I recieved FNC's mailed add for a Gold Card with a $15,000 credit limit and went looking for information about them. I found the following:
November 7
Attorney General Hardy Myers today announced that a Nevada company and its owners must provide refunds to more than 1,900 Oregon consumers, who were mislead in the purchase of credit card services supposedly involving a major credit card. Named in an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance filed today in Marion County Circuit Court are FNC Investments, Inc., a Nevada corporation, that does business in Oregon as First National Credit and its principals, Mahmoud Markehabadi, president and Steven Golgolab, secretary, both of Aliso Viejo, California.
"Oregonians are continuously bombarded with offers of general purpose major credit cards, " Myers said. "Mixed in with these mailers are misleading promotions for credit card services with little to offer. Consumers must take the time to study the details of these offers before obligating themselves in any way."
Department of Justice investigators found that the defendants mailed thousands of "gold card" promotions to Oregonians, implying that the credit card involved was a general purpose, major credit card when it fact, the card could only be used to purchase a limited number of items from the company's catalog. Customers paid $37 for normal processing or $43 for rush processing of the membership.
Under the Assurance, the defendants agreed to within the next seven days provide full refunds to any Oregon consumer who has requested a refund and has not yet received one and to provide full refunds of the initial annual fee to anyone that makes a request within the next 90 days. Refunds must be paid with 14 days of receipt of the request.
The company also agrees that in future promotions, similar to the "gold card" offer, it will disclose that the credit card program is structured to allow consumers to purchase only from its catalog and present examples of the types of goods available for purchase. The defendants must comply with requirements under the Federal Reserve Board's Regulation Z.
FNC Investments paid Justice $10,000 for its consumer protection and education fund and established a toll free number, 1-800-799-1003, for consumers to use in contacting the company.
0 comments