Principal's Bank cashback credit card - unexpected account closure!

Sorry to hear that.

I got this card last Oct. I never earned a penny Cash Back through BT and purchase.
I did several small purchase, but the CSR told me that she couldn't find any cash
back in my account. Now I don't expect Cash Back from this card at all since we meet
generous citi and MBNA.

Anyway, I am still enjoying their "15.49% APR" BT checks. Each month they send me 2
blank checks. Really great offer for me!

c3 said: Xerty, how much of that $40K usage was from BT checks? Do you currently have balance on the card?
I was given a reasonable credit line (~12K), and was able to max out the $40K using the early BT checks during the promotional months before they changed the policy. I currently have an outstanding balance of about $10K since I recently used one of the BT checks during the last month.

seahawk said:the CSR told me that she couldn't find any Cash Back in my account
My wife's account had this problem, and the CSR suggested it was not unusual that the Cash Back feature not be activated. After looking into this, they indeed started reporting Cash Back earnings. Her account has only $40 in earnings though, and rarely used the BT checks they sent since her CL was lower.

Maybe, but I'd hope they weren't that sleazy, to renege on their published promotional terms. But closing an account just to avoid paying $40 in rebates? The fact that both accounts were closed on the same day makes me very suspicious, that and the newer tiered card's anniversery date for almost everyone (including those rolled over from the old 1.25% program) will be coming up at the end of this month.

Small banks like to play such bait-and-switch tricks. Be careful.
I remember one guy spent a lot on Charterone GC using this card. Seems no bonus at all.

Thanks to citi and MBNA, I don't have chance to use principal for purchase. If I can't get
any bonuse from BT, I lose nothing.

76hhma said: Even though they are different accounts, but they belong to the same household that has BT and (max out) rebate activities ...Banks nowadays are pretty watchful for their own benefits, IMO.

It's worth noting that Principal does not provide a cumulative running total of qualifiying purchases for cash rebate on their statements or from the CSRs. The CSRs tell you to add all your statements. Other rebate cards list your rebate total on each statement. With Principal you have to keep track of this yourself. Seems they are not useful in helping cardholders with the cash rebate.---z

That's not true. My statements always have the cumulative total.

Each statement has the following: "YOUR EARNED TO DATE PROGRAM REBATE: $x.xx. REBATES ARE CREDITED ANUALLY." Even for the 11/2003 statement when the rebate total was $0. If you don't see something like that, most likely you're NOT in the rebate program.

Phoned and the CSR stated the card was cash rebate. Must take a few mo's to show on statement like Xert said. Thanks for the heads up though from C3 and Xert. Always worth checking into potential problems early.---z

Any one whose aniversary date is in the past months really got the rebate check?

Be aware that it's very difficult to get from this high bank even $50 for its checking account promotion

Update: In subsequent calls to customer service, I was basically told that one particular person was overseeing my account and noone else could tell me anything about my status (not a good sign). After a week of phone tag, I finally was able to speak to this CSR today, and she informed me that my account was being investigated for "discrepancies," they'll let me know their decision in a few days, and no I can't use my card in the meanwhile despite the now zero balance. My wife was refered to the same CSR, so apparently the accounts are being investigated together. Sounds to me like they think I'm committing fraud somehow (by occasionally using the checks they send me?), hence the stonewalling and inconsistent responses from the frontline CSRs. I'm not sure what to do about this, but I guess I'll try planetfeedback if they don't come to a favorable resolution.

My wife spoke to a supervisor today, and basically the message was "we don't want your business, sorry." Apparently they were suspicious of her account activities, which seems pretty excessive given in a whole year there were 3 BTs for ~$5K, one statement check used for a similar amount, and a few small purchases.

For the rest of you with Principal's Bank cards, consider yourself warned about their overzealous fraud department. If you've got a big earned rebate at this point, I would throw the card in a drawer until they pay you lest you somehow trigger a fraud inquiry and lose your whole rebate when the account gets closed prematurely. I would especially caution against the use of their statement checks, since this seemed to be the trigger for the investigation in our case.

As for my situation, I don't hold out much hope for getting either of our accounts reopened. I know they are supposed to notify you of changes in writing within 30 days, and at this point I'm pretty sure their letters of explanation (supposedly sent on 10/11) aren't going to show up. I don't know if this gives me any leverage to request my account to be reopened?

Edit: Privacy Guard reports my account "closed by issuer" at this point, so I think they actually just closed it back in October and gave me a line about "investigating" since then with no intentions of reopening it.

Form letter, dated 10/25 (much later than they said), arrived with the following explanation for both accounts.

"Your CC account has been closed. Due to multiple transactions that have taken place on your account involving multiple payments using convenience checks, we have decided to close this account due to the following:

SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY ON YOUR ACCOUNT WITH US"

It goes on to list contact address, etc. I'm not sure having never seen something like this before, but maybe they think that somehow I was paying my account using their own convenience checks? I thought the checks specifically excluded this, and anyway all my payments were either ACH through their website or electronic balance transfers from a different card. I guess it can't hurt to write a letter to this effect - nothing to lose at this point.

Thanks for keeping us updated xerty.

I have used statement checks regularly for around 5 months, and have had no problems so far. We have only one joint account, which is consistant with SIS's theory.

I'd sure hate to lose the account...any other updates from you or others would be most appreciated.

The annual rebate was just credited to my account. That's a relief, after hearing about xerty's account closure.

c3 said: The annual rebate was just credited to my account. That's a relief, after hearing about xerty's account closure.Mine hasnt shown up. Did you have the previous Principal Bank CC which was then converted over to InfiniBank, or did you apply directly for the InfiniBank version after they took over ?

Does each one of your recent statements show ?
YOUR EARNED TO DATE PROGRAM REBATE: xxx.xx
REBATES ARE CREDITED ANNUALLY.

Through 8/25, all my statements show some variation of the above. Starting with the 9/27 statement, it no longer shows up; its just gone. Anyone else have this happen ?

My statements have always shown "YOUR EARNED TO DATE .....", even when the amount is $0, like the one that just closed.

My rebate amount was $574.99.

Alcibiades said: Through 8/25, all my statements show some variation of the above. Starting with the 9/27 statement, it no longer shows up; its just gone. Anyone else have this happen ?It seems that when I hit the max Cash Back of $575.00 sometime in September, the accrual note in my statement no longer appears.

Alcibiades, did they give a reason?

I was given the same story, except they actually claimed I had ASKED to switch to a lower interest, but no cash-back program.

IMO the real reason this was done was to have a pretext for not giving me the $375 I'd earned soley from BTs. I called, politely argued about it, and got nowhere. I wanted to keep the card for other reasons, so rather than risk closure I stopped complaining. Pretty sloppy recording procedures over there.