I get contacted by different financial institutions on a regular basis, sometimes they are responding to my press queries, sometimes they are letting me know about new products but recently I’ve noticed a trend that I’d like to address because it’s been bothering me.
They have been threatening to start legal action against this site if certain things aren’t done, what’s more troubling is that they are going through a third party that we used to work with but no longer do. In most cases the banks just want me to update information that is incorrect/out of date. I have no issue with this at all, but there is absolutely no need to add in the threat of legal action if it’s not completed.
I also won’t remove information that banks simply don’t like, unless there is a compelling reason to do so. I’d much rather build a working relationship with credit card issuers and other financial institutions, in fact I already have these relationships with a lot of them. Setting it up is easy:
- Set up a point of contact that can be used to verify information/ask any questions to
- Send advanced notice of any promotions/card benefits changes or anything else we might want to run a story about. I’m always happy to embargo news and I’ve never broken an embargo.
- Let me know about any content that needs to be changed that isn’t up to date/accurate
The advantage of sending me information in advance is that I can write detailed posts that contain as much information as possible, the financial institutions also gets a chance to explain any potential problems/questions I have about the changes and also the chance to try and frame the changes in a positive light (although there is no promise that I’ll frame it that way).
If you work at one of these companies, feel free to use my e-mail address to get in touch ([email protected]). I’m happy to make changes to the site where necessary, but let’s keep things civil.
My guess is that it is MarkMonitor sending out these notices. They are as educated as an Orange haired orangutan (and no I am not talking about Donald Trump here).
They’ll send you a demand letter for taking a shit even if you have chronic constipation.
First of all, financial institutions aren’t your friends. They are in the business to do one thing–make money for their investors. Asking them to keep it civil, is like asking the govt to stop wasting money.
Capital one bank..they will sue you for anything..even 7 years after you closed your account. They often reopen accounts to get more late fees/overlimit fees and then re-sue you!
Wouldn’t doubt the whole business of papering these notices is 100% outsourced through this third party. 30 off shore workers brought in to replace 2 americans are sitting in Mumbai making peanuts and just firing off notices using some cookie cutter form they don’t comprehend nor care about. Capitalism at it’s finest.
William,
Kindly correct our Chase Sapphire Preferred card to the current sign up bonus of 900,000 Ultimate Rewards Points.
If you don’t, we will be forced to prosecute you for intentional misinformation on your site.
In addition, we’d prefer if you capitalized the C in Chase consistently.
Best Regards,
Mark
VP J.P. Morgan Chase
P.S. It’s Potato. Not Potatoe.
Also take a point of the things they are crying about, like a little bitch, and make some changes. For example you might say “At the time of writing this…” to cover yourself against changes. Or “rates will not be updated and are representations as of this moment” etc.. I’m no english major, writer, but you get the idea.
Besides that they can’t conrol your content since, as you previously have said, don’t have affiliate links and not their slave. I would just love to get the contact# of the D-bags that have the time of day to send these types of messages to blogs and have a nice friendly chat w them 🙂
I’ve seen other bloggers post such posts also, about unfounded and preemptive threats, its disturbing!
In your shoes, I’d consult with an attorney to see if you can disclose the names of the banks and also more details about these threats, then write several posts about them on your blog and other blogs, including info from other bloggers and customers who have seen the same ugly side of them as you have.
Banks seem to understand the bad publicity language more than fair use and freedom of speech, so let their customers know who these banks are and how they’re behaving, if you can. My guess is that its that kind of well deserved bad publicity (for them) more than anything else that will make them back the f*ck off.
I wish they were threatening a certain other blogger instead!
You should call out the bad actors. If you let them off the hook, what’s the point of the article? You’re writing a piece for an audience of two or three and disseminating it to thousands? You might as well post your grocery list.
I don’t know how much this site makes, but it can be worthwhile and inexpensive to have a relationship with an attorney who can respond to demand letters for you. Sometimes it takes another attorney to educate corporate attorneys on the meaning of “fair use.”
You might also want to put another link in the footer to a page (separate from your terms page) with information about how to submit and how you handle DMCA notices/Copyright claims/miscellaneous corrections from third parties. Then if they send the requests to the wrong place you can point to the published policy.