Stay Away From Credit Card Offers That Require an Application Fee
There is no law that states that credit card companies cannot charge an application fee; however, to this day, I have not seen one bank that charges an application fee for an unsecured credit card. If a bank tells you that they require you to pay an application fee for one of their credit cards, you should be extremely cautious, and make sure the offer is legitimate. Most banks are happy enough to get your application and have the opportunity to collect fees and interest from you in the future.
We have received many complaints about a company making unsolicited phone calls to people both on and not on the Federal Do Not Call List. If you get a call from someone claiming to be offer you a credit card at a low interest rate, you should be extremely wary about their offer. They usually begin by talking about the high interest rate you are paying on credit cards and that they are offering a credit card at 9 percent interest rate so you could transfer your balance over. After they go through the normal sales techniques, they tell you that you will have to pay anywhere from $200 to $500 to apply. Once they charge your credit card, they send out applications for three other credit cards that are issued by banks that have no known relationship to the sales person you spoke with. If you get declined by those banks, the company will only refund half the amount that they charged you, and that’s if you are able to get a refund which some have had difficulty obtaining. We have tried several times to contact this company before publishing this article, however we have not received a response, but we are continuing to attempt to contact them.
There are other companies which do the same, but this company is the one that we have received the most complaints about.
Whenever you receive a sales call you should find out as much about the company as you can. If you have a computer with internet handy, you should do a little bit of research while you are talking to the sales agent. If you feel bad saying no, an easy alternative is to let the person on the phone know that you only pay for things with cash. You should never give your credit card number over the phone to someone who has called you. Even if they say they are from a reputable company, you should hang up the phone and call the company at one of their published telephone numbers. In this day and age, it’s far too easy for someone to obtain your credit card number by claiming to be from a reputable company. Often times the sales agent will try to impress you with information he or she has about you like your telephone number and address, but the truth is that with 5 minutes of research on the internet, anyone can obtain that information.
If your phone number is on the National Do Not Call List and you receive a telemarketing call, we urge you to file a complaint here: To put your phone number on the National Do Not Call List, visit this page: If you are a business and want to make sure you are in compliance, visit the FTC page for businesses.
