I am trying to help my 89yr old grandmother will her bills and credit. She has 4 CC with balances of $12-$25K on each. She has almost maxed all of them out by taking tons of cash advances to help out a family that pretty much extorted her. When I was looking at the HUGE list of Advance Fees I also noticed she was paying for those "Credit Protection" type of programs on all of her cards. She thought it was just more fees becuase of the advances. On one card alone it has been running her over $280 PER MONTH! !!!
My question is this... What can I do to dispute these charges? And how far can I get them to credit her back for this, since she never agreed to it? Is there some sort of Validation letter I should/could request in this circumstance? Thanks!!
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If she has maxed out her credit cards, it means that she is responsible for the debt on the card and so she need to pay them off. Now, if the debts have been listed on the credit report as delinquent, it will stay on the report for seven years and six months from the date of your last payment towards the debt and affect your score.
However, I think that instead of paying off the entire amount outstanding on each of the cards, she should register with a debt settlement company and settle off the debt for 40 to 50% of the outstanding debt amount.
Hi Trixter
All credit cards have cash advance fees, the details of which are mentioned on the "terms and conditions" in fine prints and so you need to pay them off, because your grandmother has signed the terms and conditions page before she obtained the card. However, before paying off the debt, she can definitely ask for debt validation. However, debt validation letter should always be send by certified mail. You can find sample debt validation letter if you visit the link letters of credit.
I guess my questions were not clear enough. She is not disputing the cash advance fees but the "ACCOUNT PROTECTION TYPE" of fees that charge you a % of your current balance. She never agreed to those and didn;t realize what they were on her statements. She just thought they were the cash adv. fees. Is there any way for us to "negotiate" getting a refund of them retro since she never agreed to the program?
trixter, one of the first things that came to mind was those little checks they send to you with your credit card statements. If your grandmother has ever recieved one of those and signed the back and cashed it or deposited in her bank account than she actually may have signed up for the protection service and not even known about it.
The best thing you can do is call and have it cancelled. I really don't think there is much you can do to reverse the charges though.
If you wanted to go all out you could contact them and demand that they prove to you that she agreed to these protection services. If they can't provide proof you could try contacting your state atty general's office.
Hi
What is credit protection service? I really want to know what it is.
I agree Cbass. Your grandmother should call up the credit card company and cancel these "credit card protection" service.
"Credit card protection service" is a special feature on your credit card which is available for approximately a cent per 100$ of your balance. In this type of plan, the credit card company would cancel the minimum monthly payment requirements for a specified period of time in case you cannot make payment towards your credit card bills under unavoidable circumstances like loss of job or emergency hospitalization.
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