Complain about a product or service

First Premier Bank

The offer looks pretty good. "Your Gold MasterCard is Pre-Approved! 9.9% APR Fixed" the envelope shouts. Inside is an effusive offering that rattles on about the "premium benefits" and the attractive 9.9% fixed rate. For those with shaky credit, it sounds good -- no security deposit or savings account required.

Ah but wait -- what are all these fees on the disclosure statement?

• Account set-up fee: $29 (one-time fee)
• Program fee: $95 (one-time fee)
• Annual fee: $48
• Participation fee: $72 annually
• Additional card fee: $20 (if applicable)
• Transaction fee for cash advances: Greater of $5 or 3% of the cash advance

Oh but wait, there's more. There's ...

• Credit limit increase fee: $25
• Return item charge: $25
• Auto draft charge: $5/$9 per draft
• Express delivery fee: $25 for cards sent Express Mail
• Copying fee: $3 per item
• Internet access fee: $3.95

This almost looks like a satire -- as though someone sat down and dreamed up as many fees as possible for comic effect. Program fee? Participation fee? Account set-up fee? Since when are these normal credit card charges?

Just to prove it's all heart, First Premier doesn't charge the whole $72 participation fee upfront, it parcels it out at $6 per month. Even so, as we add it up the start-up fees would be a minimum of $178 and possibly more if the mysterious copying fee, Internet access fee, etc. were added on.

The kicker to this ludicrous scenario is that the letter gives no hint what credit limit the consumer has been "pre-approved" for. Those we've heard from have had limits of as little as $300. With a few hundred dollars worth of upfront fees, that doesn't leave much room for error. Naturally, if the account is delinquent for two consecutive billing cycles two times in any six-month period, the 9.9% interest rate suddenly becomes 23.9%.

Here's what Premier's customers say:

Paul of Quincy, IL December 29, 2009

They send me applications for credit cards every couple months for a platinum card that is worthless. They want to give me a 250.00 credit limit and charge me 179.00 in start-up fees before I even get my card in the mail. Then there is a 9.9% apr that more then likely go up to 23.9% in the first 3 months with no explamation at all. There are other fees they assess you if you are late, over limit, bad check, etc.

I think the only difference between First Premier Bank and Jesse James was he did it with a gun. They advertise as trying to help people with bad credit, but really they are just taking advantage of the poor people and lining there pockets. Any body that is working there must not have any morals at all to see this and keeping working there. If you apply for a job there the first question must be "do you have half of a brain", and if you answer yes they hire you any body with more than that don't get hired.

That is amy complaint about this Bank and thank the Lord I have more common sense then to ever sign-up for a complete rip-off like this. The best New Year head line I could possibly read is where this Bank got shut down and the people that own it be put in jail.

Frank of Pasadena, TX December 28, 2009

Stay away from this company. They are nothing but trouble. They charge high fees, you pay over 157.00 usd when you have not even made a single purchase. Customer Service is AWFUL and unprofessional! If you read recent reports you can understand what I mean and I am not the only one that has had a problem with their agents. If you mention to them all complaints on line reported they get upset. The agent I mentioned this ended up hanging up the phone on me! what a way to handle a customer....

Finally I got to cancel my card with a nice agent 1 of 100 after going thru a lot of unprofessional agents and wasting my time. PLEASE PLEASE! if you want to avoid throwing you money away. Stay away from this company! If you are trying to get this card to get a higher score or fix your credit must likely the person who recommends this card to you is definattely getting a kick back! for what I have read so far and my experience they are nothing but scam.

Ruben of Alpine, HI December 23, 2009

Holding of funds. I was calling regarding my fund being release since the money had already been withdrawn from my account. After going at them for 5 min I ask for the supervior. I ask why such a long hold why did the dates change from one day to another over night. Well If you read the fine print behind your statement you read the withholding statement unless you do direct pay. I told we ask about that they said they could do that since the routing number where wrong the first time.So we give routing number again to a person. After discussing why there was such a hold on the fund well it can be up to 10 days. I repeated back to her You telling me that it going to be longer than 10 days and that you are going to hold the money until you feel like it. No No mama you putting words in my mouth. said the supervisor. So another words I told the supervisor that I should not make plans for any of the funds that I sent you as payment from 7th of December. "No you putting words in my mouth. let me explain." We have alternative ways of sending payment to us directly. I told her that we talk to agent ask if we could do a debit card over the phone or bill pay they said no. I sorry. I have no record of this. Then five day later I get a letter in the mail giving the disclosure stating that they can hold the money 10 days or more if needed without cause.

Kimberly of Granite Quarry, NC December 22, 2009

My husband,Steve,applied for and received 2 Mastercards from Premier Bank. They were low balance cards we thought were designed to help build our credit. These were not joint account cards but I was an authorized user. They show up on my credit report and should not be as I am not a joint account holder. I do not recall ever even giving them my SSN. Many times we called in our payments on the day that they were due and still were charged a 25 late fee, when we called and asked we were told that we had to call our payment in before 4pm in order to be counted in on time, even doing this we were still charged a late fee which continuously also created an over the limit fee. At no time were we offered any type of resolution. This snowballed.

In April 2009, my husband had a heart attack and had to have surgery, we fell behind in our payments. A couple months later we tried to call to resolve the issues and was met with very rude customer service. We attempted to close the accounts and was told that we would still be charged the monthly over the limit and late fees. The company called our home and cell phones, and I at one time had to have my cell number changed and they somehow got my new number and started calling that.

On Sunday November 29 at 9pm we received a phonecall yet again from a rep from this company. I tried to discuss the accounts with her explaining the issues we have had with the cards and the late/over the limit fees and how we could not resolve the issues and that when we tried to close the accounts we were told that we would still incur these charges. The woman tried to strongarm me into making a payment at that very moment saying that this would haunt us on our credit reports and cause us problems for 7 years. I told her that I could not make money appear where there were none and she kept interrupting me, telling me" Would you just let me finish speaking" She offered a %50 reduction of charges only if I made a payment of 90 that night.

Again we do not have the money and I told her that when we receive our income tax we would pay off the accounts on both cards like we did every year. She was very rude minimizing my husbands heart attack saying "her husband had one too but this is a bill like every other bill" She said that it stated in the Fees, Rates, Costs and Limitations that we would still be charged late fees and over the limit fees on a closed account. It does not however. She was rude to the point I hung up on her.

There was never any prior disclosure of any type of extra fees being incurred if you make payments after a certain time on your due date or late/over the limit fees being charged on closed accounts. In August 2009 my husband tried to close these accounts and we have been charged ever since. I filed a complaint with the BBB and awaited a response. They came back with they would remove the information from my credit report but neglected to say how they got my SSN in the first place,or our cell phone numbers, because we never disclosed those to this company either. They still stuck with the charges on closed accounts being in writing in the terms and agreement of their cards..but IT does NOT..this is an excerpt from that very same thing they claim states all these so called fees..."Account Maintenance Fee: An account maintenance fee of 3.00 will be imposed for any month in which you have an outstanding balance of 20.00 or greater after you have closed your account. This fee is a FINANCE CHARGE..." This is the ONLY charge of any kind they mention pertaining to closed accounts..in their response they also skipped right over the issue of all the late and over the limit fees on payments we actually made on time.

Rebecca of Merced, CA December 21, 2009

I was called and asked for by my first name by Sara at premier credit card. As soon as she said somthing about 'lowering my intrest' I tried to say(as to avoid the whole-no thank you conversation)"excuse me mam,I have one card with my local bank",she never stopped talking and then very rudely told me to shut up and how was I supposed to hear her when I was talking over her! And called me a B@#% then hung up on me.

Lin of Steamboat Springs, CO December 18, 2009

CNBC News reported that the bank was raising their interest rate to 79.9%! I tried to go on line to get the scoop. As a result, I wouldn't recommend this bank and consider them to be very unfair. Here is a transcript of what transpired. Karen Says: Wait! Before you go, we'd like to offer you our First PREMIER Bank Gold Card with a *9.9% Fixed APR! CLICK HERE to Apply. Karen Says: Please type 'Hi' or 'Hello' in the space below to let me know you are there...Karen Says: Our application process is safe, secure and will only take a few minutes.

You: Hi, I just looked you up because of a news story I heard about your credit card. Your web site says, "Our CUSTOMERS are our #1 priority and are treated with fairness, consistency and respect. " The rest of the story says you're raising your 9.9% rate to 79.9% before the goverment's change in fees. This is not only not "fair", it's downright unethical. I won't be looking for getting credit fro you any time soon. What do you say to this, Karen?

Karen Says: There is an *Account Set-Up Fee of 29.00 (one-time fee), a *Program Fee of 95.00 (one-time fee), an *Annual fee of 48.00 and a *Monthly Servicing Fee of 7.00. You: Are you a live person? You didn't respond to the question. Karen Says: I'm a virtual agent with First PREMIER Bank. You: Does that mean you guess at what a question says? Karen Says: Sure, what is your question?

You: How long does your rate last, IN MONTHS? Karen Says: After you complete your application you will receive a response in less than 60 seconds. This response will give you the status of your application. You: IN MY OPINION, PREMIER BANK IS UNETHICAL. PLEASE SEND THIS TO A REAL PERSON. Karen Says: For any questions about your application or card, please CLICK HERE

I just would like potential customers to be aware of what is to come.

Cynthia of Rochester, NY December 16, 2009

I called because they are charing me 6.00 a month fee for reporting to the Trans Union, Experian, and Equalifix. You have been reporting to them all this time with out charging me why now? They said now they report to them more often and it looks good for me.I told them I was not asked if I wanted them to do this and I want them to stop if they have to charge me, that said no it dosen't matter if you want them to or not they are going to keep charging me the fee. And if I cancel the card I will have to immediately pay off my balances.

Annie of Junction City, OH December 1, 2009

I have had this Visa through First Premier Bank for years, and have had NOTHING but trouble. The latest probelm was back in August someone had stolen my info and used my credit card online, I called in and closed that account and opened another with a NEW card-no problems I "thought".

Anyway I recieved my new statement and I seen where my account was closed, I called in and this woman couldnt even tell me anything. She stated the ONLY way to re-open my account was to go through another credit check which lowers your credit score, and then I would have to pay more fee's on top of that. My balance was almost paid off and they want me to start all over again-its a RIP-OFF!

They charge all these fee's to just have the card, which is CRAZY! This is a scam and I want as many people to know about what they done to me. Even the Supervisor I spoke with named Mellisa couldnt even help me, all they wanted to do was open a NEW account with new charges and NEW FEE'S, no thank you! This company is a JOKE!

I cant use my credit card now for Christmas, I paid it almost off in order to buy my Children's Christmas now I cant even use my credit card because of what they done to me.

Jillian of Doylestown, PA December 1, 2009

I have been using this credit card for close to two years now. I have never charged anything over my balance and EVERY month I have paid them on time, with the exception of a single month where my payment was two days late. That month I called them to apologize about my payment and made the payment over the phone (for an eleven? maybe seven? dollar processing charge), to not be hit with a late fee.

Each month I send them a check, write the amount in my checkbook, and am done with it. Whenever I have checked my online account with them the payments have gone through. Last month I looked at my online account and noticed that I was charged a tremendous amount for being over my limit. Frantically trying to avoid late charges, I paid the penalty and the past due balance.I never received a confirmation number, but moved on with my bills.

This month I went, like clockwork, to pay my bill. I checked my balance again and now apparently "owe" this company nearly 500- 250 of which are in late payment charges. I do not know HOW they possibly pulled this off. Did they "lose" my check? Did their automated system not process my payment? I don't know.

But I called them today and asked them to please look at my payment history- which is squeaky clean- and credit me money back for the late charges, and the woman with whom I spoke told me the best she can do is credit my account 35. That means that I have to come up with the 250 before the end of my bill cycle or I get charged with another 50.

This is a scam. There is no question about it. This NEEDS to be investigated because this operation can NOT be legal. I can now not pay this company and continue to accrue debt that I know that I do not owe. I have also been having severe anxiety over this, as I do not have the money to pay them but cannot let this go to a collection agency because I am trying to clean up my credit. Someone needs to please help by looking into this, because I guarantee you it will not be a waste of time. There are many victims involved.

shirley of middleburg, FL November 27, 2009

I signed up for this card. Was charged 175.00 to do so. I was making all monthly payments on time every month. One payment "they said" was last and from then on I been charged a 50.00 late fee. I cancaled this card. My bill goes up every month month even after I make a 50 and month payment. They have called me so many times its not funny. They will not stop adding to my bill.

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