I was pre-approved for a Salute Visa Gold credit card through Urban Trust Bank in August. The credit limit was only $300 but I was re-establishing my credit so I accepted the small amount to maintain monthly payments and slowly increase my credit score. I had to prepay $29 in the form of a personal check via mail to activate the card (thier requirement), a $150 "start up" fee was applied to the first statement generated, and a $6.50 per month finance charge referred to as an "account maintenance fee" was imposed in order for them to report to the three credit reporting agencies monthly (which they did not do consistently). My beginning available credit before I even signed the card was $121 down from $300. The fee to pay online was $4.50, or $15 by telephone through a representative. One could take the chance and mail a check payment at least 15 days before the due date to ensure it posted on time but that wasn't always possible since I am on workers comp and my checks weren't always received timely. I generally paid by telephone or online; not to mention they changed their payment mailing address on THREE separate occassions within 1 year with little more than a week's notice!
So not only did I always pay more than the minimum payment, usually $50-$75 per month, I also incurred the fees to ensure timely payments. I naively paid and closed established accounts (10 years active) all in good standing in 1998 because I was young, financially secure and no longer wanted to juggle paying 8-10 high limit ($5,000) credit accounts during a time in my life when I travelled extensively and I didn't want to risk having any late payments. Nonetheless, after a year of diligently managing my Salute Visa Gold account they gave me a $120 credit limit increase automatically, then abruptly notified on the statement that the payment envelopes were incorrectly addressed, after I had already mailed my payment, so I had to pay $20 to my bank to stop payment on my check and then Salute proceeded to charge me a $35 late fee for being 2 days past due because of their stupid mistake in sending incorrect remittance envelopes out! On that same statement I was again charged a $150 annual fee, with no heads up the month before, so that put me over my credit limit and they of course charged me a $35 over-the-limit fee!
No compassion, no concern but rather two days later I find out my account has been closed - after processing my payment of course! Yet while I tried to calmy convey why I felt the additional $70 in account fees charged were most definately erroneous and should be reversed, I was bluntly told that I could reapply for a new visa card, with new start-up fees, AFTER I paid my credit balance in full! And they refused to take off the $150 annual fee FOR A CLOSED ACCOUNT! The amazing thing is that on 03/04/09, a month and a half before the account went to collection agency #1 (Jefferson Capital on 04/21/09), they actually charged me $159.22 for a "Payment Allocation Change" because no longer were payments to be sent to Atlanta, GA but instead to St. Louis, MO. Are you kidding me? Who charges a $159.22 to change their own payment mailing address - for the THIRD time??!! The once managable $300 limit has now ballooned to an exhorbitant amount due of $718.76!! As of 02/26/10 I'm now dealing with collection agency #2, Midland Credit Management, shuffled around but getting nowhere (except here, ranting and raving!) - I have filed a dispute through Equifax but really I hope Salute takes me to court because I have every statement and payment receipt showing my account was well maintained and a class-action lawsuit would probably take off based on what I have already read just on this site. Thank you consumer complaints for giving us (me) a voice! Mine is screaming "SALUTE VISA, TRIBUTE MASTERCARD, and URBAN TRUST BANK are the ultimate scammers!
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