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Credit card company started charging me for "Credit Protector" - What recourse do I have?

C

Crimson

Banned
I noticed on my latest credit card bill that they had started charging me for their INSANE service they call "Credit Protector".. Which basically means for $20-30 a month (with the balance I had) they would "protect" me in case I would lose my job or become unable to work or something along those lines.

When I called them, they told me I had enrolled for this service in April of 2001! WHAT?! I did not.. I _NEVER_ would use that service and I told them I wanted to be credit for the past 10+ months (Around $250).. I was told they would forward it to the investigative group...

A couple weeks pass, and I get a letter in the mail today... They say they investigated and have found that I verbally authorized the service to be added to my account in April of 2001.. either that or someone authorized to make changes on my account did. Umm.. NO.. I did NOT authorize it, and nobody else is authorized to use my account.. At the end of the letter it says basically that they can't refund the money, and thanks for being a customer.

Well, thats not an acceptable answer to me. Short of producing a signed document by me saying I want to enroll, I think they should have to refund me the charges.. Period. I did not authorize them verbally or otherwise. I suspect this "service" is outsourced to a 3rd party company and thats why they are so set on there is no possible way to refund this money.

They can't produce a date and time when I talked to them, or a document, and yet I'm somehow response for $250 worth of charges because one of their CSR's probably lied and signed me up and order to get a commission? Has anyone else gone through this and what did you have to do to get your money refunded? I am almost considering getting an attorney to write up a threat for me because this really angers me. There is no possible way I would have authorized this.. and I am willing to spend the $250 on fees to a lawyer to get a refund of $250.. 🙂

Well, I know what some of you will say.. Why didn't you check your bill? Well, thats partly my fault.. I should have been checking it. But I really only use this credit card for balance transfers, so I have a large amount transfered onto it.. and I don't have any other charges on it.. so I just look at the amount due and pay it.. my fault kind of.. But their "credit protector" option is a tiny little line on the bill, I hardly would have noticed it even if I was closely looking it over..

Anyways, if anyone has any helpful hints I would appreciate it.. This scam needs to stop... They are always pushing that BS service when you call them..

 
citibank eh? i used to work for them, your situation is no surprise 😛

tell them you want to hear the tape of you supposedly authorizing it, if they cant provide that (they cant/wont i'm sure), then sue their ass.

oh yeah, and if ya wanna call and do a balance transfer or something in the future, don't call the 'balance transfer hotline', their job is to get sales. call customer service. they are more intelligent (well most of the time 😛), and have alot more power and information. they also dont try to sell you stuff.

1-800-950-5114, that is, assuming this is citibank 😀
 
Ding Ding Ding.. We have a winner. Yes, it is Citibank.. 🙂 The only reason I stay with them is I have a 3.9% balance transfer rate thats UNLIMITED.. IE, I have that rate until I pay off the balance transfer, it doesn't expire.. So I want to keep the card. 🙂
 
Citibank keeps sending me these $15 checks to try their Credit Protector. If I cash the check, I'm enrolled.

So far they've all been burned.

Viper GTS
 


<< Ding Ding Ding.. We have a winner. Yes, it is Citibank.. 🙂 The only reason I stay with them is I have a 3.9% balance transfer rate thats UNLIMITED.. IE, I have that rate until I pay off the balance transfer, it doesn't expire.. So I want to keep the card. 🙂 >>


wow, 3.9 i -think- is the lowest paydown rate they have (paydown=apr never goes up - fixed basically)


<< Citibank keeps sending me these $15 checks to try their Credit Protector. If I cash the check, I'm enrolled.

So far they've all been burned.

Viper GTS >>


pics? 😀 😉
 
Why are you complaining now?? Didn't you notice the $20-$30 charges each month on your statements for the past 10 months? If I was Citibank I'd say tough luck.

Always check your statement each month!!!
 


<< Why are you complaining now?? Didn't you notice the $20-$30 charges each month on your statement 10 months ago? If I was Citibank I'd say tough luck. >>


you have a point, but then again it's not uncommon for a rep to "accidentally" sign someone up for something to get their 50 cent or whatever bonus.

some of these people are like, well, ok almost all of them, are either:

1. complete trash
2. high school/college kids
3. both

😛

the job requires no education and pays 6.50 an hour plus bonus where i worked. what kind of employees you think they're gonna get?
 
No, I didn't notice the charges 10 months ago.. Who really checks their bill each month? I certainly don't.. You can fault me for that, but that doesn't give them the right to falsely charge me for a service I did not use or sign up for.
 
I say keep calling until they give in. Call every day. After a week or two, they'll probably give in, and you won't need to pay a lawyer at all. After that, pay the balance and never use that card again. 😉
 
I remember we had this service back when I worked at Discover Card. I bet during a balance transfer or a another time they called you you were enrolled. Discover Card basically told us to trick customers into these services. You would ask really quickly and catch the customer not really listening and they are like "yeah go ahead" so they can get off the phone. Did you ever get anything in the mail about it? They are required to send a packet on it so you can see it writing and then you have a certain amount of time to get back to them to cancel it free of charge. Sorry I really don't add anything useful, but people beware. They basically trick you into these services and you need to listen closely.
 


<< Who really checks their bill each month? I certainly don't.. >>



I do and apparently you should too. Though I do think you are right and they should not have made you pay. I would force them to show you the proof you signed up.
 
Citibank was really shady with this. I enrolled for online bill payment, but they never sent me the confirmation letter in the mail with my password even after I had requested it twice.

So i go and pay my credit card bill by writing a regular check. The return envelope provided is preprinted on the front "Yes, please sign me up for the Citi Credit Protector Service."


Great huh? I put a white label over it.
 
They did that to my sister, she kept calling and said I never told you to put it on there, but the bills keep coming(she makes sure everything from credit card companies comes in writting, not over the phone). Eventually they refunded her money and took it off.
 
rofl dood, i got a credit card offer in the mail. it said that the join fee would be $150.00, then another activation fee would be $50.00 then another uhm annual fee would be i think $50.00.

Altogether, my credit they would issue would probably be about $300.00.

I threw that paper away so fast as soon as I read that.

But about your thing, I'm sure you can call and ask them what is going on. CC companies are usually nice about that.
 
A newer tactic is Insured line of credit from the bank. Kind of like the upscale version of this topic.
A package is sent to you saying that you have been approved for $10000 times X Line of Credit. Hey great. But "ALL" the documentation
that is sent is part of the Insurance package. Basically there is one tiny authorization to activate the account and reams of documentation about getting the line covered. What happens is the wording looks like the Insurance is neccesary to activate the account but read it first. Line of Credit Accounts were of more value when the intrest rates between them and Premium Credit Cards was greater but still they are nice to have. But they don't need to be Insured unless it is part of your risk management stategy. Around here banks can often be stingy of setting up lines of credit once you are self employed so it makes sense to establish even a small one when available. They will still break your nutz when you want to up it to 150 G's for your small bunsiness but at least you will have your foot in. But be careful not to sign up for covarage you don't need.
 
First: I am not a lawyer.

Check your Terms of Service or Consumer Services Agreement or similar documents that your card company mails to you periodically. You got one with the card, and you get them in the mail when the rules change. In there you will likely find that they use binding arbitration to resolve disputes. That basically translates to: you can't sue us.

Binding arbitration means that when you have an issue, you and the company have to work with a third-party arbitrator to resolve the problem. The company contracts with an arbitration company to handle these disputes. Note that. They pay a company to handle disputes. The arbitration company is in the pocket of the credit card company and doesn't care about you. So if you bring up a dispute, and even get it taken to arbitration, how do you think that's going to go?

You may think that's illegal and that they can't take away your right to sue, but from what I understand you'd be wrong. The Federal govt. passed the Federal Arbitration Act to keep "trivial" consumer complaints out of the courts. By continuing to use the card after Citibank gave you this services agreement, you have agreed to the binding arbitration.

The one plus side to this is that most binding arbitration doesn't remove the right to small-claims court. So if your dispute is under $5000, you probably CAN choose small claims court instead of binding arbitration. Of course, it's still your word against theirs.
 
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