Last night I was watching TV when I received a phone call from a guy who said he wanted to lower the interest rates on my credit cards. I don;'t recall what company he was from, but he was well rehearsed and the background noise sounded like a call center. He said they were connected with Experian, Equifax and TransUnion and that since most credit card companies have chosen to to hike interest rates on all of their customers, he could get those rates down to as low as 3.9%. I was somewhat interested since I only have one card and that exact same thing happened to me.
After listening for a moment or two I decided to take control of the call and ask some specific questions.
1) How did he know to contact me?
Answer: The credit reporting bureaus send them names of people who have credit cards and are in the 700-850 credit rating range, since they are the ones who have been most affected by this hike. Not a bad answer but I know for a fact that he didn't get my name from them bucause he asked for it before we started instead of volunteering it.
2) So they provide you with my contact information? Isn't that violation of the privacy act since I didn't initiate anything from my end such as apply for a credit card, etc?
Answer: Sir, we merely provide a service that allows us to help consumers get back to a reasonable "locked-in" rate so that it's easier to pay the principle down and get debt free more quickly. Great answer but he completely avoided answering the question I had asked. (RED FLAG)
3) Your company isn't doing something like this for free. How do make any money on this?
Answer: When we get the rates reduced we are paid from that reduced interest rate. Does he actually expect me to believe this? Another indirect answer with no substance to support his claim. Just more double-talk. (Another RED FLAG)
He asked could we continue and of course I said yes, knowing that I wasn't going to give him any vital info.
Next he asked for the customer service number on the back of my credit card which I gave him. This is a soft and subtle approach to gain my confidence that he is actually legit. Next he asked for the last 4 digits of my social security number which he didn't get. I told him he didn't need that to take care of this. His reply was that he needed it so that when he called the credit card company they could verify that he was acting on my behalf and he couldn't access anything other than that unless he had my complete number. I still refused.
He then asked for the expiration date on my card which is 10/09 (expired). He then said you do have a more recent card don't you? I replied no, that I merely cut up the new ones when they came and had no plans to ever use them again.
His reply was without an current credit card he couldn't help me, apologized for taking so much of my time and hung up.
With a current credit card and the info he requested he could have done one of several things:
1) Used up the credit I had left up to my limit.
2) Requested a credit increase and used it up.
3) Taken my identity and ruined me for life.
Everyone needs to beware of these fraudulent calls and the scam artists who are out there preying on the unsuspecting consumers. It's happening everywhere and apparently they are scanning our local phone books for prospective victims.
God first . . . . . . . . always!