Who would I contact?

[Laugh O. Grams]

You should definitely get in touch with WDW, but I'd call the credit card company and cancel the card as well. What kind of credit card company issues a card with a limit of only $300 anyways!?! On most occasions in my daily life, I walk around with 1/2 of your entire limit in my pocket as cash! Pay off the $339, ditch that card, and find one that you can actually use. It's not worth the stress of having some ridiculous interest rate.

 

[melaniemiller2002]

What kind of credit card company issues a card with a limit of only $300 anyways!?!

Capital One issues those ALL the time. I have 2 to my name, my husband has 3. They issue a $300 limit with 0% interest for a period of time, then they will usually increase the limit, but not always. They also ding you good if you go over your limit, are one day late (no grace period with them), etc. The interest can go up as high as 26.9%, at least in our case. Something similar happened with one of my husband's cards...they refused to lower the interest, so we paid it off and it's tucked away.

Melanie

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Yes, it's Capital one. LOL That's the card I used that was $300 limit but the credit card check with 0% interest was from my OTHER Capital one card that had the higher limit. Hence the reason I couldn't just charge the card (not to mention it had a lower limit) and pay it with the credit card check with zero interest- you can't use a capital one credit card check to pay off another capital one credit card balance.
I had already asked on this board before our trip if we could pay with a check... hence the reason I didn't even think to bring the credit card with the higher balance. I really didn't want a lot of "things" brought with me for a propensity to lose them, have them stolen, etc. I just HAPPENED to have that card in my purse still on accident (didn't remove it and leave it at home)- so when they said I had to put a card on there to be able to charge but could pay for the charges with the check.... that's what I did and intended on doing. They didn't tell me they'd automatically charge the card with express checkout. I thought you had to ask for express checkout. Lesson learned. LOL

To the person who suggested changing banks... I'm not going to change banks for that reason- I'll just use credit cards in the future with anything like subscriptions/charges/etc. that I think I might POSSIBLY have problems with in the future. I live in a small town with not many banks to choose from in the first place and I've been with this bank for 10+ years. Just a few blocks away... too convenient and been with them too long to switch just for that reason when I can circumvent that problem by just not using my debit card in that way. the majority of the time I couldn't use my debit card anyway- seeing as how it has a $1000 limit per day anyway (like can't use it to book Disney trips for instance. LOL)

I think first I'm going to call the credit card company (Capital one) and see if they'll cut me some slack... explain what happened/etc. We have 4 cards with them and the other 3 (other 2 in my husband's name) all have higher limits. That is why I was worried all the other cards might get higher interest rates too- which really wouldn't hurt me right now... or in normal cases because we usually pay them all off at the end of the month if we charge on them anyway... but I don't WANT to have cards that I might charge on and maybe can't pay the full balance for a month or two to have high interest rates on them. Yanno? That just doesn't feel like a 'cushion' to me- and then we wouldn't use them at all... and doesn't just closing accounts hurt the FICO rating also??? I thought it did.
ANYWHO... I'll try with them first before complaining to Disney. If they fix the problem, then I'll just consider it a lesson learned and not listen to what CM's tell me at checkin and such. LOL

 

[LadyLt]

I work at the Front Desk of a Disney resort. In three years there, I have never had a guest try to pay with a "credit card check." I have only vaguely heard of such a thing. I would not have any idea how to process such a thing to settle an account. We have only one way of accepting a check and that is through the Telecheck system. So if we were handed one, that is the way that we would attempt to get approval. Note, Disney doesn't really get many checks. In three years, I have taken MAYBE eight checks. In these days of debit cards, people just don't seem to use checks.

We are told that if a guest puts down a credit card, that we must set them up for express checkout unless the guest specifically asks us not to do so. If a guest tells me that they are going to pay for their room charges in another manner, I remind them to be sure to come in and pay off the balance on the night BEFORE they check out. Of course, as the poster who said she put down cash, that is an very good way of avoiding having a credit card charged.

I am only guessing, but I imagine that the clerks at the Front Desk of your resort did not hear you say "credit card" check or just assumed you meant a regular check. As I said, it is not something that we deal with. I will add that $50.00 is the most that a guest can get in cash on a check. There has never been a time (at least in the last three years) where a guest could get $200.00 cash on any type of check.

 

[Cinderella37]

The problem with credit card checks is that the merchant has no way to verify that funds are available. Someone could have a few hundred dollars in available credit but write a check for a few thousand. If you ever need to use a credit card check again, just write the check out to yourself and deposit it into your bank account. You still get the promotional rate and can use the funds to pay cash or to payoff charges you may have incurred on another card.

 

[srfrgrl07]

... and doesn't just closing accounts hurt the FICO rating also??? I thought it did.

It only hurts your FICO score if it is closed by the credit company. If you cancel the account, be sure it shows as 'cancelled by cardmember' or something like that on your credit report. I did this for all the store cards that I had for the promotional financing, ie. Circuit City for my computer. Also closed a Sears account, Express, Victoria's Secret because I only opened those when I was 18 to establish credit. Well, 10 years later and 2 paid in full car loans made those unneccessary...plus I never used them except for the first year. Anyways, your FICO score is determined by complex mathematics, but I know they look at your annual income, account status, and how much credit is available to you. So if you have 5 cards each with 3,000 limits, you have the potential to go into debt for 15,000. In the simplest way, it's your debt to income ratio and they are considering the possibility of how much debt you could potentially accrue. So it's a good idea to cancel the cards you don't use so that your FICO score could improve. I would keep the oldest accounts since that establishes a longer history of regular payments. Ok, credit 101 class dismissed

 

[nowellsl]

It only hurts your FICO score if it is closed by the credit company. If you cancel the account, be sure it shows as 'cancelled by cardmember' or something like that on your credit report. I did this for all the store cards that I had for the promotional financing, ie. Circuit City for my computer. Also closed a Sears account, Express, Victoria's Secret because I only opened those when I was 18 to establish credit. Well, 10 years later and 2 paid in full car loans made those unneccessary...plus I never used them except for the first year. Anyways, your FICO score is determined by complex mathematics, but I know they look at your annual income, account status, and how much credit is available to you. So if you have 5 cards each with 3,000 limits, you have the potential to go into debt for 15,000. In the simplest way, it's your debt to income ratio and they are considering the possibility of how much debt you could potentially accrue. So it's a good idea to cancel the cards you don't use so that your FICO score could improve. I would keep the oldest accounts since that establishes a longer history of regular payments. Ok, credit 101 class dismissed

I wouldn't recomment closing the account - if you do it will lower your debt to credit ratio - which does effect your FICO score. Just put it away and don't use it.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

I am only guessing, but I imagine that the clerks at the Front Desk of your resort did not hear you say "credit card" check or just assumed you meant a regular check. As I said, it is not something that we deal with. I will add that $50.00 is the most that a guest can get in cash on a check. There has never been a time (at least in the last three years) where a guest could get $200.00 cash on any type of check.

No, she heard me. I had to even explain what it was and why I was curious how much over we could write it. I even explained to her the reason I'd want to use that check to pay for it and why I wanted to write it for over the amount charged (because each check is considered like a seperate "fee"). She did act like she didn't understand until I explained, but she definitely heard me say credit card check because I explained it to her. And she also definitely told me I could write it for $200 over the amount charged. She was obviously misinformed/inaccurate though. LOL

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

I wouldn't recomment closing the account - if you do it will lower your debt to credit ratio - which does effect your FICO score. Just put it away and don't use it.

By $300?!?! $300 is a minor blip on the overall history of your credit.
What troubles me is why in the world would the same bank, Capital One, give so many people, so many cards with such low available credit lines? 3 cards, each having $300 on each card, to one person? I just don't get it? Why not get a card with a higher credit line and ditch the $300 card? Two Friday night dinners out and your cards maxed. Then you're sitting worrying that the next charge is going to take you over your limit and boom...another $29 overlimit charge.
If your hung up on paying of the balance in full every month, I would consider an American Express card. No worries of going over your limit there and they require you to pay in full monthly.

 

[Merriwind]

I hope that your credit card company and Disney can help you get some satisfaction with this issue.

One suggestion for the future is to reduce the number of credit cards you have to a maximum of two. We use one for all of our everyday expenses. At the end of the month, I have all of our expenses on one bill and write one check to pay the balance. It makes bill paying very simple--only one due date to remember! Plus, budgeting is great as one sheet of paper lists all of our expenses each month. We use a Marriott Visa, so we get points everytime we go to the grocery store, etc. My parents run their finances the same way, but I think they use Discover, so they get cash back at the end of the year.

Beyond that, we each get a couple hundred "petty cash" for the month. For the dollar store, fruit stand or stopping off for ice cream with DD7, paying the babysitter, etc. Somewhere I have hidden away another credit card (I guess in case of emergencies, but thankfully, we have never needed it) and an ATM card that can be used as a debit. Never touch either of these, though.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that simplifying your finances and credit cards might help you avoid situations like the one you had at Disney. I don't think that I could ever keep track of multiple credit cards with different limits, interest rates and purposes. Goodness knows that the fewer things I need to keep track of in my life, the smoother my life is! Good luck to you!

 

[MEK]

You need to cut that card up and throw it in the trash. $300 limit! Phewy. That is flat out ridiculous. Too many cards is never a good thing, especially in that circumstance!

Explain what happened to the bank and then cancel that account!_________________________________________________________

Max is my favorite cat!

 

[bizeemom4]

I went thru a bad situation at the AS Movie Resort in January. They were not to charge anything to my room until a set date (due to them double charging me for park tickets). There must have been 3 or 4 different people's notes in the system on how to deal with my situation but they disregarded everything and charged the credit card immediately. I received a phone call after we got home apologizing for my experience and saying that the cms would be trained. HAHA.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Aha, so we see someone else had an "issue" with CM's at ASMO front desk and charges to the room. LOL

What troubles me is why in the world would the same bank, Capital One, give so many people, so many cards with such low available credit lines? 3 cards, each having $300 on each card, to one person?

You didn't read carefully. Who said 3 different cards from Capital one all $300 limit? I sure didn't say that. Read again.

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

BBB-I was talking about Melanie and her husband in a later post. See:

Capital One issues those ALL the time. I have 2 to my name, my husband has 3. They issue a $300 limit with 0% interest for a period of time, then they will usually increase the limit, but not always.

Nothing personal, Melanie!

 

[nowellsl]

By $300?!?! $300 is a minor blip on the overall history of your credit.
What troubles me is why in the world would the same bank, Capital One, give so many people, so many cards with such low available credit lines? 3 cards, each having $300 on each card, to one person? I just don't get it? Why not get a card with a higher credit line and ditch the $300 card? Two Friday night dinners out and your cards maxed. Then you're sitting worrying that the next charge is going to take you over your limit and boom...another $29 overlimit charge.
If your hung up on paying of the balance in full every month, I would consider an American Express card. No worries of going over your limit there and they require you to pay in full monthly.

I agree $300 might not affect your score much - I was just responding to the blanket statement that closing an account won't affect your FICO score. I believe it will in certain cases, in more ways than one. If reduces your debt to credit ratio, and if it's one of your oldest accounts it affect your credit history. I also think it's crazy for one company to issue multiple cards to the same person with such low credit limits! Not sure what the logic is in that! I've never used one of those "credit checks" but I get them all the time and they do say "use them to pay for vacations" etc. I would have thought it would be fine to use them at Disney!?

 

[melaniemiller2002]

No offense taken With the Capital One cards, they've issued us a $300 limit credit card and after about a year of using it and paying responsibly, they've upped the limit to $3000 or so. So we now have 1 with a $3000 limit with a balance of $0 and 2 with a limit of $300 and one has a balance of $0 and the other around $100. We use the low limit ones for internet purchases. This way, should the worst happen and someone happens to get a hold of that information, they won't be able to rack up thousands of dollars of debt (and of course, it helps me practice self control as well). We also use the low limit ones on vacation...it helps us limit what we spend on souvenirs or other small stuff. Then, when we get back from vacation, we pay it off.

Melanie

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Oops- sorry... (that I thought you were talking about me when you were referring to Melanie).

But now that you mention it (Melanie) ours were the same way once upon a time.. now all of them are way higher limits but I do usually (like you) use the lower limit one for online purchases or to carry in my purse. Hence the reason it was still in my purse for this trip but the higher limit ones weren't. LOL

 

[Alicnwondrln]

I went thru a bad situation at the AS Movie Resort in January. They were not to charge anything to my room until a set date (due to them double charging me for park tickets). There must have been 3 or 4 different people's notes in the system on how to deal with my situation but they disregarded everything and charged the credit card immediately. I received a phone call after we got home apologizing for my experience and saying that the cms would be trained. HAHA.

I rememeber your story
it was RIDICULOUS!! They should have given you compensation for the junk they put you through

 

[DawnCt1]

I wouldn't recomment closing the account - if you do it will lower your debt to credit ratio - which does effect your FICO score. Just put it away and don't use it.

Exactly! Also, on check in, the hotel can hold up to $X of dollars against your credit card and it doesn't get released right away, so therefore the "check" and the charge could cross in the 'mail'.