I had noticed a recurring 866- prefixed number on my caller ID, never leaving a message. Today I was home, and I decided to give it an answer — it was a caller for Chase Mortgage (where I have my current loan) — a woman who spoke solid but not exactly “native” sounding English — and she said she would connect me with a Chase mortgage rep. if I was interested. What the heck – I decided I’d be happy to hear the spiel – but before she transferred me, I asked where she was calling from. She was very opfront about it – Manilia, Phillipines.
She transferred me to a Chase loan consultant in the U.S. — who, to her credit, after looking at my account and determining that I had no other debt than my 25-years-to-go fixed mortgage (and ascertaining that I really didn’t need the money for anything else) gamely and quickly admitted that they probably didn’t have anything that was going to save me money.
Chase is actually a pretty soft sell – I don’t let a ton of HELOC or credit card offers from them (unlike Capitol One – who sends me a different offer every month). I just thought hearing from them via the Manila operator was a little bit interesting.
That IS interesting. I have a CC with Chase, and recently closed my account with Capital One. They kept sending me offers for the same card long after I accepted one. Also, they had the odd habit of sending me bills with a zero balance – normally, credit card companies send no bill when your account is at nil.
It’s refreshing that your Chase rep didn’t try to snowball you with a bogus offer.
I am very offended by these solicitations from off-shore call centers. At least you could understand her English, maybe that’s the difference of when they are calling you BEFORE the sale vs when you have to call them AFTER the sale.
Have you heard that McDonalds is going to call-center the drive-up window, you know when you give your order to that box? If I recall, the call-center is starting out in Santa Maria, CA but the plans are to move it to South America. The order takers in South America will send your order back to the restaurant where you are sitting outside in your car.
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