On 09/24/04 at approximately 11:00 AM CST I received a call from a fellow calling himself 'Fred' and representing a company called Centurion Financial Benefits Services.
Fred immediately told me that I had been approved for a MasterCard with a $2,000 limit with NO ANNUAL PERCENTAGE INTEREST charged. I have a few credit cards so NO APR immediately struck me as a bit odd. Fred went on to say that there would be a one-time fee of $249.00 chraged to my checking account and begin to get a bit pushy about my bank information. I said I had a checking account and that it all sounded well and good and asked for a call-back number and website for verification purposes before I would consider offering banking info.
Fred calmly provided me with 866-784-0260 as the call back number, gave his operator number as #EV212 and gave me a website of http://www.mastercard.com as a verification website. Fred assured me he would call me back in a few moments after I had a chance to verify his company. Upon my calling 866-784-0260 there was initially a request to hold while I was connected, some on-hold music and within 2 minutes a transfer to a voice box. It struck me as a bit slippery and so I looked online for the site. The site www.mastercard.com is simply an over-arching MasterCard site which offers innumerable MasterCard services... No specific mention of Centurion OR even a link to them.
Fred did call me back, I explained my suspicions about a company that in essence could not be contacted by the public, Fred mumbled something about it being a technical support issue and was unable to answer me effectively when I inquired why he wasn't prepared to answer what should have been a basic sales and support question 'how do I find you online?' I hung up. I called the New York State Police in Champlain, New York. They assured me that Centurion Financial Benefits Services at the Elm Street address had received complaints, was being investigated and asked if I had lost money to the company.
I had to say no. I have now looked for and found this wonderful consumer watchdog service and am making the report. Thanks for reading.
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