I applied for and recieved an Imagine card to attempt to rebuild my credit. I used it and paid it off every month for over a year. Eventually I changed bank accounts. I went online and updated my information online to include my new bank account information.
The way the imagine card works is that they automatically withdraw your minimum payment every month from your bank account. You can make a larger payment online, but if you need to change the amount or the date you have to call the customer service number. I changed my bank account information as part of a legal action (divorce). I updated my new bank account online.
After a year I had forgotten a lot of the very fine print and had not realized that the money would keep being taken from the closed account until I called and talked to a person. Updating my information online was not enough. The company tried to take my payment from my closed account with predictable results. They charged me a late fee, an over limit fee and a retrun check fee. These fees added up to just under $200 on a credit card with a $300 limit.
Now this late payment fee ignores the fact that I did pay them that month. I just paid them from my other bank account (the day after they tried to take the money from my original bank account). At this point I did not know they had not cancelled that payment since I had gone online to cancel it.
Keep in mind that I had been trucking along for over a year with the regular minimum payments. I had not changed bank accounts or payment amounts / methods in all that time. This was one very small mistake that almost anyone could have made. I thought I had updated the bank info. It cost me almost $200 to make that one tiny mistake.
When I looked online at my next months bill I was flabergasted! There were all these charges I had no idea where they came from. I contacted the company and that was when they explained to me that I needed to call and change bank accounts in order to make it 'official' The woman seemed very nice as I updated my records with her. I reminded her that I had paid last month and that my being overlimit was due entirely to my returned check fee and late payment fee. I asked her to remove those charges. She hung up on me and a week later I recieved a card in the mail that my card had been terminated and charging priveleges were discontinued.
At this point I called the number on the card and told the man that this company no longer had permission from me to remove funds from my bank account. I told him that I would send a check on those dates that I saw appropriate, but his company did not have my permission to go in whenever they saw fit to remove whatever they saw fit to remove.
He told me that they could not do that since my card was over limit and behind a payment (only because they refused to recognize that the payment I sent in August counted. They refused to count any payment they did not yank out of my account willy-nilly). I called another customer service number and got the fax number and a PO box that I could send correspondence to. I tried to send a registered letter demanding that stop taking money from me, but it was returned because the only address there is for these people is a PO box and you can not send it return reciept unless someone signs for it, and noone did.
I looked online and noticed that they were attempting to take $250 from my account. I called and told them not to. They agreed but said I would need to call every month if I wanted them to stop hijacking my bank account. I filed a report with the Attorney General of the State of Oklahoma. Oklahoma is very business friendly and people poor. The AG said he can submit my complaint but he can not help me in any other way. I just looked online and they are trying to take $213 next month! I have them set up on a payment schedule that will remove the overlimit and late payment fees from my account with them, but if I ever forget to look online I'm in a heap of trouble!
I know there are recorses available. Companies can not legally continue trying to access your bank account after premission has been rescended can they? I keep trying to find information in the state of Oklahoma on who to contact to protect myself from this bank account grab that Imagine Card has begun, but have not yet been successful.
If you are thinking of opening a "credit repair" credit card go with Orchard, they are much better at listening and resolving conflicts. DO NOT EVER get an imagine card, one misstep, regardless of how small can lead to a lot of trouble.
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