I had their MasterCard. I never had a problem with them until they raised my interest rate 5% in March. When I called to complain, I was told that they had no other interest rate available and that the new rate was because of the Fed increasing the prime rate 1.25% over the last six months. Ultimately, I don't carry a balance so the interest rate wouldn't have affected me, but the principle of the thing bugged me. I cancelled the account. My experience aside. The Associates is one of the largest bank cards in the country in addition to having issuing and servicing some merchant cards (Texaco and Shell [just the gas card, not the MasterCard issued through Chase]). The service has been okay. I was a little peeved by one thing they pulled in January '99. I was leaving the country for a vacation and hadn't received my bill, so I sent them a check with a letter clearly noting my account number and balance. This was sent two weeks before the due date. I got hit with a $29 late fee. The reason? I didn't send my payment in their envelope, so the entire packet got routed somewhere else in the payment center and didn't get posted until a day after the due date. After about a month of battling with them about this, they finally reluctantly removed the late charge. That said. They aren't the worst company I've dealt with, but they aren't the best either.
From my experience, once they've charged off an account, they'll let you settle the debt for 45-50% of the balance. They'll send it to you in writing too! haha
The reason I was asking was because I recieved one of those "pre-approved" offers from them. Thank's for all of the input. G Weller wrote:-------------------------------Has anyone heard of this place?If so please post any expierences you have had with them.TIA
