Your egg card will not be renewed - unfair practice?

opinions4u

You don't use it.

You are a cost to their business.

Egg are owned by Citibank who have a major funding issue. One way of dealing with this is to reduce the risk of unused accounts being used.

You are right when you say they need to make money. They are not able to with your piddling account.

chattychappy

Chinn wrote: »

They didn't tell me in writing or by email that they intended to do this, if they had I would have put a few quid on it and kept it "alive".

Now would that be a "fair" practice?

Agree with what has been said so far. Why is it OK for you to demand higher standards of Egg than of yourself?

Seems they've made the right judgement here. Other CCs might offer a "keep alive" option - but that's their judgement.

NB dormant accounts have been identified by the FSA as a money laundering risk. (Easier for them to get taken over. More difficult to judge out-of-character behaviour.) Institutions are encouraged to close them down - be they credit card accounts or bank accounts - or carry out further due diligence which is expensive.

Chinn

I'm miffed at the last few posts. For clarity I don't want something for nothing, far from it.

The simple facts are

- I didn't use it, I would have used it if I'd known they'd take it away.

- I have been a cost, I didn't need to be and would not be in the future- I just need to have the opportunity now I know about the lack of use.

- It is egg's loss, if they had told me they were going to take it away, I would use it (I want to use it now) but they won't let me - ergo they could make money out of me (which is fine) but they don't want to!

- I was always happy to use it, it's just that I got a better cash back deal from another card, the benefits to using that other card were clear, the egg card benefits were not and in not being clear egg lose out.

- I don't have to "guarantee" to use the card and I'm not expecting anyone to act on my "assurances". All they have to do is say "you need to use the card to the tune of £x transactions in any 6 month period, you've been told now so we'll pull the card if you don't" and that would be fine - here's your yellow card and an explanation, next time it's a red card, more than reasonable.

My point is that egg aren't thinking about this at all, it's a daft policy if applied without thought or flexibility, it's lost my custom and will never recoup the costs even though the opportunity is there.

zppp

Chinn wrote: »

I'm miffed at the last few posts. For clarity I don't want something for nothing, far from it.

The simple facts are

- I didn't use it, I would have used it if I'd known they'd take it away.

If you were that bothered about keeping it, why did you not use it?

Chinn wrote: »

- I have been a cost, I didn't need to be and would not be in the future- I just need to have the opportunity now I know about the lack of use.

How did they know that. They had to take a commercial decision, and I imagine yours was not the only card cancelled.

Chinn wrote: »

- It is egg's loss, if they had told me they were going to take it away, I would use it (I want to use it now) but they won't let me - ergo they could make money out of me (which is fine) but they don't want to!

I'm sure their 'loss' will cause them an utter amount of grief.

Chinn wrote: »

- I was always happy to use it, it's just that I got a better cash back deal from another card, the benefits to using that other card were clear, the egg card benefits were not and in not being clear egg lose out.

So why are you complaining if you have a better card elsewhere?

Chinn wrote: »

- I don't have to "guarantee" to use the card and I'm not expecting anyone to act on my "assurances". All they have to do is say "you need to use the card to the tune of £x transactions in any 6 month period, you've been told now so we'll pull the card if you don't" and that would be fine - here's your yellow card and an explanation, next time it's a red card, more than reasonable.

What is more than reasonable is for one to expect that if you have an inactive bank account or credit card, that it will be treated as dormant and closed.

Chinn wrote: »

My point is that egg aren't thinking about this at all, it's a daft policy if applied without thought or flexibility, it's lost my custom and will never recoup the costs even though the opportunity is there.

Perhaps they don't want to take the chance of possible further costs.

Chinn

chattychappy wrote: »

Now would that be a "fair" practice?

Agree with what has been said so far. Why is it OK for you to demand higher standards of Egg than of yourself?

Who's "demanding", you can't get to demand with egg, you can't even get to ask, computer says no.

All I'm saying is that if I had known there was a minimum level of activity I would have been at least that active - ie I would have played by the rules happily letting egg make a profit and keeping things afloat for me.

It's not a demand and it is the standard I'd apply to myself.

Is it wrong to try make amends and play by the rules when you find you've inadvertently broken them? I'm happy to play by the rules but have no opportunity to do so - after all it's not like I paid late or ran up a debt I'm trying to run away from.

The whole point of this thread was to discuss whether it was reasonable to close an account without giving the customer the chance to fix things. Dormant accounts should be closed, that's not an issue but what constitutes dormant? Should dormant be allowed to be reanimated once identified? I say yes, egg says no - it just strikes me noteworthy.

The reason I'm a bit peeved at their attitude is in the opening post, I use egg's money manager to manage my on-line accounts and setting all that up elsewhere stuck me as hassle. In fact it's not been that much drama to change over to use first direct's similar service, I still think egg are throwing the baby out with the bathwater but then I'm just a customer and not a worthy one at that :-)

Jammi

zppp wrote: »

I'll be honest, I don't think you are.

I think they are.

OP is feeling the natural sense of rejection that comes from being told that you are no longer wanted, and simply asked for advice on how/if possible to convince Egg that he/she can be profitable for them again.

OP now knows what many have already found out, that it does not matter how long you have been with a financial institution, it counts for nothing when they make their business decisions.

dunstonh

but then I'm just a customer and not a worthy one at that :-)

You are not really a customer. You are drain on their resources. But you are right, you are not a worthy one. Hence why they want rid of you.

The problem is that you see yourself as being something valuable to them. You are not. If you were self employed or in a position of business management you would know that you cannot be a charity when you are in business. Yes, there are things that you dont make money on or even lose money on but you cannot sustain long term liabilities. There comes a point when you have to say goodbye to them and draw a line in the sand. Its not about loyalty. You see yourself as loyal as you were with them for over 10 years but you were a loyal drain on their resources and you were not using the card. That is not loyalty as loyalty works both ways. However, in card services loyalty is really a non issue anyway.

sicker

As far as I'm conderned it is 'money for nothing'. I don't go out and spend just because I have a credit limit. I spend on my Egg Money card as much as I NEED to spend, clear it each month and get a nice little 'free' bonus each March.

jonesMUFCforever

OP for god's sake just get another card to put in the drawer never to be used just in case!!

Move on pleeeaaasseee.

lisyloo

My point is that egg aren't thinking about this at all, it's a daft policy if applied without thought or flexibility, it's lost my custom and will never recoup the costs even though the opportunity is there.

I disagree with you (across the majority of customers).
If they specified some rules, then some people (the majority) would perhaps use the card occassionally to keep the benefits.
These people would still probably be a cost.
They don't want to tell you the rules because across the board people will use it to their own advantage (you personally might not but across the board people will).

Why should they want to keep these customers who quite frankly are a pain in the butt??
There are plenty of customers who will use the credit and pay interest without the need for prompting.

If you aren't happy, vote with your feet and don't use Egg again.
I've personally had very good service from them, but I do use my card and don't expect them to provide me with benefits for nothing.