The Disney Visa NIGHTMARE

[Walt's Frozen Head]

Not seeing the forest for the trees is one thing, but all you jokers arguing leaves vs bark vs roots won't never understand not a thing the other is saying.

1. BankOne's equations are designed (like FastPass, incidentally) to maximize the return on resources. There is a certain amount of overhead associated with every account, so accounts that are used more frequently for larger transactions are simply better investments for BankOne. Yes, they are very willing to turn down even guaranteed business if their models suggest that business won't be profitable.

2. BankOne's practice of treating individual human beings as percentages of profitability is SOP for modern business.

3. Some people believe Disney's historical appeal and incredible customer loyalty was largely due to the way it treated individual human beings.

So it is logical to see the BankOne Disney credit card in several lights, all dead-on accurate.

1. BankOne is actually doing the wise thing by implementing this strategy; it will ensure them a greater payback on investment than banks who use use traditional credit scores.

2. It's only a matter of time before all the other credit cards do this, Disney was smart to hit the wave early and stands to profit for it.

3. The Disney Credit Card that has been offered as a repalcement for the Disney Club Card (and, by extension, The Magic Kingdom Club Card) is Another Brick In The Wall... the credit card will be The Straw That Breaks The Camel's Back for a lot more mouse-ear sporting camels... the credit card is another step Down The Slippery Slope... of Disney losing that which made it special.

So stop arguing... every one of you is right.

-WFH

PS: And questionning the "life-having" status of those who think point #3 is important simply on the basis that you don't agree? That's just small-minded and rude. Y'all ain't from around the Rumors and News Board, are y'all?

 

[Dean]

i can't speak to their busienss model but I have an AMEX Delta card, Marriott Platinum, Discover, two USAA cards. All but one are Platinum level limits. I have high limits when they look at that area. I do use the cards but ALWAYS pay them off every month. They make the per dollar charges on the merchants but lose money on me. I've heard that's worse than not using them from the company standpoint but I can't speak to the formula.

 

[sandieb]

" "If it's O.K. with you, I'd like to share your comment with Disney Management, particularly Dinah Keefe, the VP for Relationship Management and Disney President Robert Iger."

Mikeymars - How do you contact them? I did get the Disney Bank One card, but it certainly has none of the magic of the Disney Club or the benefits of the Disney Club. I would much rather have Disney offer a credit card as such, not as a replacement for the Disney Club.

It certainly doesn't respond to the family that vacations in WDW, owns at DVC, buys Disney toys and clothes for the grandchildren, is planning a cruise on the DCL, and has decorated the guest bath in Pooh.

I have used the same credit card for years, the LL Bean MBNA card, and have had good service and prompt, knowledgable answers whenever I had a question. I am going back to them.

Thanks for your posts. Sandie

 

[rtkane]

The best part of this thread was learning that there's someone here with the name Walt's Frozen Head. I love it.

 

[crusader]

Watch it - wouldn't want to stroke that ego too much!

 

[mikeymars]

>>Mikeymars - How do you contact them? I did get the Disney Bank One card, but it certainly has none of the magic of the Disney Club or the benefits of the Disney Club. I would much rather have Disney offer a credit card as such, not as a replacement for the Disney Club.<<

Ask and ye shall receive:

Ms. Dinah Keefe
Vice President, Disney Relationship Management
The Walt Disney Company
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521-0329
(818) 560-3804

Mr. Robert A. Iger
President and Chief Operating Officer
The Walt Disney Company
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521-0239

And if you feel like giving Bank One a piece of your mind:

Mr. Carter Warren
Chief Marketing Officer
Bank One Card Services
P.O. Box 8650
Wilmington, DE 19899

 

[d-r]

Originally posted by mikeymars
>>
If it's O.K. with you, I'd like to share your comment with Disney Management, particularly Dinah Keefe, the VP for Relationship Management and Disney President Robert Iger.

Please do - thanks-

DR

 

[DemoBri1]

DR, bless you - I couldn't have stated the bottom line of this situation better, particularly your EXCELLENT, right-on-the-money point about Disney letting another company decide who the "valuable" Disney customers are, based not upon their loyalty but solely on their credit score, and just how foolish that is.

So...Mikeymars...what u r saying is that if it were your company you would let anyone have your card because they were a loyal customer to your parter in the venture? That seems like a fairly senseless business statement to me. Yes...you do want to reward loyalty, but at the expense of your own business?? I'd think not.

I think the big problem with all of these declines, even people with good ratings, is that they are attempting to give you too large a limit on the card. If you have too much credit limit amongst your cards, your credit rating can be adversely affected.

In response to receiving applications after you have already received cards or applied for them...I have news for everyone, there isn't a single credit card company out there that doesn't have that problem. If you have found one, consider yourself lucky.

 

[Sarangel]

if it were your company you would let anyone have your card because they were a loyal customer to your parter in the venture?

I think you mis-understand. The point I keep seeing being made is that DISNEY could have chosen a better way to reward their loyal customers than choosing to offer a credit card that excludes (voluntarily or involuntarily) a fairly high percentage of their loyal fan base.

Sarangel

 

[All Aboard]

Exactly Sarangel, the Disney Club was available to anyone who was willing to spend $39. It's replacement is available to a MUCH smaller subset of that group.

 

[d-r]

that's it exactly - I couldn't care less how bank one selects people for credit cards. I don't care anything about bank one, for that matter, they can use whatever practices they like. What I don't like is Disney forcing people to get a credit card to be considered a loyal repeat guest, or Disney allowing bank one to decide for them who their loyal customers are. Man, talk about a high maintanence relationship; it is a little too demanding for me.

 

[pwoodham]

After reading this thread, I'm wondering why we got approved for the card. I'm not going to bare my financial soul, but from all the conjecture about Bank One's 30 point system, I would have surmised we would never have been approved.

I had no problem with the application process, but I was surprised at what happened when I used the card the first time. I charged about $200 at a home decor store, went across the street to another store, had a total purchase of about $200 again, and was told they would have to "call in" to get approval. The automatic system was not allowing the charge to go through. My credit limit was not an issue. You know how it is when you're standing in line, and this was going to take several minutes, so I just used another card (or wrote a check, I don't remember). That evening, I got a call from Bank One asking me to verify the $200 charge. I am still confused about why a $200 charge would prompt such action, especially since it was the first charge on the card. I've had LOTS of credit cards, and never had this kind of experience before. It made me think they really didn't want me to use the card. I have used it since, with no problems, but it's made me a little shy of using it for anything over $50 or so.

Not a huge deal, but certainly not consistent with my other credit card experiences. I guess I agree that if Disney wanted to keep up its great customer service reputation, perhaps they should have selected a different financial partner.

 

[freediverdude]

Pwoodham,
Yep, that sounds like an Amex card I had once. I repeat DID HAVE (past tense). Evidently some of these companies do some sort of "purchasing habit profile" on you, and if you try to make a charge (or charges) that are more than what they expect, they make the store call them and put you on the phone and talk to you and ask you questions about being able to pay for the charge and crap like that. I don't know if that's what Bank One is doing, but if it is, I'm definitely glad I didn't get one now. It got so that any time I wanted to charge something over about $100 they wanted to talk to me on the phone there in the store, and ask me if my bank account contained enough money to pay for the bill, and were generally rude about it, even though we paid the bill every month. It didn't take long before I was just over it, and cancelled the card. I hope it won't be that way for you, because I wouldn't wish that kind of treatment on anybody.

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by gcurling
Exactly Sarangel, the Disney Club was available to anyone who was willing to spend $39. It's replacement is available to a MUCH smaller subset of that group.

I know it's been speculated on this board and elsewhere that this CC is a replacement for the DC and MKCC but I've never seen or heard anything from Disney that said that in any way, maybe I've missed it. Indications are more that they are cutting down on the discounts rather than substituting a different method for accessing them. This could just be another way to make money, plain and simple. Only time will tell.

 

[SAKPEG99OKW]

My DW and I recently refinanced, no cash out. We have gold amex as well as green double rewards. We pay all our bills on time if not early. All credit cards have very low balences if not zero. And we were declined also. My DW was very upset. Took the decline as an insult. Personaly I don't think the card has any value. The points schedule seems very, very high. The discounts on rooms seem no better the free codes already issued.

We are DVC members and our discounts with that seem to be as good if not better the the visa card. I am glad we got declined. Personally, I feel that disney has insulted all the Disney club members by cxling the club, in creating this card. Basicly disney has said that anybody with low income or bad credit is'nt entitled to get a discount or benefits from them.

Who needs the card or bank one. I have my DVC membership plus my AP's. I have all the discounts I need. And if by chance the visa card offers a discount which i can not get, then so be it!, Disney will just loose a sale, that they would have had if they left things alone.

Just my thoughts.

P.S. Excuse the spelling, it's been a long day.

Scott, Peg and Tyler

 

[roymccoy]

sakpeg99okw...I think you answered your own question as to why you guys were turned down for this card. You said the following:

"All of our CC have low balances" - This would hurt you with BankOne's 30 point scoring system. They don't really want to loan out money to people who already have credit available that they are not using.

"we have a gold AMEX and a green AMEX" - AMEX doesn't show up on your credit report. (Unless it's a revolving type. It will also show up if you pay it 30 days late.)

"we recently refinanced, no cash-out" - Credit card companies don't care too much about mortgage balances, only if you pay them on time.


You shouldn't feel bad AT ALL if you're turned down for this card. Actually, the argument could be made that if you GET accepted for the card, THAT'S when you should maybe be concerned...you should wonder why you looked so attractive to BankOne.

What people have to remember is a credit card company can only "lend" a certain amount of money out at a time. Let's say for example, that they can loan out $1,000,000 in revolving credit. If they give you a $10,000 credit limit and you only use $1000 of it, you're not really what they're looking for. They want the guy who is going to keep a $9500.00 balance and ask for more.

Also, it's good to remember that the FICO matrix probably (they keep the matrix a secret) has a formula to ding you if you have a lot of available credit even if you aren't using it. Lenders are always afraid that, if times got tough, you could run those cards up to the limits and get over-extended.

Credit scoring is such a fickle thing....every lender is looking for something different. A mortgage lender is looking for someone with at least three "trades" and a good job, steady money, not a lot of credit card debt and reserves in the bank. Credit card companies are looking for someone willing to carry a little more unsecured debt.

I would actually look for a little higher decline rate with BankOne's Disney Card. Disney people on a whole, I would assume, are a little more family oriented and probably a little more apt to own a home and maybe be a little more financially secure than the general population. This isn't neccesarily the group that BankOne would be jumping up and down for.

Roy

 

[sandieb]

"Although we are closing The Disney ClubSM at the end of 2003, we will continue to bring you new ways of connecting to the magic of Disney. We appreciate your interest and look forward to seeing you at a Disney destination soon!"

Dean - This is off the Disney Club web site. The ONLY information about new ways to connect ...is the banner for a credit card! I am insulted when I think about this.
Sandie B

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by sandieb
"Although we are closing The Disney ClubSM at the end of 2003, we will continue to bring you new ways of connecting to the magic of Disney. We appreciate your interest and look forward to seeing you at a Disney destination soon!"

Dean - This is off the Disney Club web site. The ONLY information about new ways to connect ...is the banner for a credit card! I am insulted when I think about this.
Sandie B

I guess my point was that Disney has promised nothing about the credit card though I think it's reasonable to assume there will be some offers at least for a while. There's alwasy the FL resident specials, Play Four (or whatever this years name is) and the AP discounts but many people don't qualify or you must buy the AP which is a big chunk if you don't need that type of admission option. Hopefully they will as that's the only reason I got the card. I sure as heck didn't need another credit card and don't plan on using it routinely. I did use it to book a cruise to get the $50 ship board credit.

 

[rtkane]

Originally posted by freediverdude
It got so that any time I wanted to charge something over about $100 they wanted to talk to me on the phone there in the store, and ask me if my bank account contained enough money to pay for the bill, and were generally rude about it, even though we paid the bill every month.

Wow.. I've never heard of that before. I've had credit cards that I've used infrequently and then decided to charge on in multiple stores in a singled day--when that happened, I got one of those exceptions where the store manager had to put me on the phone with the CC company, but it was only to verify identity, NEVER to discuss whether or not I could make the payment. As a word of advice for those of you out there concerned about putting a large charge on a credit card and having it "flagged" or held up, call your CC company in advance and tell them what you're planning on doing. 95% of the time they'll let the charge go through w/out question. As an example, we recently got the Disney Card and put a $21,000 charge on it (when we bought into DVC). I just called a few days before and told them to expect it.

I agree with some of the other posts, however, that it's really a bad deal for the points you get for each dollar spent. We were going to pay cash for DVC, but figured that's probably about the only time we'll earn some real points on this card so we charged it and paid it off right away. Though it nets out to only $210 points.

 

[MelissathePooh]

Dean -

The Disney Visa has nothing to do with FL residents - it is or at least what is supposed to be - the replacement for the DC. It has been marketed that way from the beginning - although what was promised/marketed and what actually came about are two completely different things.

Disney said that the replacement program for DC would be the wonderfully individual preferences based rewards program - tailored to each family based on past traveling experiences. There was never a mention that certain people would not be eligible - it was to replace the DC and be available to anyone. At the last minute it became a financial decision that had nothing to do with the guest experience.

Melissa
Melissa