Credit Card Checks

RPSoong--

Did you save the paperwork that came with the check?

Have you drawn against this money after you deposited it?

check from CCPA
The phone number on the check is 301-459-5868.

It's a marketing gimmick. Never ever ever deposit a check sent to you that you didn't earn. It will just make you part of an agreement you didn't want to agree to. Once you deposit the check, it's like saying "yes" to signing up for whatever it is they are selling. It says it right there in the fine print.

Why don't people understand that you don't get anything for free??

Preferred Card Holder Division is full of Crap
Preferred Cardholder Division
New Visa and Mastercard Department
Credit Card Protection Agency
Metro Business Center
4501 Forbes Blvd
Lanham Md 20797-

As usual there's an automated phone service. I just bought a new shredder and I will test it out with this $3.25 check.

This may not be a scam, but to receive $3.25 check just to pay more every month. This is crazy! I don't advise this to anyone. Read the small print guys and girls!

Love the site!

Later...

same problem
thinking that this was from citi, i cashed it too Has anybody found a possible solution to this?

i would really appreciate to know the name of this company where the
check for 3.25 came from so i can call them and tell them what to do with
the check and the rest of the paperwork.
thanks in advance
francisco r soto
[email protected]

New things just keep coming out everyday don't they :'(

'reward' check
I also recieved a check. However it came ahead of the info packet, by itself. I assumed (silly me) that it was from my new cc company as they offer rebates (or rewards, however they word it) for purchases. I cashed it and didn't give it a second thought (except for 'cool- $3'). Now I have recieved the packet (almost 2 mos. later) telling me that the rebate check I cashed has been processed and my protection service is in full effect, wth. They are urging me to send in the enclosed credit report release & credit card registration form, which is not going to happen of course, but how do I know what charges I already unwittingly agreed to, and how would I stop it. Do they have my actual cc # already? They act like they do-(listing my cc account on the form like so-( 123456xxxxxx7890 04/04)
They have spaces for 20 different cc #'s. I hate to think of what could happen if someone gave them all the info they are asking for.
I will try the phone # in the packet, but I suspect that will get me nowhere.

Again, if you didn't earn it, don't cash it. It's a scam or at the very least a ploy to get you to sign up for something you don't want. Rewards are listed on a statement and rebates have to sent for so there's no reason to not know one is coming.

Consumers beware...and use common sense.

Visa card numbers start with a 4.
Mastercard numbers start with a 5.

Amex is 3, Discover is 6...

talked to a live person...
Ok, I just called the 800 # listed in the packet, I talked to a real live person (was shocked) and asked how much I was being billed on my cc. I told her I cashed the check but hadn't sent in the registration form, etc. She told me $89.00. I said "but I get 30 days free, right?" (info that was in the packet I recieved well after the check). She said yes, so I said I wanted to cancel. It was way too easy, so I suspect that they have already billed me, and that's probably why they sent the packet so much later than the check, so I would miss the 30 day window. I'm hoping I'm wrong. I'm off to call my cc company now.
I hope this helps someone else who just assumes that the correspondence they recieve is from their legitimate cc company.

southbound, if you have been billed and did not receive the packet in enough time to cancel in 30 days, open a dispute with your credit card. You probably don't have a post marked envelope that the packet came in but you can still give them a run for their money.

Credit card checks
I fell into a scam for which I was unknowingly charged by my credit card company, HSBC. I just discovered it today 12/31/05. And, forget HSBC's fraud department. The HSBC agent at its customer service phone number told me that the two companies were HSBC third party venders. I got a check as if a "dividend" or "rebate" from HSBC, also known as Household Finance, the credit card you get when you apply for credit at BestBuy stores.

I received two or three $2.50 checks which I endorsed and cashed at my bank. I must have signed something with very fine print from HSBC third party vender "Buyer's Advantage," that charged my HSBC account $89.99 and HSBC third party vender "Complete Home" that charged $99.99.

Tonight, New Years 2005, the HSBC credit agent told me he couldn't do anything about it but for me to call the two venders next week to stop the membership. He couldn't assure me if I would get a refund from either "vender."

BUYER'S ADVANTAGE is at Edit: Moderator: Link removed. It's ad says, "Join Now and enjoy a 1-month trial membership for $1 AND get a $20 Circuit City® Gift Card!" I remember getting a $25 BestBuy gift card just for making my first payment. Guess what, I didn't notice that the charge was made in early October 2005 and today is New Years 2005. "I think" the one-month trial period has passed and so I'm a member but don't ask me of what because I have no idea. When I called their 800 number, I was asked by some machine if I wanted to know about my benefits, among other things. When I said yes, "sorry, we're closed for the holidays."

COMPLETE HOME is at Edit: Moderator: Link removed. I was charged $99.99 by them on the third of December, but I can't stop "my membership" within the month because the month will have expired by January 2, 2006, and, unfortunately, their office is also closed for the holidays. I think businesses open on January 3. Too late to cancel my first-month trial, but I might get some money back for the period not used in "my year membership."

The COMPLETE HOME site is "cute:" "Members are in the know! Get the answers you need regarding your membership and the services it provides. Require further assistance? Choose from the additional "help" areas listed below." No one told me anything about a membership nor was I informed of their web site. Duhhhhhhh!

Am I stupid or what. But give me some "credit," I didn't fall for this new scam which may not be from a HSBC vender, but it happened soon after getting the HSBC card. Get this, I got a check for $3.25, dated June 2, 2005, from "Credit Card Protection Agency, Inc, Preferred Cardholder Division, New VISA® and Mastercard® Department" to be paid "To bearer or (to me, my printed name and address)."

The "protection" agency even includes a self-address stamped envelope. An accompanying slip says: "Fill in valid credit card number on enclosed check and return it in the enclosed envelope today...POSTAGE IS FREE...Processing Center." The check has four VOID stamps on it, has a bank ID 75-1131/919, FSMC, an affiliate of First State Bank, Lake Lillian, MN 56253.

I searched the net for First State Bank of Lake Lillian. Guess what, another person who also got a check wrote at Edit: Moderator: Link removed : "A few weeks ago I got a check for 25 cents from Illinois Bell. The check was drawn on a bank in Lake Lillian, Minnesota. Do you know how obscure Lake Lillian is? (Of course you do. You know everything. I'm just asking rhetorically.) It's so obscure it's not in the Minnesota key to my road map book, which includes such metropolises as Dundas, population 422. It's so obscure the person I talked to at the Minnesota tourism office couldn't find it on her computer (she said to call back when Jerry gets back from lunch). Why would a major corporation have its checking account in such an obscure bank when there are lots of banks right in the neighborhood? --V.M., Chicago"

DON'T SIGN ANY REWARD CHECKS!!!!!!!

I too received 2 of the Preferred Cardholder Division checks, which I thought were from my bank for using my debit card. However, I did not attempt to deposit them into my bank account until two months later. I had forgotten I had them. I did not receive any packet information as I have read. When the teller attempted to deposit the checks they were refused. When I got home, I took a closer look at the checks. That's when I discover the Maryland address on the check and the bank name, city, and state listed were different. I then looked for the Citizens State Bank of Clara City in Cara City, MN. The only listing I saw were for the locations in MN, but nothing for Lanham, Md.

I decided to do a little research on the Internet. Surprisingly, I found this website and read all the message. After reading all four pages of messages, I was very glad the transaction was rejected. Upon reading the information on the back of the checks, I saw the information about the membership kit.

I figure since I did not respond in what they considered a timely manner, the company assumed I was not interested in their offer. They made the correct assumption. If I received any more of this type of checks, I know to send copies to the appropriate authorities.

I like the last line that states "Of course, the $3.25 check is min to keep in any case." Of course it would be free to you if it didn't cost you any thing. They didn't waste money sending you the membership packet, and the only thing you got was a free piece of worthless paper.

This practice should be stopped.

I received the same check last month... I haven't signed it, but deposited it in the bank. It was successful. I was happy that I cashed it. Now, I got another check which made me suspect of some marketing gimmick. Then I read everything in this forum. Can someone send me the 1-800 # so that I talk to them asap.

wow all the new users

Please send me the 1-800 number of the company Plssssssssss........

Not enough info and I do not get these offers which leasds me to belive this is some kind of solicitation for a collateralized credit card.

Credit card protection scams
Ok so I got my regular credit card statement in the mail ,and lo and behold there was a rebate check in there in the amount of 3.25. It stated that as a thank you for choosing to use this credit card, please sign date, and cash this check. I thought cool my bank sent me a small reward, HA. No it turns out that it was not from my bank, they just allow it to be put in their statements, and look all official, hum sounds fishy to me. Anyway it took a month before I received a membership agreement from this company called Credit Card Protection Agency, and by then I didn't know what was going on, then they charged my credit card 89.00 for a years protection that i didn't even know i had signed up for. My bank was useless, when i called them to inform them of this deceptive practice, all they could do is say , well you signed the contract, arrrgggg. So to make a long story short if this has happened to you, you need to call the FTC AND FILE A COMPLAINT, when they get enough reports on a company they file a suit. You also need to call the banking regulatory commision at 1-800-613-6743, and let them know that your bank is not doing what it needs to, and is allowing this kind of deceptive practice to go on, by using their statements as a way to look legitament. You don't need protection for credit cards, by law you are limited to 50.00 in charges if they are used fraudulently.

I know, isn't is remarkable that all these 1st time posters found this site, all with the exact same problem

seems like the post died out for a while, now are back up again.

I hope none of them start to ask me what I ate for breakfast.