Chargeable credit card protection that is offered for free

[img_assist|nid=7995|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=66]Customers of Consumer Card Protection Agency of Lanham, Md. were deceived by the company when at first it offered them free credit card protection but then charged their accounts.

The Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller’s office has settled a dispute with the agency. Under the agreement declared by Tom Miller the firm must pay the state $30,000 and be liable for up to $50,000 in rebates to as many as 500 Iowans who accepted the offer.

According to his words 350,000 mailings were sent by the company to Iowans in 2004, 2006 and 2007.

In these mailings there were $3.25 checks with the offering of various services including "registering" the consumer's credit cards for protection. When cashing their checks customers were requested to enter their credit card number. But as it turned out immediately after the checks were cashed consumers received an unexpected fine print included in the mailing that told them about their being enrolled in a buyer's club and would be subject to charges.
"That's sort of the classic buyer's club deception," Miller said at a news conference.

Credit cards of 490 consumers were billed for amounts ranging from $89 to $139 for membership fees.
Consumers were sent letters by Miller to instruct them how to get refunds from the firm.

As per Miller’s observations the mailing scheme had a number of deceptive points. The company made an air of having a partnership with Visa and MasterCard while no actual relationship existed. The check attached to the letter had consumers to believe that they could cash it without obligation, and to crown it all there was no process for registering credit cards.