Red-flag Number One: Financial Knowledge Network called me over and over and left messages on my house and cell phones. I generally do not answer phone numbers I do not recognize especially since I have been recovering from a major concussion a little over a year ago... But these guys kept calling and calling. Each time they called the number was from a different state, in fact I had learned to recognize them calling because of this fact. When I was getting a call from a state where I did not know anyone personally and my caller ID did not recognize the call, then I knew it was a sales pitch about lowering my interest rates on my credit cards. The messages they left sounded appealing at first... But the longer they went on, the more the tone of these messages was changing. I was getting sick of the large number of these calls, and I was on vacation with some extra time on my hands, plus I was interested in lowering my interest rates... So I answered one of the calls. The voice message was very aggressive in nature, stating that they had called me several times and I had not responded and that this was my last chance to get this deal... Suddenly I found myself "brow beaten" into pushing the number the message instructed me to push to be able to talk to someone in person.
Red-flag Number Two: A voice immediately came on to speak to me, but the connection was bad, I could barely hear that someone was trying to talk to me but I could not really make out what they were saying. Eventually I hung up. A moment later I received a new phone call. I few minutes later the connection was accidentally cut off, she called me back immediately again. She seemed almost desperate to talk to me and quickly gave me the name Financial Knowledge Network, Lauri Kallams, 1-877-572-4661, just in case we got cut off again. It became obvious very fast that she wanted to work with me right then, allowing no time for me to think.
Red-flag Number Three: As soon as it became clear that I was investing the time to listen to her, she became kissingly sweet in her demeanor. She explained that they wanted to help reduce my interest rates. She made it sound like they were some sort of public non profit organization, and she explained that my name had been submitted because I had a lot of credit card debt, yet I had shown how responsible a consumer I had been because all my credit was in good standing. She kept going over and over how I had no late payments or delinquent accounts, etc. She sympathized how high my interest rates were and how mean it was that those credit card companies were charging me so much interest.
Red-flag Number Four: She wanted to know how much my credit card debt was. I wondered to myself why she would not have already known this because she had just been talking about how good my credit history was, didn't she already have that information from some report or something?
Red-flag Number Five: I told her an approximate amount of overall debt and she instantly said that she could save me $15,000 a year in interest rates. Again, I wondered to myself how she could possibly have come up with this figure without figuring in exactly how much debt I had at exactly what interest rate... Compared to whatever interest rate that debt could possibly have been lowered to.
Red-flag Number Six: She then wanted to verify my eligibility for the program... But earlier she had said that the reason she had called me was because I qualified for her program. Isn't being eligible and being qualified the same thing? Why would she need to do this again?
Red-flag Number Seven: She wanted the 800 number off the backside of one of my credit cards. She had told me that they wanted to lower the interest rate on all my cards but now she was only talking about needing one of my cards, it didn't matter which one, but it had to be one that was in good standing. She wouldn't take American Express, saying it had to be Visa or Master Card. She wanted me to have the actual card in my hand but when I was having trouble finding a card she said that she could use a statement if we had to, but it would be harder. She contradicted herself again when she agreed to take Discover card instead of Visa or MC. I gave her the 800 number for the Discover Card. She then wanted the exact name and then the expiration date.
Red-flag Number Eight: She then wanted the account number from the front of the credit card. I said that I was leery about giving her that because I was trying to remember what numbered you were not supposed to give out over the phone because of possible problems... She immediately changed her demeanor and jumped right in with an explanation of why the number was needed... They just wanted to verify that I was eligible for their program, I didn't have to worry about a thing, I should just trust her!
Red-flag Number Nine: I said that I was uncomfortable giving out the number and I had changed my mind and before I could finish my sentences I found her aggressively repeating how I shouldn't go when suddenly a male voice came on who spoke my name very loudly repeatedly until I responded. He then said he was her supervisor and he had come on because apparently I was having some reservations about their services. He wanted to convince me how important it was that I continue to talk with them.
Red-flag Number Ten: He told me that the only reason they had contacted me was because the credit card companies had given them my name, so there was no concern as the credit card companies wanted me to talk to them to see if they could help me out. I thought, why would a credit card company want to lower my interest rate... And if they did want to do such a thing why would they not contact me directly?
Red-flag Number Eleven: I told him that this was getting two much for me to deal with right now and I would think about it, but I wanted them to stop calling me, so take me off their list and please do not call again. He got louder and more aggressive about wanting to help me... He was not going to take no for an answer. I finally said I was going to hang up now. He practically shouted at me not to hang up. I repeated that I wanted him to take my phone number off his list and to stop calling me. He would not agree to do that, and just kept telling me why I should not hang up. Finally I hung up.
Red-flag Number Twelve: He had gotten so loud and aggressive at the end, I found myself just sitting there kind of traumatized wondering if I had given up too much information... When I suddenly had a flashback to another time, right after my concussion. The concussion had caused all sorts of memory and confusion issues, which I now realize I am still having to deal with.in this previous encounter, it was only after I gave out my credit card number that I was told that it would cost me over a thousand dollars for their services. When I protested the person had sounded just like that man, aggressively telling me that if they were going to save me so much money then didn't they deserve making a little money for their services? I realized that I had made a mistake and I dialed the credit card number on the other phone while he was still talking on and on... I didn't hang up on him until I had the actual credit card operator on the other phone, in which case I told her what had just happened and she canceled my card on the spot and issued me a new one. I now realize that I have been marked as an easy target by these companies.
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