Substantial evidence that the Anacott Financial credit card may be a scam exists. As I wrote yesterday, Tim Chen at NerdWallet and Felix Salmon at Reuters have put forth a compelling picture of a company that, at the very least, is lying about its operations. At worst it may be a total scam, collecting social security numbers and $99 application fees by luring in consumers with a too good to be true credit card for people with bad credit.

Unfortunately, if you are looking for information about Anacott Financial, chances are you have already applied for their credit card or used their phony free credit score service. If this is the case, here are steps you should take to protect yourself:

1.) Contact Anacott Financial at 215-268-7663 and request a refund. If your request is denied, threaten to contact your attorney general and inform them you will be disputing the $99 application fee with your bank or credit card company. If they refuse to refund the application fee, proceed to step 2. (In fact, I suggest doing step 2 anyway, just in case you are lied to on the phone.)

2.) Contact your bank or credit card company and dispute the $99 fee. When you applied and paid this fee, you were likely under the impression that you had a 100% chance of getting approved for an unsecured credit card with a 6.99% Intro APR. I called Anacott Financial today and learned that only “pre-approved” applicants might get this offer and that applicants may get a credit card with wildly different terms and conditions. In other words, you were victimized by a bait and switch marketing trick.

Hopefully, your credit card company or bank will quickly refund the $99. If they hesitate, refer them to Felix Salmon’s article at http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2010/09/29/dodgy-credit-card-of-the-day/. This should get the point across.

3.) Put a fraud alert on your credit reports. Anacott Financial is collecting social security numbers from card applicants and from people who use its phony free credit score function. What they do with this information has yet to be determined. However, due to the questionable nature of this operation, I highly advise anyone who provided them with their social security number to contact the three major credit bureaus and put a fraud alert on their credit reports.

You can file fraud alerts online at Experian (https://www.experian.com/fraud/center.html) and Equifax (https://www.alerts.equifax.com/AutoFraud_Online/jsp/fraudAlert.jsp), but you must call Transunion at 1-800-680-7289 to file an alert.

Hopefully, following these steps will get your money refunded and prevent any unauthorized use of your personal information. If you have success in securing a refund, please leave a comment so others can utilize the same strategy that worked for you.

Jeffrey Weber

A note on the blue horshoe image: ”Blue horshoe loves Anacott Steel,” is a quote from Wall Street. I suspect the name Anacott Financial is a play on this famous phrase.

Share and Enjoy:

Related Posts

  1. Avoid the Anacott Financial Credit Card

    I have to hand it to Tim Chen from NerdWallet. A few weeks ago, he started pointing out problems with the Anacott Financial Credit Card. On September 29th, he sent his research over to Felix Salmon at Reuters who wrote a great piece highlighting Anacott Financial’s questionable (fake?) history, its connections to Deutschland Financial Services-…

  2. Balance Transfer Credit Card Tips

    If you are looking to get the best deal on a balance transfer credit card, here are a few tips that could help you land the best balance transfer deals. 1.)  Reduce your credit utilization ratio:  Credit utilization ratios account for about 30% of your credit score.  This figure is…

  3. Low Rate Balance Transfer Offers in June

    Editor’s Note:  Please see 0% Balance Transfer Credit Card Offers in July for the most recent update on balance transfer offers. Consumers looking for low rate balance transfer deals this month will find that Citibank is offering the longest 0% balance transfer offers, with three cards that provide 0% rates for…

  4. The Longest 0% Balance Transfer Offer

    Credit card companies are becoming increasingly generous with 0% balance transfer offers.  A year ago, the longest 0% balance transfer offers lasted between 6 and 12 months.  Today, it is possible to get a 0% APR for 18 months on balance transfers and purchases.  While only one major credit card…

Similar Posts:

Share