I was contacted by a sales representative from Ameritrust Financial, offering me a credit card and saying I was approved for it.
I work for a church who covers my basic living expenses and I only recieve an allowance of about $44 per week. Getting approval for a credit card is next to impossible with my yearly income, so I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity. I didn't need a credit card but saw it as a way that I could purchase items I needed and build a credit record at the same time.
I gave a verbal authorization to the sales representative to debit the $200 from my checking account and was told that I would receive the card and four vouchers in the mail that would pay back the $200 that I put down for the card.
The $200 was debited from my account. I then received a guaranteed acceptance letter in the mail from Ameritrust Financial for me to fill out and send back in so that I could receive the card. The envelope was hand-written and the acceptance letter unprofessionally printed, so I got suspicious as to the financial security of this company.
I then got access to the internet and checked them out and found out that the only purchases you can make with their credit card are from their magazine or online store. This was never mentioned when I received the call from their sales representative.in fact, it was obvious that the card was misrepresented and this information was intentionally withheld so that I would accept the offer for the card.
I called Ameritrust Financial's Customer Service Number and said that as I had not received the card yet, nor the $200 in vouchers, I would like to have my $200 returned as I did not want the card. I was told that I would have to send a letter to the "President's Council" and that it would take 4 to 6 weeks for my letter to process. There was also no guarantee that I would be refunded my $200.
I think that this type of practice is dishonest and the staff and executives of Ameritrust Financial should be ashamed for this type of activity. There is nothing wrong with selling a credit card, but there is definitely something wrong with misrepresenting themselves and then not allowing a refund once the facts were on the table.
That $200 took me about 5 weeks to save up and with the holidays coming up, I needed to use it for specific purchases, not purchases from the Ameritrust Financial Catalogue. Had I known that was the intention for that credit card, I would not have accepted it.
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