First Beneficial Credit Services

Khara of East Jordan, MI, writes (6/7/01):
In the beginning of April of this year I recieved a phone call about obtaining a credit card through Beneficial Credit Services. Having horrible credit I asked specific questions, like what type of card, is there a security deposit and so on. The girl I spoke with said that I would get something in the mail and I would check if I wanted a visa or mastercard and that I would have to sign it and then mail it back to them and within a week of them recieving it I would have my card. The catch was that I had to pay a $219 processing fee for the credit card which supposedly had a $2500 credit limit.

Well needless to say 3 Weeks went by and I had nothing in the mail. So I called the company back. Which is not an easy thing to do. I mainly just got an answering machine for 3 days before I actually got through. At that time I spoke with Julia who claimed she was a superviser. I asked her why I haven't recieved my form/package yet with the credit card information. She said that they had a problem with the mail and if I didn't get it withing one more week she would send me a new one via federal express. I again asked her about the card. I asked if it was a guarenteed card and about the interest rate and everything. She assured me that after I mailed the form in that would be enclosed in the package I would have my credit card that it was guarenteed and that the interest rate was about 16%. So I said fine.

A week goes by and still nothing. I call back They sent me out a new one and a few days later I had it. But what they sent me was nothing even close to what I was told. I was basically sent a list of banks to call where I could apply for a credit card. So I call the company back and talk with Carol. She says that they changed their policy that past Friday and this was the way it was now. I was furious. I told her what I thought about it and then called their customer service number. And talked with a male and told him what I was told by the people I previously talked with. And that I didn't appreciate having paid $219 for a list of banks that I could have looked up in my phone book.

I told him what his representives had said about the card that it was guarenteed and it was through their company "first beneficial credit services" and he took my name and number and the names of the people he talked with and said he would look into it and call me back. Well it has now been about a month since I had talked to him and haven't heard back.

I am a single mother of 3 kids. I couldn't afford to lose that $219 for nothing. I was expecting a credit card worth $2500 and instead received a booklet with names of banks. I didn't pay a couple of my bills and stuff so they could have there processing fee. I am still behind in those bills and I feel so stupid for being scammed like that. I should have known something was wrong in the amount of money they wanted. But I gave them the benefit of the doubt and figured It would be fine. Through the lists of banks they gave me by the way I was denied credit. So I am out $219 and there is no way I can recover from that unless I get it back.

William of Brandon, MS:
I received a phone call from a representative of First Beneficial Credit Services about a credit card. And like the lady on your site described, they guarantee you a $2500 credit limit, my fee was $199.00. I was en route to the bank to make the deposit when my wife suggested investigating it on the internet. That is when I found your site. Everything she said was almost by quotes, with the exception they got no money from me, thanks to her posting her complaint. I too am the single income for my family and agree that would have set me so far back. I can only express my gratitude to her and your website.

Camelott of Van Nuys CA wasn't so lucky:
On July 16 I discovered that I had an authorized withdrawal from my account for $199. I proceeded to call my bank about this incident to find out that First Beneficial Credit Services was the culprIt. My bank was quite helpful in the matter, giving me the phone number to First Beneficial, and also putting in a return payment so I could possibly recieve my money back.

Not knowing the true nature of First Beneficial, or the lack of customer service that the company is known for, I called and spoke with a customer service rep named Veronica, who was quite helpful in the matter, she played what she said was the recording of my contract with them. Both she and I were a bit alarmed to hear that the name on the recording was not mine, but someone else's. Veronica played the recording again, actually played it a total of 4 times, and still the name addressed was NOT mine.

I was then disconnected mysteriously from the conversation. I called back, asked to speak to Veronica, and was connected, but not without a bit of attitude from the associate which answered the phone. Melissa was her name. Veronica then asked me to hold while she played the recording again. Once again, the recording was NOT my voice, and was not addressed to me. She then asked me to "hold". She returned with her associate, Philip Jackson, who began screaming at me that he had spoken with me on the phone just the other day about me not recieving my package. I expressed to him that I had NOT called in the past, and that this was indeed the first time that I had called. Mr Jackson then proceeded to scream at me calling me a liar, and other various names. He also threatened me with fraud.

I retorted with the statment "Look, it is YOU that has defrauded ME, and I want my money back!" Mr Jackson then claimed while yelling, that I "Must be an actress." His yelling went on for about 2 minutes. I then attempted to calm the conversation by addressing him as "Mr. Jackson" ... and expressed to him that he needed to understand my frustration in the situation, as I had heard what was supPosedly my recording of the contract, and if it were indeed mine, well why was it not addressed to me, but to this other person, and then WHY would the company, First Beneficial, allow someone who is not the account holder to authorize money to be deducted from another person's account?

I expressed to him after he insisted on calling me more names that it was NOT helping the situation any, and that he really needed to calm down. I ASKED to speak to his supervisor, and he screamed at me again that he was THE supervisor. I said that I didn't believe that he was the supervisor, only to be verbally abused again by him. Mr Jackson then told me to call back in an hour so he could find my contract recording. Upon calling back, I was given the runaround about how there were thousands of recordings that they would have to listen to to find mine.

I asked Mr Jackson what was going to happen when they did NOT find my recording, and he claimed that I would get my refund. I asked Mr Jackson if First Beneficial would be contacting me about this matter, and he said "No". I then asked him if I needed to call back and a good date to do such. His response was "If I were you I would call back everyday." I then wished him a good day and hung up. I have called back four days in a row now, and have had NO positive response on the subject.

If Camelott doesn't get a refund, she should contact the state Attorney General's office.