So...I recently canceled all my credit cards...let's say voluntarily...and started living on a cash-only (including debit cards) basis... For practical reasons, however, it was deemed wise to acquire a secured credit card (try renting a car without a cc)... I applied for, and was approved by, an outfit called FIRST PREMIERE BANK...very high "independent" ratings from consumer bureaus--yeah.... I sent them a certain amount of money, allocating that $50 of that money be used for their "annual membership fee", and waited to hear that all was ok. After about 3 weeks, I called their "customer service" number and was assured that, yes, all was ok and I would be receiving my card "soon." Another 3 weeks passed with no card arriving. Then, yesterday, I received an email to which was attached a copy of my BILL for a minimum payment of $30...for a card I had never received, let alone used. True, the card did arrive later in the mail, but the fact remains that it was never used, and that there should have been no charges against it, hence no minimum payment due.
I called the lovely folks in Kansas or some other Red State to ask what this charge was all about, and I was told that there was an unpaid balance of $50 charged to my card... "What?", I asked. "The fifty dollars for the annual membership was already paid, and with MY MONEY, not yours, so why do I owe anyone anything??"
This line of questioning went unanswered, with the customer service rep parroting an
obviously-scripted response to a question doubtlessly heard hundreds of times a day.
To make matter worse, if I (like countless others) decided to only pay the "minimum payment due"
of $30, I WOULD HAVE AN UNPAID BALANCE OF $20 ON WHICH I WOULD THEN BE CHARGED 19.5% INTEREST!!!
So...I have placed myself in a situation where I would have pay usurious rates of interest to SOMEONE ELSE for the use of MY MONEY.
And people wonder why banks are hated more than lawyers.
CAVEAT EMPTOR. Stay away from First Premiere Bank if you can, although I imagine they are no worse than the other vultures in this game.
