This letter was written by my son who was the victim -
I received a call 8/18/06 from Freedom Financial Card claiming to be a credit card company and told me they were affiliated with Bank of America. They offered me a credit card that would help me establish good credit.
I agreed to pay $250 a month for 10 months to establish this credit with the understanding that I would be getting it all back on this credit card and have good credit established. I provided them my Bank of America checking account information and they stated that the first payment of $250 would come out my account on 9/12.
This lady said she would forward all the necessary documents to me after our conversation. As of this date, I still have not received anything from this company. However, the payment of $250 was taken from my account on 9/14.
On 9/18, my father found out what had transpired, and immediately contacted John Malkvich, Freedom Financial Card. My father told John that he wanted my money back into my account ASAP. John told my dad that we had to send a fax requesting to close this account and it would take 6 weeks to get my refund.
On 11/10, my mother realized that I still did not receive my money back. My mother called John Malkvich and he stated that I was not getting a refund. He said that the company was sticking to their policy regarding customers who cancel their cards will not get their money back.
He told my mom that I was given a store credit of $250 and to go their website www.freedomfinancialcard.com to use this credit. He said to put in johndoe as the userid and password, Bank One as my bank, 123456789 as my routing number and 1234567890 as my account number.
She asked John when was he was going to give me this information and he stated that he would within four weeks from the date we sent the fax (September 18). Then he got nasty and said that he just received this reply from the company on 10/29 and he did not have enough time to call everyone on the phone regarding their status. She told him that he did not have any problem taking everyone's money.
My mother told John how disappointed she was that his company would take advantage of young college students like this. He said that she should be disappointed with me for agreeing to get this card. She told him that she was disappointed with me for getting involved with this credit card scam. John got annoyed and said that this was a lesson learned for me. My mother then hung up the phone.
When we went to the website it does not mention anything about being a credit card company and it looks like a scam. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) of West Florida has processed 117 complaints regarding this company within the last 36 months. This company is also listed as unsatisfactory with the BBB of West Florida. There are over 100 complaints on the Internet from victims nation-wide.
I have filed complaints against this company with the BBB of West Florida, Office of the Attorney General of Florida & New Jersey, Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Florida Dept of Agriculture & Consumer Services Division of Consumer Services and New Jersey Office of Consumer Protection. I sent an email to Pinellas Park's police department, mayor, council members and Pinellas County Consumer Protection.
Everyone that has been victimized by this company needs to contact each agency above because there is strength in numbers.
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