“Budgeting”: A Magic Word

When you talk to a bank to change something, ask for something, appeal something, or to close something, you’ll often be asked some form of “Why are you doing this?” Usually customer service is asking for two reasons: first, because they’ve got metrics and they need to keep track of reasons that people call, and second, they’ve got practiced responses and rebuttals for common objections.

There’s a simple answer to “Why?” that almost always ends the conversation without any further discussion and you should add to your repertoire: “Budgeting”

For example:

[Q] Why do you have so many AmEx cards?
[A] Budgeting

[CS] This card offers thousands of dollars in savings for a small annual fee, why would you want to close it?
[Churner] Budgeting

[Q] Why do you have 27 checking accounts at our bank?
[A] Budgeting

[Q] Why are you downgrading this card two weeks after you upgraded it?
[A]: Budgeting

[Q]: I see a bunch of back-to-back charges for $49x.xx. Why didn’t you just run a single big charge?
[A]: Budgeting

[Q]: Why did you receive nearly a hundred envelopes from American Express with your name and Roman numerals?
[A]: Budgeting

[Q]: How come your American Express Business Platinum card is stored on your daughter’s Delta SkyMiles profile?
[A]: Budgeting

[Q]: Why did you open a teen spending debit card when you don’t have kids?
[A]: Budgeting

[Q]: Why does MEAB exist?
[A]: Budgeting

Good luck, and happy Tuesday!

For bonus points, send template dashboards showing your “budget” to customer service.