United Financial aka Your Benefitz aka ACCP Scam - selling MasterCards, debit your checking a/c, mail out application for debit card. No phone. No promised refunds. Many names. Beware. Total fraud Closter New Jersey
Telemarketers present a "pre-approved" Mastercard with a one-time, life-time fee rather than annual fees. They will deduct the lifetime fee from your checking account on a set date. It will take about 4-5 weeks to receive your Mastercard.
Follow-up calls clarify that it is not a "gimmick" Mastercard. Not prepaid, not "pay as you go" or anything similar. You then allow the charge to go through your checking account, $299.00.
Four or five weeks later you receive a "packet" made at Kinko's that has four or five sheets of paper in it, each telling you where to apply for a substandard credit card, legal insurance, and where to get discounts on hotels. Included is an application for a Mastercard debit card. You are now a member of "Your Benefits", also yourbenefitz.com, which will keep you advised of money-saving items available for sale.
You just paid $299.00 to be put on a telemarketer's promotion list. There is no Mastercard, there is NOTHING. Refunds are promised, and promised, and then you are advised that there is a 30-day time limit on refunds - but you didn't see what you bought/didn't buy until far after 30 days. BEWARE!! NO! NO! NO!
Rick
Cincinnati, Ohio
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Sherri
Richmond,California,
THAT TYPE OF SCAM IS BECOMING MORE AND MORE COMMON
#2Consumer Comment
Wed, November 13, 2002
These companies who promise a major credit card for an upfront fee and then cry later that they DON'T offer a credit card, but are a "benefits club" pretty much use the same pitch. There was a similar operation in Illinois last year called, amongst other names, First Financial, Rockwell Holdings, American Benefits Club, etc. who used the exact same tactics and of course, never delivered.
They were shut down by the FTC and State Attorney General in a joint enforcement operation and assets frozen and both civil and criminal actions filed. A company in Florida/Texas or wherever the hell they actually were physically located was busted for the same thing. Unfortunately, without pressure on your Attorney General's Office of Consumer Affairs, the company that scammed you will keep doing it until they too, are finally shut down.
Please send a copy of your Rip-Off report to your State Attorney General and FTC. The sooner people act after being victimized, the sooner you can prevent others from being victimized as well.