I have been a customer with 1st Financial Bank for over 6 years now, no problems. I always hated that they charged me to pay my bill, but it is what it is. In the last year or so, I started having trouble making my payments. I was RESPONSIBLE -- I called them, I set up payment plans, ect. Whenever I went over my limit, it was because of their huge intrest fee! But I always paid, period.

This year, I got a notice in the mail stating that I qualified for thier program where they lower your interest rate to 0%, and payments are drafted automatically and at the end of the program, they give you a $250 credit. I signed up, and was quite satisfied as it brought everything up to good standing, I didn't have to worry about them not picking up the payment, and so on.

My card expires in February, and today I got a letter stating that they would not be re-issuing my card, and if I wanted to know the reason I had to call them. So of course, I call. The first two people I spoke to were lovely, apologetic, and honestly seemed to want to help me and get this straightened out. Then, I got a woman named PariAnna or something of the sort, who completely chewed me out, and made me feel so ashamed I just cried and cried when I got off the phone. She informed me that I was ineligable due to the program I had entered, as it puts a "hold" on your account, and thus they cannot reissue the card and the account will be closed, no ifs ands or buts. I told her that no one informed me of this when I signed up for the program! I was told how wonderful this program was going to be, how much money it would save me, but never that it would result in me loosing my account. The woman snapped back "it doesn't matter! We have to have some kind of standards here, " and went on to say how many times I had paid late, and how many times I had been over the limit (in 6 years, mind you, almost everyone makes a late payment here and there, LIFE HAPPENS!). Any time I was late, I communicated with them. I always paid. Any time I went over the limit, it was because of their interest fees, not because I was out there racking up my card. She said nothing I could do would ever make me eligible for their card, and she said "OK?" which of couse I said "Um, no not really, I've been a customer for 6 years and I've always been responsible, and now you're just taking it away." She then repeated about having standards (18 year olds who don't know better and have no credit and no jobs seem to be their standards), and said goodbye. She treated me like a dog, she didn't care I had made arrangements, she didn't care I had tried, she just said I wasn't good enough to have their card.

I'm pondering if it has something to do with me not using my card, like at all for the last year. I've been trying to be responsible and pay down my debt, and I can't believe they're just going to throw me away as a customer after I did what I was supposed to do.

Furthermore, the woman was so brash, she was just so rude, and rather abusive in her tone and speech to me. There's no need for that-- I was calm, I never said anything like she dared to say to me. There was no need to treat me like she did, and now here I am feeling ashamed and embarrassed.

Needless to say, consumer beware! Yes, they're a great credit card when you're starting out, they're my one and only credit card I've ever had, and up until this point I was very satisified with them, even with their silly fees and astronomical rate hikes. I thought it was so wonderful and a godsend when I was offered this program, and I was just flat out wrong.