In January I did an online search to inquire about a cash advance or credit card to pay off some debt I had incurred over Christmas. I filled out information from one of those companies who search for or find matches for companies you qualify to borrow from. They DO ask for your bank name, routing number and account number, but ASSURE you that it will only be given to companies who are willing to lend to you or to give you a line of credit... But at that point, NOT to authorize any company to begin making charges to your bank account!"Maximum Platinum" is one of the companies that I was "referred" to. Their application led me to believe I was "inquiring" about a cash advance, credit card or credit line, but in no way indicated that I was agreeing to or authorizing them to make any charges to my bank account. I was told my "application" would be reviewed and I would be notified later if my application had been accepted. THEN I could agree to electronically "sign" the necessary forms and officially accept the contract with that company, but that nothing would be official until FIRST I was approved or accepted... And then I had to decide whether or not to follow through.
7 days later, a $49.95 charge was made to my bank account! Shocked, I called my bank's customer service center only to discover that the charge was from "Maximum Platinum". I got the company's phone number and called them right away. I was told from a representative from Maximum Platinim that within 30 seconds of my online "application" (which they referred to as an agreement) that a confirmation email was sent to my email account stating that I had 3 days to cancel the "TRANSACTION" or I would be agreeing to the initial charge PLUS another $14.95 monthly fee as well, not including the minimum payment on any charges I made to the credit account! I may or may not have received that email... I do not recall since I automatically delete credit card offers I receive in my email UNLESS I am EXPECTING it. Since I was not expecting that one because I had not yet agreed to accept an offer from Maximum Platinum and was still only in the inquiry stage, I most likely deleted it immediately upon checking my email.
My bank advised me to come into a branch location and fill out an affadavit and to pay $25 to put a "stop payment" from Maximum Platinum charges which would be good for one year rather than the usual one-time stop-payment costing $22. The reason for this as my bank explained is that these companies who pull these kinds of scams or "sly" deals will see that the charge was rejected, but will re-submit it again a few weeks later (after that company has ADDED their own non-sufficient funds fee) and I would need to pay another $22 to my bank to stop THAT payment also. Maximum Platinum could repeat the process several times before I would catch on, and by then, I would have paid more in bank fees than the original charge from the "supposed" credit card company! They must be banking (no pun intended) on the possibility I would just give up and let them have the doggone $49.95 since it would cost more to put a stop to it!
The BOTTOM LINE is this: it has cost me $25 from my bank to tell this company that I DO NOT accept their "OFFER" that I was only in the inquiring and investigating stages of in the first place! Beware of these scams and read the fine-print! Even if you are very careful as I was (or THOUGHT I was), you can still get lured into their web!
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