Posted by Lisa Hochgraf
OK, I admit it. I will likely soon have a credit card from Bank of America.
How I came to be expecting this card in the mail is kind of a long story, full confession below.
The important takeaways from my confession, I think, are the evidence it provides that 1) affinity cards make a difference, 2) people really do hold on to their first credit cards a long time, 3) disgruntled customers may be expensive customers, and 4) that the big banks can afford to hire really able marketers.
Now, the confession you've been waiting for.
I got my first credit card independent of my parents when I graduated from college. It was from MBNA. But to me, it was from the Wisconsin Alumni Foundation. And it was beautiful. It had a photo of Bascom Hall (not unlike the one at left) against a blue sky. And I liked the idea that the foundation was benefiting from my purchases. (So this is point one: affinity counts.)
I used it as my financial planner mother had taught me--paying off my charges in full each month, so as not to accrue interest. When I got a letter saying I could get a lower interest rate, I read the fine print until I saw they would institute an annual fee. No thanks! (And how sneaky!)
I was actually pretty excited when MBNA upgraded me to a Platinum card in 1996 (several years after getting the original), even though they took away the beautiful card with the blue sky campus photo. (This is point two: the evidence that people keep their first cards a long time).
But then I got grumpy. I was late in paying once and the company wouldn't forgive the whopping $35 fee. Wow. I was also learning a lot about the larger financial services marketplace as an editor for CUES. So I decided I'd keep the card but not use it. Let them pay to send me statements with no transactions! (Remember, point three was disgruntled customers can be costly.)
But it didn't really seem to matter to them. The statements stopped coming. The offers stopped coming. And I actually had pretty much forgotten about the card until last week when I got a one-page letter reminding me that MBNA and Bank of America had merged and letting me know that I would be getting a new BoA card in the mail "in coming weeks."
And this brings me to point four. They must have some fabulous marketers at Bank of America. In this letter I'm impressed with the clarity of the writing, not to mention the conciseness. They addressed every possible question I could have ... "Don't forget to activate your new card as soon as it arrives. Once you activate your new card, destroy your old card and you can start using it immediately for purchases, cash advances, and balance transfers." The letter was so friendly and helpful.
I'm kind of waiting to see if the new BoA card actually arrives in the mail pretty soon. Any suggestions on what I should do with it?
