Another Fleet Credit Card victim...
This is a well-oiled machine. They know how to harrass and intimidate their victims.
My ex-husband and I had an Advanta credit card for many years. Our credit rating was AAA. The account was sold to Fleet. We requested an address change, which they modified for one month.
Mysteriously bills reverted back to the old address. I wrote a letter correcting this. I made a very large payment ($4000.00), paying what I thought was the balance. A few months later (after mail was no longer forwarded), bills were AGAIN sent to the old address.
This remained unknown to us until I was preparing tax returns and noted I did not receive an end of the year statement of interest paid. I CONTACTED THEM, estimating I still owed them money. Since I was not receiving bills I could not be certain.
I requested the statements that had gone to the dead-letter box at the post office. They immediately sent collection letters and demands (waited months for my statements). A tiny balance had grown — without notification they had reduced our credit limit taking on a nice "over the limit" fee, to late charges and interest fees.
We would have paid the balance then, despite the unfairness, but by then our credit had been damaged. We were willing to make full payment, if they corrected the negative reporting. THEY REFUSED, telling us it was our responsibility to know our balance, even without statements.
Knowing the law (their responsibility to send bills to the proper address), we were confident the fees and fines would be reduced by a judge. Besides, our credit had already been damaged and that was our main concern. The judge was fair, but we waited years to have it come to court.
Until it came to court, Fleet harrassed us and offered us many settlement "opportunities", but never with an offer to fix our credit history.
Intitially, we thought the addressing error was an honest (but incompetent) error on their part. Thinking back and hearing the stories of others, that is not likely. This "wrong address" method is a scheme.
How many others out there fell for the settlement "opportunites" and gave in to the blackmail.
If this has happened to you, print this posting and take it to court.
Before Fleet we had a flawless credit history, paid on time and had the resources to make large payments. Other lines of credit were cancelled when creditors reviewed our history for renewals. It snowballed into a mess.
Yes, it is our responsibility to know what we owe, but we should also all be dealing with fair and ethical companies who acknowledge their errors as well.
Fleet can afford to create these "errors" and hope for the right circumstances. At the time of the third address error by Fleet, my then husband was hospitalized for six months. I was distracted and thus I am "guilty".
Unethical companies will continue to prey on unsuspecting consumers who naively trust in fairness. Victims could also include other companies (our account was sold three times).
Thank you for this forum. Hopefully this will help the next victim.
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