I did the same damn thing and just called telling me I owed them money which I closed out all accounts. I never agreed to a few from them. Some foreign [***]. I am so angry. He just kept repeating himself. I'm livid.
BEWARE!! I am not a naive financial person and follow my credit score, expenses, everything like a hawk. I also know and have my own financial plans and tactics. But these people....PROFESSIONAL CONS!
As others have said, they're very aggressive. They called and an automated system said something about "Credit Card Services...if you're interested in talking to a rep about lowering your APR, press 1." So I hesitantly hit 1 and talk to the man. He was nice, specifically said he was with "Credit Card Services" linked to VISA, and that their company had special relations with many major banks and were authorized to lower your APR (for me to 6.1% +/- a point; banks he claimed to rep initially was Chase, Capital One, BoA, etc...they later would offer to handle any bank, any card). So after he talks to you he asks you if you'd be interested. At that point I told him I was kind of uncomfortable..."Who are you? This is an unsolicited phone call and I don't want to just give out my personal financial information." He then reassures me, reasserts he works for VISA with relations with the major banks, and asks if I want to proceed. I said ok. He transferred me to a financial advisor. The second guy is their INFO guy....aka Identity Thief! He needs to review my financials with me...because you know...he's my financial advisor. He asks you to confirm many demographics he already has. Then he asks you to confirm things like the last four digits of one of you cards. But then on the next card it is a different set of card numbers. The ruse? They only have certain numbers. NEVER GIVE THEM YOUR THREE DIGIT SECURITY CODE! BETTER YET...never talk to them.
Anyway...he continues asking questions and he was incredibly crafty. He asked for the first five digits of my SSN to confirm I was in fact me....that's because he already has your last four! Now they have my entire SSN!!
So after all that he transfers you to the financial department for the guy who supposedly will negotiate down your APR with the banks. Mr. Sam Singh was my rep. He was foreign...Indian I'd say. He uses my information and pulls a credit report...he said a soft credit report. After pulling a HARD report he confirms all your accounts and balances with you. Then he has you record a voice segment with them authorizing them to represent you to help you lower your rate. Now they explain before that "Oh...you pay $1,700/yr in interest...if we lower your rate to ___, you wil only pay $800." Then they say, we can guarantee your rate down to 6% or so percent and for that rate, you will pay $______ upfront to "lock it in." My rate was like $860. So then he calls the banks. Now....you thought he had a special relationship? Well this is when you find it it is all a lie!!!! He calls the 1-800 number on your card just like the next guy. He then "reps" you, but it's no different than calling yourself and asking for them to lower the rate...which I already do every six months! They said no. He calls all of them with me on the phone listening. They all say no. It even sounded like one of the card reps suspected he worked for a company like this but he strong armed her into thinking he was legit and she went with it.
So carnage over right? All the cards said no. THINK AGAIN! He then tells me he can guarantee and lock in a rate of 6% for 3 years at so many dollars per month *if I agree to close the account once the balance is paid and that I won't be able to add more charges.* I tell him I have no intention of closing my cards. He tells me that I really need to because my credit is bad, the cards are too full, this will help me. I repeatedly tell him no. At this point I've had way way too much! I tell him as much, specifically stating that I was mislead, they don't appear to have any special relationship with the banks, he can't deliver on their promises, and I don't wish to proceed. He spends a good while trying to convince me otherwise. Eventually I finish and hang up. WELL...one other thing was important...when he was rejected by the card services and talking to me about my options, he was telling alternatives. What was he doing? He had gone to somewhere like creditcards.com and entered all my personal information and was applying for cards!!!!!
I have received an email from one card company saying I was approved for a new card and it's in the mail. I heard from Discover...they rejected my "application." I've never even wanted to apply for a Discover card. So that's at least two cards he applied for. I'm calling all the credit card companies in the morning, my banks, the BBB, the FTC, and possibly local authorities and a lawyer.
Want to get even more bothered? They've called me 6 times since then. The last guy I said I wanted to talk to his supervisor straight out of the gate. He asked why. I told him and then tell him I'll be reporting them to BBB, FTC, a lawyer and law enforcement and that I'd be pursuing them both in civil and criminal court. He then starts arguing with me and saying "on what grounds? You agreed to this..etc" I start telling telling him u never authorized his company to order two new cards...in fact I specifically told them I don't want to close ANY of my cards and I don't want to open any new ones. It gets SUPER HEATED. I finish by saying..."I want a letter from your company sent to my address stating what services I specifically authorized, the reps I spoke to, a contact person at the organization, and in writing documentation that you have purged all of my information from your computer systems." Know what he said? "Who do you think you are? You don't make the rules here. You'll get paperwork after this is all said and done and you get a bill." I then proceeded to cuss more than any sailor could ever imagine and told him that I will do everything within my power to see as many of the people that work in that organization go to jail for identity theft, financial transaction fraud, and aiding and abetting. that ordering cards for someone, using their information, despite specifically being told not to was the definition of identity theft.
I am now aligning all my ducks to go after these MFers. I made sure to take some names and rep numbers. I also asked for the specific name of the company after I was into them. Someone else posted that they are ETS CSC. They told me Educare Credit Card Services. They intentionally keep a low web presence to make it hard to track them. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED...HOPEFULLY YOU DON'T MAKE MY MISTAKES!
Reply to madmedic87: glad I found this forum; I too was called by Educare on 4/22/15; first talked to Akeem Gold who promised the 6.99% on my chase cards for life for $894 fee (4 pmts of $223); curiously he didn't try to charge this to my credit card right away like they do with others; transferred me to Phillip Limas who called chase, went over acct/balances and didn't negotiate anything; he said I couldn't get the 6.99 they initially promised but I could close chase accts and repay at 2%--6%; by this time I was suspicious but he already had card #'s, ssn and had pulled my credit report; I stated wanted to cancel; he sent me back to Akeem who said I didn't owe them anything and hung up on me; I called back as I wanted some written confirmation of this; got another guy who was nasty and said I already agreed to the $894 fee and I had "stopped" the "negotiation" work of Phillip Limas; he sent me to Stephanie Bowers who unlike the others so far was courteous and spoke perfect English; she first wanted to call Discover and have me lie about my income to get a 0% rate; I refused; she then said I could open a Cap One card with $10K limit and 0% for 14 mo's; I thought by this time I was stuck paying the $894 as I had agreed; I gave her my bank acct and routing #; she was supposed to email me something to "auto-sign"; I never received anything; she applied online for the Cap One card which I never authorized or signed for; I immediately contacted chase who within minutes closed my old accts and opened new ones for me; called Cap One to cancel new acct; put fraud alert on my credit file for 90 days (which I will monitor like a hawk); reported "Educare" with these people's name to FTC and next am calling Florida Attorney General; I will never answer an unknown # again on my cell. I'm just concerned if this rip-off scam can actually send anything to collections; I only verbally auth'd the $894 and this was under fraud; I am also closing my bank acct so hopefully they can't take the money out; I believe if they actually try to collect I will then have a physical address to report to FTC and local police; this needs to be stopped.