Desperate to have any kind of open, positive revolving account on my CRs, I just applied for a First Premier Mastercard- did not get approved for that particular offer, but the website gave me a second offer, for a First Premier Platinum Mastercard. This is an unsecured card, however they required a $29 set up fee up front to proceed. I paid the $29 with my debit card, and then a screen popped up that said this: APPLICATION STATUS Thank you for completing your new offer of credit from First PREMIER Bank. After the information you entered is verified you will receive one of the following: Your new credit card and account information A letter asking for further information A letter explaining any reason(s) you were not approved for the new offer of credit. Since you have decided to take advantage of this offer today, it will not be necessary to call or return the paper application, which will be sent in 7 to 14 days. A letter regarding our decision on the initial offer will also be sent in 7 to 14 days. Your application number is: ********************** Information regarding your new application will be available in 24 hours. If you have questions, please contact our Customer Service Department at 1-800-987-5521. Our hours are 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. CST, Monday through Friday, and 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CST, Saturday. I am very confused. Was I approved, or not??? Did I just fork over $29 for nothing? Will they refund me if they cannot approve me for this offer?
Good question. Who knows. You should not have sent them the $29 up front, but let them bill you as your first transaction once they actually sent you the card and run their first monthly statement. That is how all other fee credit cards operate.
It may not help much, but at this point saying you should never pay up front for anything is almost a moot point. Since the transaction was through a Debit card I would storngly suggest you call up your Bank ASAP and let them know so they can start an investigation of a possible fraudulent charge. That may work, and then again it may not. You should also file a complaint with the BBB and you can do that on line. As with all these scummy Mortgages and Pay Day Loans, and other high risk Credit Card Products that promise unsuspecting people a great product for a huge price and usually when they can't afford it,or they don't quite understand what's involved, or they worse yet they ask for money of fees to be paid up front. These people have a huge industry with a big lobby and IMHO I don't see any real change for them to ever get clened up. I did file an unauthorized charge against my Wells Fargo Debit Card about 2 years ago and they gave me a "provisional credit" of the money back into my checking account until the matter was resolved. Good Luck!
Before doing something like disputing the charge or anything, why not call and ask. Many credit cards don't have an instant approval. Since they said info would be available in 24 hours, call and ask what's going on. You may be pleasantly surprised.
Did you read all of the terms and conditions before you paid the $29? You may be approved, but you may not like what you were approved for. The standard First Premier Platinum MasterCard deal is a card with a $250 limit and about $200 in fees - there's a membership fee, and an annual fee, and a monthly fee. I did read all that and decided to do it anyway because I was just that desperate to have a positive tradeline. It's been a little over a year, and I've closed that account. It did its job and I now have a good enough score to qualify for a "real" credit card. But some people don't read everything as compulsively as I do. They get the card with the $250 limit and then it gets rejected when they try to pay for a tank of gas, and they get really upset.
