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I don't get paper statements mailed to me for anything anymore, and that has not been a problem--until today. It's not the end of the world, but it's an annoyance and could have been worse if I'd needed information for something vital.
In July of this year, my credit union switched credit cards to a card with chip technology. We received a new card in the mail with a new number and were told the old one was no longer valid.
I do my banking online and get only online statements, have for years.
The other day the Marriott rewards program told me my points had expired because I hadn't used the rewards program in two years, but that is not correct. I stayed at one of their properties this past April. In order to fix this error, I need proof, and that proof is that I used my old credit union credit card to pay the bill for the night in the hotel.
However, the statements for the old credit card are no longer online.
I called the credit union, and was informed that only the very last statement (June) is available. When they switched out the credit cards, they went to an entirely new company and that's why the previous history is no longer available. She informed me that "most people keep their credit card statements", implying that it is my fault I don't have the statement.
Now wait a minute. You beg us to reduce paper and get online statements, and then berate me for not keeping a paper statement that I had every reason to believe would be available to me, at least for a reasonable period of time?
What I can do, she informed me, is call back with the old credit card number and they will call the old company and see if they can retrieve the April statement, but there will likely be a fee.
I'm a bit put out that there was no warning that "your previous online statements will vanish into thin air when you get this new card". Should I be downloading paper copies of credit card statements? What is the point of online statements if you can't retrieve them after a few months?
As I said, this is hotel points, not proof of something more important than I need. Screw Marriott and their stupid expiring points policy, there are other chains to patronize whose points don't expire. But I found this to be unconscionable on the part of the credit union.
The other day the Marriott rewards program told me my points had expired because I hadn't used the rewards program in two years, but that is not correct. I stayed at one of their properties this past April. In order to fix this error, I need proof, and that proof is that I used my old credit union credit card to pay the bill for the night in the hotel.
1) Periodically check your Marriott account online to make sure you get credit for your stays.
2) Marriott should have been sending you emails, both for the stay and for your account. Were you not getting these either?
3) Call the manager of the Marriott at which you stayed. He/she should be able to reprint the statement for your stay. Odd that they did not get a statement to you upon checkout....
1) Periodically check your Marriott account online to make sure you get credit for your stays.
2) Marriott should have been sending you emails, both for the stay and for your account. Were you not getting these either?
3) Call the manager of the Marriott at which you stayed. He/she should be able to reprint the statement for your stay. Odd that they did not get a statement to you upon checkout....
1) Yes, good suggestion, but it wasn't on my radar because I hadn't used a Marriott property in a while.
2) Yes, they did, but because they show up in the "Promotions" section of Gmail, I didn't see them until I went looking. I get hundreds of emails a week--I cannot possibly keep up with all of the promotional crap that comes through. I do not have an email regarding that stay, and that's probably because I didn't reserve the room, my niece did. I paid for the second night, however, and the front desk person said it would be credited to my account.
3) They probably did. I don't keep every little piece of paper everyone hands me, especially when I know it's something that's supposed to be online. I don't have the time or space for that. But good suggestion--I will call the hotel where I stayed.
The only way I even remembered that I'd stayed at a Residence Inn was because I was at my niece's shower. She's getting married in another state and sent area hotel suggestions along with her wedding invitation. I'd tried to book a room at the Fairfield Inn near her wedding venue and went on the Marriott website and saw that I'd lost my points.
I happened to mention it to her at the shower, and she reminded me that I'd met her in April near where my daughter lives and that we'd split the two nights between us, each paying for one and supposedly getting our points credited to each of our accounts (she uses them frequently for business). I'd completely forgotten about that trip. It was over six months ago.
Of course, none of this has anything to do with the more pressing problem, which is that I cannot access statements for a credit card!
Last edited by Mightyqueen801; 09-27-2016 at 10:53 AM..
Sorry for your frustration. I think the ideas Pitt gave are good. I just wanted to add that my bank posts statements as PDFs, does yours do the same? If so, I'd suggest downloading and saving the PDF. No need to print.
Precisely. Nothing about going electronic precludes one's own responsibility to one's self to monitor account statements and keep copies (in this case, electronic copies) for the requisite period of time, just when statements were delivered on paper. In reality, I'm unlikely to purge old statements, now that they're electronic, as frequently as I did when they were paper, since an entire lifetime of bank, brokerage, credit card, and utility statements could comfortably fit on my hard drive.
If the credit union didn't inform you that your old statements were going to no longer be accessible, in time for you to access and download them, they may have broken a law. Financial transactions are regulated, and some of the laws are sitting in the background with only a few people paying attention. As an example, in researching for the point of sale system I designed, I found that businesses were required to keep printed audit trails of transactions for at least seven years. Most don't, but the law is still there and would be a big problem if an audit by the IRS or state sales tax folks was conducted.
I know that something like you described would make me look for a different bank or credit union.
Sorry for your frustration. I think the ideas Pitt gave are good. I just wanted to add that my bank posts statements as PDFs, does yours do the same? If so, I'd suggest downloading and saving the PDF. No need to print.
Yes, in hindsight, downloading the pdfs would have been a good idea. Never occurred to me.
If the credit union didn't inform you that your old statements were going to no longer be accessible, in time for you to access and download them, they may have broken a law. Financial transactions are regulated, and some of the laws are sitting in the background with only a few people paying attention. As an example, in researching for the point of sale system I designed, I found that businesses were required to keep printed audit trails of transactions for at least seven years. Most don't, but the law is still there and would be a big problem if an audit by the IRS or state sales tax folks was conducted.
I know that something like you described would make me look for a different bank or credit union.
I was disappointed in the credit union on this one. It was the credit union I joined through my employer more than 35 years ago. They have been pretty decent over the years and I didn't expect this.
I do not recall that they told us our old statements would no longer be accessible, but it's possible I missed it. I know we were sent a letter home informing us that our cards were going to be switched out for the chip technology, and there is a copy of that letter on the website, but it doesn't mention the old statements.
The customer service woman said I could probably get a copy if I provide my old CC number. I saved the card, just in case, so I will give that a try. As I said, it's not the end of the world.
What it IS is a wake-up call that I should not rely on the electronic record-keeping of someone else. As annoying and time-consuming as it may be, I'm going to start downloading the pdf statements from my banks and credit cards each month.
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