I just got a credit card in the mail from Orchard Bank. Never ordered it. The credit line is a whopping $300, and there is a $59 annual fee with the APR in the mid 20's %. I look for the number to call. There is a 503 customer service number on the back. The first thing you hear is that they recognize your phone number, and your card is now activated. Then they they take you through endless speeches about other account services that you will now have, each for some modest fee a day. Finally, after being given countless shmoozes about different other scams that I am now officially a part of, I get some lady on the other end, who finally agrees to close the account.

WTH???

Where did they get my personal information?

Something doesn't sound right here. They aren't allowed to send you an actual credit card if you didn't apply for it. It was probably just a pre-approved offer, which you can just shred and toss.

http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/50-f...edit-cards.html
Go to #41

I also got something like that once, and I don't even have a bank account in the States. I really doubt they can activate anything without having your signature though.

They did a soft pull on your credit. Anyone can do this without your permission. Orchard bank is a subprime issuer for people who can't get a credit card with another company. They will issue one to anyone who won't mind a low credit limit and a nice annual fee.
Since it looks like they signed you up without your permission, they probably also ran a hard pull when you called them. This will ding your credit, so if I were you, I'd check my credit report and put in a dispute with the 3 agencies saying you did not authorize this bank to do a hard pull. If you really feel like pushing the isssue, sue them.

hmm. I did apply for credit card about 2 weeks ago. I received an offer with 2% cashback, but I think, it had to do with Citibank, not any obscure bank. I never heard back from them. I'm wondering if that's their way of getting people's info, and sending them CC's that they didn't apply for. I have to admit that they idea is pretty neat. You get the worst CC that the world has ever known, so you want to call in and find out what's going on. The moment you call in, you already owe them $59, plus all the other monthly payments for "services" that they automatically sign you up for (like I'm sure everyone needs a credit protection plan for only $0.86 per day, with a whopping $300 credit line!). Then, people get frustrated listening to the endless speeches, and just hang up. And this is where the bills and the threats start coming in. For what? For being dumb enough to call in the first place.


Yeah, there is something about investing $30000 in a CA lawyer, just to try to "push the issue."
I don't think it's ever worth my $8 to get a credit report.

Is there a place to contact to complain about this? Like the BBB, FTC, FBI, attorney general's office, CIA, KGB?

I called Geico a few years ago to "save 15% on my car insurance in 15 minutes." They started asking me all the questions, SSN, etc., which I understood were necessary to give me a quote. Then, they finally gave me a quote of roughly double of what I got from a local agent, and it turned out that they did a pull on my credit history, which I, of course, did not authorize. And they do this to everyone who calls for a quote. Go sue them.

I'd sue you first for being stupid enough to give them your social for an insurance quote.

You can get that for free.

My first insurance. How was I to know?


By signing up for some other rubbish.

Not sure where you get your information from.

503?!?!? I guess it is spreading to other systems, soon the whole internet will be affected

That was my first thought...

and I actually got a 503 when I tried to reply

Don't all insurance companies ding your credit when you ask for a quote? I think it's good in a way that way I can capitalize on my good credit whereas someone with bad credit would pay more.

Where do you get your info from?
Where can you get a free credit report with no strings?


Not to get a quote. After my experience with Geico, I called like 15 local agents to get a quote, and no one even suggested asking for my SSN. 4 of the quotes were about half of what Geico wanted to charge.

Psychodad, what do the terms "soft pull" and "hard pull" mean when talking about credit history?

When they send you a CC offer, for example, they can pre-screen you without authorization and without effecting your credit history.

So that's a soft pull. What's a hard pull and how does it (adversely?) affect your credit rating?

If you apply for too much credit within a short period of time, it shows creditors that you need money, which you may not be able to repay.

Which insurance companies did you call and get a lower quote than Geico?

A hard pull is when anyone/any company initiates a credit inquiry with your permission. This shows up on your credit history and may effect it because if lenders (etc.) see that you have been authorizing repeated credit checks it may signal that you are tight for money and need to borrow some badly, making you a higher credit risk. Soft pulls on the other hand do not effect your credit score since they have nothing to do with you at all.

I didn't call insurance companies. I called local insurance agents in the yellow pages.
The policy they sold me was from Allstate.

Thank you.

Is this really all you have to say on the subject???

Hey give me some credit....I already said that a hard pull can raise a red flag and affect one's score. What else is there to be said?