Sunday, December 16, 2007
yet another phony gift card...
I received a new gift card yesterday that is so like the PCFS gift card that I first received last July and have gotten so much traffic to my blog for posting about their little scheme to get you to consolidate your college loans. Check out my PCFS post ... it has 98 comments at the time of this update. I've read all of those comments as well as those of another blog who has been keeping up with this issue. It would seem that the companies who are using this tactic (assuming there is actually more than one and not just one who has 12 registered names) keep trying slightly different tactics and presentations to various different people. Note how this card is from a place that doesn't print it's logo on the card but the letter says it is a NCLI gift card from National Collegiate Lending Institute. Note that it has the MasterCard logo printed upon it. I wonder what the folks at MasterCard would think about that since most of these cards are labeled as being mock cards. I've heard how some of these cards are labeled as "mock" cards and I have assumed that the word "mock" has been printed in a way that is clearly meant to show that the card is not an actual card. However, my current card has the word "mock" printed as such.
Now the "mock" designation doesn't alert me to the card's fake status. It looks like a corporate logo like MAC, CIRRUS, STAR, or some other such thing. How silly to think that the average person is going to figure that out ... especially with the MasterCard logo on the front. It also seems rather funny that I would keep getting these cards. I would think that I was on everyone's shit list by now ... I've even been harassed by people claiming to work for the company on my original post on this topic. But here it is, yet another example of an attempt to deceive someone into thinking they are getting free money. I originally called it a scam but I'm not sure that is really what it is. It certainly seems dishonest though. Note the language of this letter.A Master Card Gift Card for you!This letter seems dishonest if the terms are the same as the original letter that I received where one had to consolidate loans with the company first and then wait for some time to get their free money cleared. And, of course, there are costs to a consolidation in terms of interest even if you are reducing an existing interest with another company. The number to call is listed as 1-877-934-1011 and the opt-out number is 1-888-567-8688 if anybody wants to call to ask (I don't).
Congratulations, you have been pre-scheduled by NCLI to receive $300.00 at NO COST TO YOU. To qualify, you must take advantage of our free service and provide a brief testimonial about your experience. It takes less than ten minutes and we will process your $300 the following business day.
Sincerely, Marketing Dept.
National Collegiate Lending Institute
The opt-out notice on the back of the letter seems to suggest that only an application is necessary to get the money but that seems to betray the statement on the front that it takes less than ten minutes and the $300 will be processed the following day. Yet, the front of the letter does say that you must take advantage of their service which is an improvement over the first such letter I received. The full opt out notice says:
This offer is based on information in your credit report indicating that you meet certain criteria. This offer is not guaranteed if you do not meet our requirements. The providing of a gift card or bank check is contingent upon the completion of a testimonial and application, not a consolidation. Gift card or bank check sent upon completion of testimonial. If you do not want to receive prescreened offers from this and other companies, visit www.optoutprescreen.com; or write TransUnion Op Out Request PO Box 505, Woodlyn, PA 19094-0505.So TransUnion is involved? That's not good if it's the same TransUnion that does consumer credit reporting. That seems rather like the fox guarding the hen house. Oh well, I'm not going to do it ... whether that makes me smart or dumb is up to someone else to figure out and tell me for certain. I'm sure they will ... I'm sure they will.
Update: I had a reporter from U.S. News and World Reports contact me to ask if she could link to my blog for a story that she was writing about these gift card/testimonial offers. I told her that of course she could and she posted the article here (and I talked about it here). Check out her information ... including that the NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is investigating this practice for its legality under the Higher Education Act. One of my intrepid readers has also tracked down that a company named American Consolidation Marketing Enterprises, Inc., which is being run out of a residence by somebody, is copying this marketing gimmick for their own purposes ... and that's really all that this is ... a gimmick. It might not be a full fledged scam but it does stretch the limits of credulity ... particularly with the fake card that is sent with the initial correspondence. I go back to Robert Heinlein's mantra of TANSTAAFL ... or there ain't no such thing as a free lunch.
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Yup, I just received the same damn letter. These people are such crooks....
# posted by 
: 1/08/2008 8:57 AM
: 1/08/2008 8:57 AM
If you were offered $300 to consolidate your student loans for the same rate, why would you call that a ripoff? Neither the government nor the big banks are offering such a good deal. The fact that the government bans deals like this so it can compete unfairly with smaller lenders willing to give discounts is the real sham. Thanks for the tip, though. I and several others are going to apply with them!
# posted by : 1/09/2008 1:49 PM
: 1/09/2008 1:49 PM
I got the same card in the mail. It looks real, but hopefully people will do research first. My card does say mock on the back left corner, but it honestly does look like it could be a corporate logo like star.
Hi, I have just received the letter from ACM Enterprises and I have to say that I was very intrigued as well. My husband was fired a week before our wedding and he has not found a job since. I graduated from graphic design school last year and have been doing odd freelance jobs so basically we have been living pay check to pay check. I never really understood what that phrase meant until now. Anyway, you can understand why I gave this card and letter a second glance. While writing this I glanced over at what George said on 1/9/2008 and part of me agrees with him. When I called FSLS the lady I talked to didn't try to sell me anything right then (which I thought she would) and when I told her I would call her back she said, "ok, have a nice day". (My mom got a more pushy and aggressive call from the Policeman's Association wanting her to "donate the same amount that she did last year".) So now I'm thinking even more about calling them back (when I should be working on a freelance job, by the way.) To sum up, things like this just make me feel helpless and lost, more so then I already was. I mean, it seems every credit, insurance, or loan company has control over some part of my or my friends or family's lives. And the shit of it is that in this country we can't go through life and not deal with one of these companies. There is no way around that and these companies know that especially companies like FSLS. They know what situation most recent grads are in and just want to capitalize on that. It may be a good deal and you may get the $200 or $300 from them but now that you went through the whole application process they have all your personal information. And maybe that's all they really wanted. You have no idea what they can and will do that information once they have it. I'm probably not going to apply with them, I really could use the $200 dollars but I'm more of a principal -type of person. If I were to get that $200 it would be on their terms and I'm really sick of living on someone else's terms, especially a sneaky company like that. All that would do is give these companies the fuel they need to keep coming up with more gimmicks and more ways to take advantage of us. We need to take back control of our own lives!
Listen, How do you create prospects? You dangle a carrot in front of them. How does Red Lobster get you into their door? They offer you a coupon for $4 off. If you want to really get ripped off, there are many ways, go to the Bronx with a handfull of cash dangling.
This is America, we are full of Entrepreneurs, who find ways to market.
The sad part is the Government is gaining more and more control of this industry and soon it will be big Government in charge of Federal Student Loans. Private Loans "The Alternative"?. Why don't you take out a credit card and pay for tuition instead.
There are no student benefits reducing percentage rates anymore, because the Government is cracking down and no matter who you are in the Industry, margins are lean now (look at Sallie Mae, Nelnet Goal etc... who no longer offer Consolidations and are in trouble), it will be a controlled industry.
Offering $300 is not a scam, a scam is when you get bent over with no K-Y and you get raked over the coals and get nothing. Comparing us and the big lenders, we sell for the big Lenders and we give back to the Borrower, what do they do?
Jedijawa what is wrong with that? Students sign away thousands of dollars with nobody telling them anything about it at College (this is a scam).
Students will have to pay more and more for their Tuition and take out more high interest Private Loans(this is a scam).
Students don't get educated about loan consolidations and if they don't consolidate within their Grace Period they go into repayment and get .6% additional tacked onto their loans, could this be because the College and the lender are in bed together(this is a scam)?
This is a marketing channel and it works!
Alot of Big Companies in this business, have shady deals worked out with Colleges, so I think you attention Jedijawa is on the wrong people, what everytime you receive a piece of mail you blood psi goes up. The industry recently was created equal by the Government, there are no deals anymore, so my recommendation to everyone that receives these is to take up the offer while you can, especially if the mailer states what the gift card is all about-Your Federal Student Loan Consolidation.
Jedijawa how can you say this is a scam? A scam is where someone gets totally baffled and taken for whatever they can, if you will consolidate your loans you will get $300 with a firm that is above board period. Jedijawa you have been floating around this fact with all of your posts and I hope Capitol One sends you a phoney card just to piss you off.
This is America, we are full of Entrepreneurs, who find ways to market.
The sad part is the Government is gaining more and more control of this industry and soon it will be big Government in charge of Federal Student Loans. Private Loans "The Alternative"?. Why don't you take out a credit card and pay for tuition instead.
There are no student benefits reducing percentage rates anymore, because the Government is cracking down and no matter who you are in the Industry, margins are lean now (look at Sallie Mae, Nelnet Goal etc... who no longer offer Consolidations and are in trouble), it will be a controlled industry.
Offering $300 is not a scam, a scam is when you get bent over with no K-Y and you get raked over the coals and get nothing. Comparing us and the big lenders, we sell for the big Lenders and we give back to the Borrower, what do they do?
Jedijawa what is wrong with that? Students sign away thousands of dollars with nobody telling them anything about it at College (this is a scam).
Students will have to pay more and more for their Tuition and take out more high interest Private Loans(this is a scam).
Students don't get educated about loan consolidations and if they don't consolidate within their Grace Period they go into repayment and get .6% additional tacked onto their loans, could this be because the College and the lender are in bed together(this is a scam)?
This is a marketing channel and it works!
Alot of Big Companies in this business, have shady deals worked out with Colleges, so I think you attention Jedijawa is on the wrong people, what everytime you receive a piece of mail you blood psi goes up. The industry recently was created equal by the Government, there are no deals anymore, so my recommendation to everyone that receives these is to take up the offer while you can, especially if the mailer states what the gift card is all about-Your Federal Student Loan Consolidation.
Jedijawa how can you say this is a scam? A scam is where someone gets totally baffled and taken for whatever they can, if you will consolidate your loans you will get $300 with a firm that is above board period. Jedijawa you have been floating around this fact with all of your posts and I hope Capitol One sends you a phoney card just to piss you off.
# posted by : 2/04/2008 8:35 PM
: 2/04/2008 8:35 PM
not sure who acm is but I am doing a story to submit to the ny general. I seem to have found most of the players out there but these guys are new to me. any one got a toll free number i can check out or a web site?
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# posted by : 2/20/2008 5:17 PM
: 2/20/2008 5:17 PMLinks to this post:
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