People's Bank Platinum MasterCard® Reviews

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Credit Card Commentaries

People's Bank Platinum MasterCard®
Issued by People's Bank

Total Posts: 44

Average Rating: 1.97

Category: Regular

Showing 1 - 10 of a total of 44 Commentaries

1-10 | 11-20 | 21-30 | 31-40 | 41-44

"Watch the online banking - it's hit or miss"

A nice into APR but of course you lose it if you miss a payment and I was very surprised, after making an online payment to get a call that I had missed my payment. Despite the fact I had a confirmation number I had to spend two hours on the phone with people telling me I must have screwed up. They gave me back the APR and scrapped the fees, but I had to suffer for hours down an endless chain of "Well, it can't have been OUR mistake" and some even patently insulting customer service agents. Compare this with Citibank, where I have never been on hold for mre than a few minutes and even thorny problems have been resolved with courtesy.

Most attractive feature: Low introductory APR

Least attractive feature: Appaling customer service

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Posted by: Meg

Date: 5/22/2006

Recommend?

This person does not recommend this card.

"Kept selling my balance without forewarning."

I was doing ok with this card in the begining however it got bad when they kept selling my balance to other companies without notice. First they sold it to a company called Citizen's Bank then again to a company called Royal Bank of Scotland. I kept writing my checks to Peoples bank of course but I was charged all kind of late fees that eventually caused be to be over the limit so of course I was hit with those fees too. Also, after the card was supposedly sold I would get calls from both and then all three creditors trying to collect on the same account. I got tired of making payments finally it went to an attorneys office which they offered me a settlement and I took it. I can now start to rebuild my credit after such a horrible experience.

Most attractive feature: Low intro rate

Least attractive feature: Entire company

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Posted by: Greta

Date: 3/31/2005

Recommend?

This person does not recommend this card.

"The fleecing of the American"

People's bank card is apparently in the habit of fleecing the American public. Since posting this site a few days ago I have found other folks who also have had their share of problems with this company. In my case I wrote my check and mailed it at my local Post office prior to the last pick up on January 31st. My due date was the 10th of the following month. Peoples bank says that they didn't receive my payment until the 12th and has charged my account with a late fee of $39.00. All of my checks that I wrote with smallers and many with larger numbers cleared long before the one I sent to People's bank. Many of the checks written with larger numbers that were sent out of town cleared long before the one sent to People's bank. When talking with so called customer service people I received nothing even though I reminded them that I had mailed the payment more that 7 business days prior to the due date. I then send a detailed e-mail with no avail. I have my check register and a print out from my bank proving my point. As a retired State Farm Agent I treated all of my clients with up most respect. They were king and my bread and butter. Many corporations do not follow the Golden rule any longer. Get all of your friends who have had dealings with this company to respond to this site. If they truly do have an ax to grind have them post. Lets be fair though, if they caused the problem the card company has it's contract rights. If we can get enough folks who have been treated unjustly maybe we can get 60 Minutes or some other weekly magazines to investgate this company. I will be checking back on this site for more reviews and will try to get the ball rolling. With luck we might get them to pay a hefty fine and even better get some one sent to jail.

Most attractive feature: I have found no good features about this company.

Least attractive feature: Truped up fees

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Posted by: RJF

Date: 2/23/2004

Recommend?

This person does not recommend this card.

"Fleecing the customer"

I wrote the check for my payment and took it to the post office before the last pickup on January 31st. My payment was due on February 10th so you can see it was mailed early. The checks I wrote prior to and after the one I sent to People's cleared my bank before the tenth of February. Customer service istotally lacking. They will not even transfer your call to management or to a supervisor. They are sitting on payments. My next move is to try to get this to Sixty Minutes. These guys are a bunch of theives and are as bad or worse than Enron

Most attractive feature: none

Least attractive feature: their total service

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Posted by: RJF

Date: 2/19/2004

Recommend?

This person does not recommend this card.

"Run Away! Run Away! Made-up Late Fees"

I signed up for this card after receiving a pre-approved offer in the mail touting a balance transfer with no interest for some impressive amount of time (I think it was 6 months). It happened to be a timely offer for me, so I signed up and used some of my credit line. And paid it off before the no-interest period was over. Then they sent me more interest-free checks for another extended period. I found an opportunity to use some of these again. And I started to pay it off slowly.

About 2 months before the no-interest period was to expire, I came into some cash so I sent in a check, paying my balance in full. I sent this in 9 days before it was due. Supposedly, they didn't receive my check until a full 13 days after I mailed it.

Yikes. Who mails their payments more than 13 days before they are due?

I was surprised and angry when I received my next statement. A $39 late fee PLUS interest?

I called their customer service center. I was told someone would call be back with a reversal decision. I heard nothing. So I used their web interface to ask again. A couple of days later, I was told via web reply that the late fee would stick. Another web question was answered with more lethargy. Still no explanation as to how often they check their PO Boxes.

Giving up, I paid my $43.50 balance (via the internet) and immediately closed my account. I then went to complain online, via the web, in public forums like this one. After reading existing reviews, it seemed this trumped-up late fee game is a common practice of Peoples. My case was far from unique.

Instead of posting online at that time, I decided to write the CEO/President, pointing out what my research had uncovered, and suggesting that his payment processing department might be sleeping on the job instead of checking post office boxes. I received back a pretty skimpy letter from a customer service rep, stating that they process all incoming payments in a timely fashion. Sure. Right. I'll not that my letter had gotten to Peoples CEO, been assigned to someone else who then drafted a reply and mailed it back to me. All within 15 days of me sending it.

I took several hours to document my story in a letter which I sent to the Postal Inspector and, as suggested in another review here, the BBB, CT Banking Commission and the Attorney General, amoung others. I doubt this will get me anywhere, but more important to me at this point is voicing my clear disgust with this poorly run company.

Oh. I also CC'd the CEO/President of Peoples in on this last letter, just as a courtesy. I got a still-skimpy but mildly beefed up letter from yet-another customer service rep. Same story, just using a couple of more words.

Ok, sure, I played by their own rules and had a couple of short-term, interest free loans. They offered, I accepted. And I played completely within their rules ... but they still found a way to get something out of the deal. If you can't win playing by the rules, you can always sit on a payment for a week and make it look like the rules were broken!

Imagine how lucrative a performing-poorly company can become by simply checking a post office box a day or two late. Or processing the mail as slowly as possible. And the customer has no control over this, nor any way to prove it, short of pointing out that bills to other credit card companies take far less than 13 days to post.

If you are already stuck with a Peoples account, it would be in your best interest (no pun intended) to ALWAYS pay via the internet. At least there's a record of when they received your online payment. If you're looking for a new credit card, it should be obvious from the very low scores here, and the horrible reviews, that this is not a good choice at all.

Most attractive feature: "Interest Free" Balance Transfers - but watch out!

Least attractive feature: Bill Payment Department and Customer Service

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Posted by: nnk

Date: 1/16/2004

Recommend?

This person does not recommend this card.

"Really awful experience"

I've always wanted to tell my story about what happened to me with People's Bank about 2 years ago to the day. I only recently found out about this website, so here goes:

I had a 13.99% apr and a small 5K credit line and I was making minimum payments regularly and faithfully. Money began to run low, but I kept making payments. Why? Cause I'm an honest guy and want to have some integrity and want to maintain a good credit rating and don't want to declare bankruptcy or anything. But, my financial situation got worse. I started living in my car, but guess what? That's right - I STILL KEPT PAYING MY MONTHLY MINIMUM FAITHFULLY. That's how much I cared.

Suddenly, my APR gets jacked up to 27.99%, which is DOUBLE the 13.99%!!!!!! I was shocked. When I called to ask why, I was told that I was "high risk" because my other 2 credit cards were more than 50 or 75% of their credit line. I explained that I was in the process of getting a salaried job, but at the moment was just a cashier and was paying minimum payments faithfully every month and had no intention of declaring bankruptcy or anything. The rude rep could have cared less. I asked her, "Well, if your reason for RAISING my APR is because I'm 'high risk', won't I now be EVEN HIGHER RISK??????" She didn't have an answer to that.

I really don't get it. The second I slipped up and didn't make a payment or something, then I could understand them taking some action as a consequence and raising my apr a bit, like up to 15% or 17%, but to friggin double it like that on a loyal payment-maker?????? To make a long story short, I got a loan from a friend and was able to pay off all 3 credit cards in full, after which I cut up and cancelled People's Bank.
I guess the 2 things I learned from this experience is that (1)Some credit cards are ruthless and can "injure" you, and (2)Even so, a small miracle, like that out of the blue loan from my friend, is possible too.

Most attractive feature: you start at a "reasonable" APR

Least attractive feature: major APR hikes that make you feel used

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Posted by: Tukaram

Date: 8/5/2003

Recommend?

This person does not recommend this card.

"Credit to card "

People's Bank refused to credit my account $800 that I proved with a receipt was to be posted. They will not even return my phone calls

Most attractive feature: Not much

Least attractive feature: Customer Service

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Posted by: Mike

Date: 1/31/2003

Recommend?

This person does not recommend this card.

"Worst Credit Card Ever"

I have had a People's Bank Connecticut credit card for almost eight years. Although they raised their rates several years ago for no reason at all, when everyone else was lowering theirs, I kept this card. I had an ongoing balance for about two years and paid monthly interest charges. I have never had a check get to them late nor did I ever incur late fees, not even with the slowing of the mail after the September 11 tragedy and the fiasco with anthrax in the mail. However, that all changed when I paid off my balance. Whenever I used the card, I paid the complete bill each month, mailing it at least a week in advance (I'm on the west coast). Then on Dec. 9 I mailed a check for the entire bill a week before the due date. When I got my next statement, it showed my check was posted on Dec. 17, and a late fee of $35 posted the day before, on Dec. 16! Despite a phone call and an e-mail to customer service, their stand was that it is not their policy to remove late fees, despite the fact I've never had one before. Fine, I said, close my account and you'll have my $35, but you won't get any future busines from me. I mailed the $35 on Dec. 30, two days after I got the statement and figured I was finished with People's Bank. I was wrong. I just got a new statement, with a closing date of Jan. 21, the late fees have compounded to $70, with interest charged on the first $35 late fee. I called my bank and the check that I wrote cleared Jan. 21. What a surprise. I can't understand how it took three weeks for them to post this check. In addition, the amount that cleared was for $33, not $35 as I had written it. I don't know how this has happened and I don't have my checks back yet. But I can tell you that I only wanted to be rid of them and certainly didn't write it for $2 less. I have e-mailed their customer service again, asking for an explanation. I also sent a copy to the Attorney General for the State of Oregon. In the meantime, I am gathering all other data and reviews on this credit card and will lodge a formal complaint if they don't remove the additional late fee and interest.

Most attractive feature: None

Least attractive feature: Everything

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Posted by: Shani

Date: 1/26/2003

Recommend?

This person does not recommend this card.

"LAte fee"

I wasn't able to pay my bill on-line Sat. 12/7 instead I paid it on-line on Mon 12/9. (Sat 12/7 is nonbanking day so they would not get my $ funds until Mon 12/9 the earliest anyway). Yes my bad for being late but $35 duckets for two days late please!! I've never been late before and have excellent credit and yet they refuse to give me a break. Well I'm sure there are alot of other bank cards out there that would have given me a one-time forgiveness for being late and reversed the fee. So People's can keep my late fee and my card because they lost me as a customer and I will do what I can to help them lose other customers too.

I have other banks to give my business to and People's lost any chance to do business with me in all areas of finance. So I hope that $35 goes a long way for them making their quarterly earnings and such ---not! Stay away from this bank you can do better I'm sure of it!!

Most attractive feature: Balance Trf terms

Least attractive feature: Customer service and rigidity of rules.

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Posted by: Adam

Date: 12/19/2002

Recommend?

This person does not recommend this card.

"Mastermoney Card"

It's pretty good. They've been my bank since I was a little kid and they've been great, their card works like a credit card but comes directly out of the bank, and you can check your balances instantly online. Pretty easy!

Most attractive feature: Easy online balance checking and transfers

Least attractive feature: I think it's great, maybe just that there aren't any frequent flyer miles or anything.

Overall: