Comments on: Sears Credit Card Customer Service

by: Moe

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:40:57 +0000

Citi and Sears just canceled my credit card account after 10 yrs. Unlike most of you I didnt get any notice or anything, in fact I was able to activate my new debit card even after the account was closed. I found out the hard way while in line trying to buy a new riding mower. I worked for 10 yrs to build a good history with them to keep a good rate and all they can tell me is to re apply. When I checked into re applying I found out they would be starting me out at 29% instead of the 19% I have had. The only answer I get is that I didnt use the card enough. I used it about twice a year and it was usually on big items, and thats not enough. I spent over $10,000 in that store in the last few years. Im done I will never set foot in sears again…..They need me way more then Ill ever need them

by: Bryan

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:04:39 +0000

I am so disappointed in Citibank that handles Sears Credit . I have been with Sears 10+ years. I received a letter in the mail today from them that they regret to inform me that they will not be renewing my card and that my account will be closed. I am embarrassed to say that due to the economy my wife and myself have been affected by it with our jobs not a complete layoff but my wife is a teacher and she has to take what they call furlough days and myself well in order for me to keep my job I had to take a pay cut . Between the both of us it effected us - $800 dollars a month. I got behind with Sears and my other creditors fortunately Sears and my other creditors were able to work with me to get my account caught up and once I get them caught up, I receive the letter from Sears telling me that my account will not be renewed due to my credit (late payments) on my credit report. My thing is Sears does not look at your history with them as a customer, they look at the credit report. I have spent thousands with this company but no more. I will not be treated like a number. What happened to the good old days where a company went by your payment history with them when giving credit?

I WANT TO BE TREATED LIKE A CUSTOMER NOT A NUMBER!!!!!!

I will not recommend Sears to anyone!!!!

by: Monica

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 07:22:39 +0000

When I applied for my Sears card, I got a credit limit of $800. It was subsequently raised to $3200, then reduced to $2100 without me ever paying late paying Sears or other credit card bills or increasing my debt load on other credit cards (I already had some debt when I got approved, all current and never late, and I am in the process of reducing it). I also paid more then the minimum, although sometimes not by much. I owed over 2000 but then reduced it to about 1900, which I paid off last December and January. I paid $1000 in December and $926 in January, which brought the balance to 0. In February, they charged me about $10 in finance charges, increased the interest rate to 29.90% and reduced my credit limit to $500. I feel unfairly penalized because the credit limit reduction may reduce my credit rating through no fault of mine. I didn’t know about the credit limit reduction and interest rate increase until I got my February statement (a letter came letter saying that it was necessary but not why). As of February 9, my credit report still said that I owed $926 and the amount of the last payment was not reported at all, which is not fair, as having paid lots of money in December and January would show that I can do so. My Equifax credit score was 699 and I assumed it would actually increase due to having paid off the nearly 2k Sears debt (maybe it will, as I have since paid half of one credit card balance and I’ll pay it off in March).

by: Melissa

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 06:37:10 +0000

I have had a Sears Credit Card for over 10 years now with a $12,000 limit. There has been no balance on this account for about a year. They lowered my credit to $250. Why? There reason is that we have too many credit cards. We only have 3 others and two have low balances. I will never buy anything from Sears again after being treated like this.

by: mike biro

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 11:22:30 +0000

my last credit score was 828 5 years ago all of my income for the most part is desposeable now , at that time it was a challange dealing with my credit card companys ( which my wife incured 40,000) on me it took me 7 years to pay it off , i did a number of diffrent things i had an mbna loan which put me into default for late payment due to their sending my bill to the incorrect address , no negotaions worked , bad company, sears aswell , i ended up with a chase mastercard which gave me 2 years interest free very helpful , during negotions and i have an american express card which the interest rate is kind of up there 21% but very convient and easy to deal with , i spent so much time dealing with credit card companys , if you close your account they can not change your intrest rates or terms of your comtract but it will affect your credit standing when it comes to available credit standing if your not happy with the card dump it and get a better one aslong as you make your payments ontime do a transfer to a lower one pay it off keep it open use it one a year for small purchase (gum) pay it off . i had to work 70 to 80 hrs a week for years for mine and turned off all my nonnessities to pay mine when i did the math my wife cost me over 200,000 in penalties fees and purchacess , i then payed hers off in 2007 now shes back where she started from . once you fix your issues remember we are responceable for our decisions , some people dont learn i am married to one.

by: franken

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:30:13 +0000

our calls to sears were routed to sears.com and mike steven got the account fixed. no need for attorney. great service and help. car was service at the tire center with the aase racing team

by: Jenny

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:37:07 +0000

My mother is 85 and has had a Sears account for over 45 years. She had run her balance up somewhat and being on a fixed income was not able to make her payments on her own. My husband and I were making them for her for the last couple of years. Until I lost my job at the end of the year. We don’t use credit card so you can imagine how shocked I was when I opened the statement this month and the interest rate went from 12.8 to 29.99 with no explaination. She may be old but she has a 750 credit score and has NEVER in over 45 years of having this account been late with a payment. After repeatred attempts of trying to deal with Citi i have gotten no where. Basically I was told that if I don’t like it too bad. They can do whatever they want and there is nothing that we can do about it we either pay the outrageous rate or they will report it to her credit. This has left us with no choice but to close the account and then we will try to deal with them that way. I now know why Sears is in financial trouble…..
It is amazing to me that we can bail out Citi and then they screw us this way. Maybe the government should just let them fail! This is highway robbery on the elderly. STAY AWAY FROM SEARS AND CITI!!!!

by: James

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:16:07 +0000

I use sears for the two years no interest promos for big ticket items. you better have the item paid off within the two years though or you pays two years of itnerest on the remaing balance.

by: Tom Sanders

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:46:37 +0000

I have had excellent credit history for over 30 years, and have had a Sears Citi Bank Gold Master Card for several years. I had NEVER been late with a payment, nor have I with any other cards or to any other creditors.
I have carried only a small amount on this card-in the $4,000-5,000 range and in recent years the interest rate has been raised to 23.24%, fairly high considering my credit history. But I haven’t complained, feeling it probably wouldn’t do any good to even request a reduction.
About four months ago (end of 07/09), I changed my personal bank. However, I had several checks I had sent out about a week prior to closing my old account. Due to an error on my part, I failed to keep my old account open and enough in the old account to cover some checks. I had sent out payment for my Sears card bill about a week before it was due (and about a week before I closed my old account). I realized the error the day I closed the account….that the Sears check had not been processed yet. This was on a Friday night, and the Sears bill was due within a couple of days.
I called Citi Bank that evening and explained the situation. I appologized and told them I would gladly overnight them a check first thing the next morning, and they would have it Monday morning. They told me flat out that they wouldn’t be able to stop the old checking account check from going through, and that I would just have to take my chances on which check tried to clear first. Of course, needless to say, they received the check on the closed account before the overnight was received. And despite my pleadings with them, I discovered on the next month’s bill that because the payment was late, I was now considered to be “in default” on my loan. As a result, my interest rate was raised to 29.99 percent. I didn’t even realized banks would charge such a rate to people who had shaky credit history.
I have made two seperate requests to have this rate reduced. I did so immediately upon receiving notice, on a phone call to customer service. I received a letter a week or two later denying the request because again, my account was in default.
On the first bill after this issue, I mailed them a payment of $800, followed by a $300 payment last month. My only intention now is pay this off as quickly as possible and close the account.
I phoned customer service again this week, and told my story to a representative to said that yes, he thought this rate could be reduced. He transferred me to a supervisor who informed me that because I had a late payment the rate could not be reduced until I made 12 months of on-time payments. I imagine my account will be long closed by that time.
As a way to try to embarrass the supervisor, I of course mentioned the government bail out the banks received, the ridiculously low interest rate they are required to pay back the loans at, and did they have any concience doing these sort of actions towards customers. The supervisor pretty much said they have every legal right to raise the rates as they see fit. He was talking to me as if I was someone who had actually defaulted on a loan…a deadbeat…as opposed to someone who has religiously had exceptional credit history.
This experience has left such a sour taste with me that I refuse to EVER step foot into a Sears store again. I realize it may not be Sears making a decision, but they have contracted with this company to provide financial services. The way I see it, they are responsible for any actions of Citi Bank, they same as if they made these decisions on their own.
I want to cancel my account right this moment. My question is, what is the best way to do so. Should I wait til my account is paid off? If I cancel my account now, with a remaining balance, are they going to demand immediate payment? Will they increase my interest even further…to say 40 or 50 percent? They seem to have communicated to me they have a legal right to pretty much do as they please. And if I cancel the account now, are they going to take any action that would damage my credit history? I imagine their decision to place my account in default hasn’t helped me in that area.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

by: Carlos de la Torre

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:49:43 +0000

I CANCELED BOTH OF MY SEARS DEBIT CARDS AFTER A 5% RAISE INTEREST RATE LAST MONTH.
NOW I AM APPLYING FOR A PERSONAL LOAN FOR $5,000 TO CONSOLIDATE BOTH CARDS AND STOP DONATING OVER A $100 EVERY MONTH FOR 25.4% INTEREST RATE PAYMENTS TO CITIBANK.

ITS NEVER TOO LATE FOR US TO CONSOLIDATE THESE DEBIT CARDS WITH BANK LOANS AND IF ONLY 50% CANCEL AND CONSOLIDATE THEIR SEARS CARDS CITIBANK WILL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO BRING DOWN THEIR INTEREST RATES FOR THE FUTURE GENERATIONS. DO IT TODAY!!