done. He said that renewal fees were never waived. His advice: Pay the fee or cancel the card. I said thank you and hung up. A week later, I called back, fairly certain that the call would not work in my favor. To my amazement, the Chase rep said yes, there was an offer on my account: I could pay the $95 renewal fee and I would receive a $95 statement credit on my account within a billing cycle or two. I was clearly surprised. I asked if there was a spending requirement for this, and was told no. There was nothing required of me.
Lesson. Don’t get discouraged by a discouraging call. Simply hang up. Call again.
A New York frequent flyer who elegantly combines her passions for worldwide travel, running a gazillion marathons all over the globe and staying fit ... without sacrificing her fancy for good wine and food.
Sure it does work but not for all cards like chase Sapphire
there’s no one rule. Sometimes i’ve gotten great offers on cards where others haven’t, and other times I haven’t gotten offers where others have. It’s always worth a shot to call.
Any data points on Barclays for retention offers or statement credits?
I’ve been EXTREMELY lucky with Barclays!!
http://willrunformiles.boardingarea.com/more-love-from-barclays-20000-aa-miles-and-no-renewal-fee/#sthash.StvMTNRE.dpbs
I had my Ink Plus $95 annual fee come due…and called to get the same offer ($95 statement credit in 1-2 billing cycles). I haven’t paid any annual fee on my Ink Plus or Ink Bold (which was converted into y second Ink Plus when Chase eliminated Bold cards) ever–largely because I used them both often enough. I now plan to cancel one (and transfer the credit from one to the other) at some point–simply for ease of bookkeeping.
I had my Chase Sapphire Preferred $95 annual fee come due…and called to get no offer. I hung up and called again to get no offer. I hung up and called again, same day, and was offered a $95 statement credit. So HUCA can work even for CSP. Of course, I suspect I charge more to my CSP than most consumers, so that may have been a factor…or I had a generous rep.