Have you been denied a major credit card due to a poor credit rating? Watch out for phony credit repair or credit card offers. Some offers will end up costing you lots of money, and you won’t get what you think is being offered.
Scam artists may offer you credit repair services. After paying a large fee, all you receive is a list of banks that offer a secured Visa or MasterCard. “Secured” cards are issued after you deposit enough money to cover any charges you make and are offered by many banks. Save your money and look up these banks in your local Yellow Pages.
Scam artists may also offer a “major credit card” for a fee. But when your card arrives, it can only be used with a specific store or catalog that also happens to be owned by the company that issued your credit card. “Single-use credit cards” are not a new concept, but scam artists misrepresent them as being all-purpose bank credit cards. It can get worse when the merchandise in the catalog from which you must choose your purchases is either inferior or grossly overpriced.
If you have poor credit, be careful when responding to an offer for credit. If you are not satisfied with the information provided in the offer, do not pay any fees up front. Otherwise, you may become a victim.
