What You Need to Know About Pay In Advance Credit Card Scams
Those Pay In Advance Credit Card Deals Are Indeed Too Good To Be True
Pay in advance credit card deals can sound pretty enticing. You're either desperate to establish credit or rebuild your credit from past financial mistakes. You get a call saying you've been approved for a card with a whopping $5,000 credit limit and a low interest rate. All you have to do is send in your "processing" fee of $50, $100 or even $500. After that, the card is yours. Sound too good to be true? It is.
I'll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours
The companies who tell you that you have to pay up front to get a credit card in order to show good faith are playing games with you. It's the "I'll show you the credit card if you show me your money" game and it's almost always a scam.
No legitimate company will ask you to pay up front for a credit card, unless, of course, it's a secured card and you're being asked to pay for the security deposit. Up-front application and processing fees are nothing but a scam to rob you of your hard-earned money. Nine times out of ten, the people who send money in for a pay in advance credit card never see the card materialize.
Sometimes It's In The Fine Print
You might be asking yourself if the company has been around for a while, how can they possibly be a scam? How could they get away with it for so long? The answer is probably in the fine print. You send them your money and they find a reason not to approve you.
Maybe your credit score changed by a single point or perhaps they had the wrong information or couldn't verify your income. They can pick and choose from hundreds of different reasons not to give you a credit card. And your application fee, of course, is non-refundable. They have your money and you have nothing.
Do yourself a favor - the next time someone tries to offer you a pay in advance credit card, run in the other direction. You're better off with a secured card or no card at all than paying for a credit card you never receive.
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