I have an interesting question, a friend of mine, signed up for MSN internet access, and was given a $400 gift card, and also signed up for COMPUSERVE, and was given the same as well, with $800 in hand, he could no longer afford the credit card bills, and cancelled his credit cards, my question is, since we all are aware that part of the consideration for these companies advancing 400 dollars, is that you sign up for their internet access for 3 years, or you will be charged the 400 dollars. My question is, since he is no longer having any credit accounts open, can they still charge the card, or will they file fraud charges, or what can happen?
They are the dummies who offer the money. I think if the card is cancelled they don't have a leg to stand on. Offering people money for these things are so stupid. They make you sign up for 3 years. Dialup access is not worth paying for.
My parents signed up with the Compuserve offer, but then moved to an area without a local dialup#. (So they obviously cancelled) -- They were charged back a certain amount for each month remaining on their contract. My advice: Call Compuserve or MSN and see what their policies are.
Sounds like your *friend* is trying to get over by getting the $400 from each company. This is based on the assumption that they cannot bill his closed credit card account. Well, keep in mind this: 1. If he closed that card by way of stating that the card was lost/stolen (to get a new cc number), there's a possibility that they'll fwd the new charges to the new number, especially if the charges were recurring on his old card for some time. I've had this happen to me before w/ Citibank and automatic payment of a gym membership. 2. If he closes the account flat out w/ no new cc number, etc. then there's a possibility that the cc company might let the charge go thru any way....assuming that the charge has been a recurring charge on his account for some time. I think Compuserve or MSN might have to somehow contact his cc company and state their case for the cc company to let the charge stand. I've also had this happen to me w/ First USA. They were letting recurring charges go through on my CLOSED account! I called the companies to give them a new number of course but the fact of the matter is that First USA let charges go through......thus resulting in over the limit fees! I got into it w/ them over that. 3. If none of 1 & 2 work, maybe they'll just send to collections? I guess I have a question then: Does anyone know the rules on posting payments on closed accounts? Just curious...
I'm not sure. I had given my old Capital One card number to Blockbuster video in 1995. I closed Cap1 in 1999. I was late on a video rental in August, 2000 and Blockbuster sent a charge through to Cap1 who accepted it. Cap1 said as long as there was an initiall authorization (even as far back as 1995) they could not refuse the charge.
Not sure if that's true I don't think that's true. I was in a wine club and my CC expired. I got the new card with new expiration date, but same number. The Wine company could not charge my new card and bothered me for like 5 months about it then gave up. P.S. I quit the Wine Club because UPS sucks, that was how they shipped and UPS made getting the shipments too much trouble.
Maybe... Becuase they didn't get some sort of pre authorization like in 777's case? I'm not sure how Citibank and FUSA got the charges to go through in my case. At any rate, I'm sure both COMP and MSN got some sort of pre authorization, or else people would be giving them bunk cc numbers, names, and addresses just to get the $400.
I'm only repeating what Capital One told me. They reopened my account for one month and then closed it when I paid the 4.25 charge.
I had signed up for MSN a few months back and received the $400 to spend at BestBuy. I knew I would wind up cancelling early. Here's what happens (at least in my case). MSN said they don't bill the credit card for those who cancel early. They did before, but recently changed their policy. Now, it goes right to collections, BUT... AND THIS IS A BIG BUT (no pun intended) , It does not appear on your credit report. I had no intentions of trying to weasel out anyway. They send it to Dun & Bradstreet's collection department and then D & B will send you a friendly letter saying this is what you owe us on behalf of MSN and this is how long you have to pay (45 days in my case). The money must be paid in full. I talked at some length with MSN before cancelling because I didn't want this to appear on my credit. Like I said, I had no intention of NOT trying to pay and uphold my end of the deal. Anyway, MSN assured me that it would have nothing to do with my credit AS LOING AS I COMPLIED WITH DUN & BRADSTREET!!! They said that they had no intention of placing anything on anyones credit report wheather they cancel or not. The dude told me it was just a change in their policy to hand it over to D & B right away. No big deal. NOW, IF YOU DON'T COMPLY WITH D & B, I HAVE A SNEAKY SUSPICION THAT THEY MAY PERHAPS PLACE A MARK OR TWO ON YOUR CREDIT REPORT. Bottom Line: tell your friend to to just pay the remaining balance and all will be well. Their not out to ruin his credit as long as they get what he owes them.
Let me get this straight: You're friend signed up for both compu-serve, and MSN at 20-22 dollars a month for 3 years to receive $400 from each of them, and cancelled both accounts after closing all credit cards? First question, who would sign up for 2 seperate internet accounts with a 3 year commitment? Second question, why could he not afford the credit card payments all of a sudden, with $800 in hand? Third question, was there ever any intention of following through with the commitment? It sure doesn't sound like it too me. It sounds to me like they could make a case for fraud. You're friend received $800 in exchange for signing up for 3 years of internet, without intending on keeping the internet service. Doesn't really matter whether they can charge the cc accounts, because they can send them in for collection, and if either one of them find out that you're friend signed up for both MSN and compuserve, they may very well file charges for fraud if they don't receive their money.
