People really are that stupid

[cute fuzzy bunny]

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/07/BUGHVJL5TF57.DTL

Folks are picking up a new credit card, offered by a bunch of known criminals specializing in fraud, that for a couple of hundred bucks a year in fees allows you to use the card only to buy overpriced merchandise from their own proprietary catalog that may even be stolen!

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

South San Francisco resident Michael Wisper was shocked when he opened his mail the other day. He'd received a pre-approved, no-interest credit card from something called CCA in Las Vegas....

The card comes with a $199.99 activation fee, which will be deducted from your checking account if you don't cancel the card within two weeks of calling to activate it via an automated process.

how could they possibly get someone's checking account number? i suppose if someone gives them that during the activation process, they should be charged a $200 stupidity fee.

 

[cube_rat]

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/07/BUGHVJL5TF57.DTL

Folks are picking up a new credit card, offered by a bunch of known criminals specializing in fraud, that for a couple of hundred bucks a year in fees allows you to use the card only to buy overpriced merchandise from their own proprietary catalog that may even be stolen!

Yeah, I saw this same article this morning. Unfortunately, people who have less than desirable credit (who generally are less educated on credit stuff) are preyed upon by loan sharks, thugs and lowlife characters. If read the article, you'll notice how the consumer gives up their rights under the law to have an arbitrator settle any disputes. I detest these despicable outfits. They're no different than snakes like Cash Call, payroll payday advances charging 98% interest on loans.

 

[justin]

I received a similar sub-prime CC offer the other day - the terms were hilarious! The sad thing is that a lot of folks probably get the "pre-approved" credit card application in the mail and sign up thinking it'll help rebuild their credit.

The offer I received was something along the lines of:

You get a credit limit of $300-500. There's a $99 account set up fee, a $59 account activation fee, a $79 annual fee, payable in advance and a $29 credit review fee. So you apply for the card and when it arrives in the mail, there's already $266 in charges due when you get it, meaning you may only have as little as $34 in available credit. But if you don't keep good records and remember that you are charged $266 for getting the card, you won't know that, but rather you would assume you have the full $300 available credit. Of course the overlimit fee is $39 (when you inadvertently go over the credit limit).

You can request a credit increase at any time, although it is subject to a fee of 10% of any increase in credit limit.

Wow. I think I'd get a debit card or use cash.

 

[Arif]

Folks are picking up a new credit card, offered by a bunch of known criminals specializing in fraud, that for a couple of hundred bucks a year in fees allows you to use the card only to buy overpriced merchandise from their own proprietary catalog that may even be stolen!

At least they are keeping their overhead low with the stolen goods.

 

[maddythebeagle]

I received a similar sub-prime CC offer the other day - the terms were hilarious! 

I see that trashing your credit with high utilization of bt's has got you some good offers in the mail

 

[justin]

I see that trashing your credit with high utilization of bt's has got you some good offers in the mail

Yes, to a certain extent. One of these sub-prime cards (through Household bank, a subdivision of HSBC) was sneaky. They offered a 0% balance transfer option for all new cardholders. So I signed up. As it turns out, I could get a balance transfer for 0%, but the credit limit is only $500 - hardly worth the effort for ~$25/yr. It ended up in the garbage.

I just tried a new round of applications at citicard for DW and I - we'll see if the credit is in the crapper still...

 

[laurence]

What happened to your credit, Justin? Was this covered in another thread I missed?

 

[justin]

What happened to your credit, Justin? Was this covered in another thread I missed?

It's still ok, just not top notch. It's actually my wife's credit that has the higher utilization apparently (that who I get more sub-prime offers for). We still get plenty of regular prime credit offers too. I'm up to my eyeballs in debt. 0% Credit Card debt.

My/our "poor" credit hasn't really affected us much, since we don't have a need for credit new credit.