For any credit card issuer, is there any evidence that forms of communication (for unique requests) other than a telephone call (chat, secure message, Twitter, etc.) result in lower risks than the risks commonly ascribed to human eyes on account?

Some people with notional biz credentials and multiple AmEx NLL biz cards and some people with many sock drawered SUB only cards and some people with several identical accounts and some people in general are hesitant to speak with a telephone representative out of concern for possible adverse action (shutdown, claw back, application denial) due to human eyes on account.

Any evidence that Chat or Secure Message have different likelihoods of resultant adverse action than phone calls? Any evidence that Chat or Secure Message don�t have the same likelihood of (supervisory or confirmatory) human eyes on account than a phone call?

I do not have any evidence, but I feel like it's safer to send a message or chat. Not all agents are "trained" to talk live to a customer. But a lot more (perhaps lower tier) customer reps can help with standard requests like changing the due date, lowering credit limit, issuing a check for credit balance refund etc. The lower tier reps may not be as interested or even empowered to look at the entire financial relationship of a customer with the institution. They may just be trying to get through xxxx number of requests before the end of their shift. Meanwhile, the phone agents may be more trained to look for red flags. Again, I have no evidence, but this is what I believe.

What are you trying to do?

Nothing specific right now, just trying to understand the environment. I'm a frequent caller for any number of reasons (recon, change statement date, move credit limit from one card to another, move a statement credit from one card to another, etc.), rarely message, never chat, never Twitter. We often read here of people who are reluctant to contact a card issuer due to undesired extra perhaps unwarranted “eyes on account”, much more commonly citing reluctance to CALL compared to reluctance to chat or message or Twitter. I’m wondering if there’s any objective evidence that calling (instead of chatting or messaging) increasing the probability of more intense eyes on account.

Is it a given that telephone agents are more highly trained and/or qualified and/or empowered? Or is that a suspicion?

(Gotta be careful these days with quotes like "without any evidence" and “I do not have any evidence” and “I have no evidence” .)

I think this is primarily apprehension about confrontation due to a large number of card accounts or a fictional business. It may feel more comfortable to write, than to speak, because a delay in responding to a spoken question is considered evasive, but not so much when texting.

Thank you, I tend to agree as evidenced by my usual behavior, nice to read a concurring opinion from an esteemed FTer Legend. As a doctor and a (private) pilot I prefer to act based on evidence rather than based on apprehension and suspicion. During my medical career, the standard of care shifted, in some situations very significantly, from “it's what we’ve always done” to “evidence based medicine”.

I know I am always a bit apprehensive when I have to call to move points from my Ink card to my CSR. I guess I am concerned that one day the rep is going to say something like “you sure spend a lot of money at Office Depot and Staples” (*).

Bummer that they broke the self service transfer.

For other cards I generally have no concerns about talking to a rep, but if I can do it via secure message, I choose that route for other reasons.


(*) Given the 5X cap on Ink purchases I suspect it isn’t really a valid concern; it’s not like I am running tens of thousands of dollars through that account every month. My gift card purchases are limited to what I can use for category shifting, with health insurance being the primary use.

Why do you have to call? I transfer from my Ink and other Chase cards every few months to my CSP including this week online without issue.

Because my once broken functioning online link between the cards was broken when the card number changed, and it can’t be re-established. Lots of people have this problem.

Problems Combining UR points between accounts