Jerkface Card Punk

I'd call this the not-so-merry-go-round.

I got screwed by Target.

I'm not too happy about it.

When I was like 21, I went to Target to open an in-store line of credit. I wanted to start building some credit history, and Target would give me a card even though I didn't have much of anything on my credit report. Also, I wanted to buy a digital camera.

I got the card with a $300 limit - it was enough so I could buy some cool stuff, but not enough to get me in trouble if I maxed it out. I got the camera. I got a memory card upgrade. I made the payments, and got the balance down to zero. I bought an XBox. I bought some games. I paid the balance down to zero. I bought some more little things that I could have paid cash for, but I wanted to build some credit, remember? I paid the card back down to zero again, and it sait in my wallet for a long time.

Skip ahead to last week. On Tuesday (I think it was) the G and I went to Target because we needed a body pillow (for the G's sleeping time) and a new ironing board (because the last one died and almost broke my thumb in the process). Again, I had the cash, but wanted to build some credit.

I forgot a part: a couple of years ago I signed up for on-line statements so they wouldn't keep sending me 15 pages of crap every month. It killed trees and I had to shred it all, so I went on-line. When the card was sitting in my wallet with a zero balance, I didn't get anything from Target either on-line or in the mail. Nothing. At all.

Skip ahead to last Thursday. I got something in the mail from Target. I figured it was a new privacy policy or something and didn't open it right away. When Gina got home she opened it for me. It was a new Target Visa card with a $3,000 limit. This is not a Target in-store line of credit: this is an actual Visa card with Target rewards. I thought it was one of those "pre approved" junk cards that I'm always getting from Capital One and whatnot. No, this is a real card issued in my name and the paperwork said my old in-store card is no longer active. Now I'm getting worried - this means that Target pulled my credit, and that's not okay with me.

I called the activation number listed in the letter since they didn't have a customer service number listed. When the computer voice told me to enter my card number, I pressed pound a bunch of times until it said "please wait for the next available customer service representative" (that's a trick to talk to a real person, by the way). Long story a bit shorter, the dude told me they sent me a letter weeks ago that informed me that if I did not reply, they were going to up my card service. That's BS! remember when I said I hadn't recieved any mail (e or otherwise) from Target? Yep. They just jacked my credit, lowering my scores, because I never responded to a letter I never got.

Number one: my credit got dinged because they pulled it. This always happens whenever you pull credit, but when the user has controll of it, it's easy to manage. When a company pulls it for you, it can get out of hand real fast.

Number two: my credit also got dinged because it raised my potential debt load. Now that I have the opportunity to run up a three-grand debt, my credit score goes down.

Number three: there was no real info about the card terms in the letter I got. It talked about the possible 1% reward at my local Target store (a reward that's possibly bumped to 5% if I make purchases at Target) and had two pages about how this new card covers the damage to a rental car should I rent a car and crash it. That's it. No mention of the APR rate, no mention of what (if any) the annual fees are, no mention of who they are going to sell my info to and who will soon be sending me tons and tons of junk mail.

This is not cool. Since the G and I just closed our refi (all in Gina's name) we are starting to focus on building my credit so that if we decide to buy a new house in a year or two, I will be in position to get a killer rate. This little Target screwing could possibly set me back about six to nine months of credit work. BS. B freakin' Ess!

I'm going to call them now, and I may have to do some screaming. For now, if you in Bloglandeeah have a Target card, watch you mail closely.