topic Re: Latest SCAM -- Union Workers Credit Union -- BEWARE in Credit Cards

Latest SCAM -- Union Workers Credit Union -- BEWARE

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:38:37 GMT

Just thought I'd mention to those looking to rebuild their credit: If you get a promo deal for a $10K CL Platinum VISA card from a "bank" called Union Worker's Credit Union, don't even THINK about it.

I just got a "sweet" offer from them for a GUARANTEED $10K credit line (take a look at my siggie for my not-quite-so-recent scores and YOU decide if I'd be offered a $10K Platinum card from a reliable CCC) if I only send in my "processing fee" of $37. Needless to say, it went into the shredder (even though the only REAL info it had on me was my name and address).

Sooooo .... for anyone thinking that it might be a card on a par with First Premier or Credit One, don't even consider it. A quick Google search (and common sense, I'd imagine) unearthed oodles of complaints ranging from "I never got a card but they took my $37" 6 months AFTER the payment was sent in to "It's only good on purchases from THEM" ... as always buyer (debtor) beware.

Just a PSA.

Of course, if anyone DOES have one of these cards and its legit, and would like to correct me, please do!!

Re: Latest SCAM -- Union Workers Credit Union -- BEWARE

valley_man0505 — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:05:47 GMT

Wonderin--it's funny you bring this up. I was planning to search the board for info on these guys today. My GF just got the same 10K CL offer with them in the mail. I immediately noticed the catch (like you said): it can only be used for purchases from them. I was wondering if this could possible work in the same way as Crown Jewelers. If they actually REPORTED the 10K limit, it may not be a bad deal for $37 for anyone struggling with UTL. However, from what you said you were able to dig up, this sounds like a pretty shady organization.

Re: Latest SCAM -- Union Workers Credit Union -- BEWARE

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:35:32 GMT

@valley_man0505 wrote:
Wonderin--it's funny you bring this up. I was planning to search the board for info on these guys today. My GF just got the same 10K CL offer with them in the mail. I immediately noticed the catch (like you said): it can only be used for purchases from them. I was wondering if this could possible work in the same way as Crown Jewelers. If they actually REPORTED the 10K limit, it may not be a bad deal for $37 for anyone struggling with UTL. However, from what you said you were able to dig up, this sounds like a pretty shady organization.

The effects of reporting, I don't have any idea about -- frankly, it sounds as though they just cash your "processing fee" check and that's that. I haven't seen any reports of anyone actually having ANY credit with them -- to buy their products or anything.

I did go to a rip-off reporting site and there is 460 (yep, that would be FOUR-HUNDRED AND SIXTY) complaints against them for fraud. That's more than I've ever seen on CAs -- even the worst of the worst CA doesn't have over 400 complaints against them.

One of the complaints was that the phone number provided doesn't even work. That complaint dates back to '05. You'd figure that they'd fix a typo (giving them the benefit of the doubt) within 3 years if it was, indeed a typo. :/

What REALLY alerted me was the fact that **I** got one and DH didn't. Of course, his scores are way better than mine, but still, he still gets a few of the same crappy offers I do (First Premier, for example).

I just didn't want anyone to get ripped off. I figured if I, a person who's fixing THEIR credit, got one of these phoney-baloney offers, others did, too.

Re: Latest SCAM -- Union Workers Credit Union -- BEWARE

jmbfl — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:29:45 GMT

Yes, it is actually Union Workers Credit Services and they are a scam outfit. They have been discussed in this board before. The "card" offered is not a VISA, it is a $10K "non-revolving" line of credit good only for purchases through their site. Their own info is available here:

http://www.unionworkerscreditservices.com/Union%20Workers%20Credit%20Services%20faq.htm

They have been in trouble with the U.S. Postal Inspection Servce:

Government Actions
On May 27, 2005, a temporary Restraining Order was filed by the United States Postal Service. On July 18, 2005, a Settlement Agreement was reached between U.S. Postal Service and respondents Randall K. Walls, individually, and Union Workers Credit Services, Inc.

'This agreement is for settlement purposed only, and does not constitute any admission of the making of any false statements or violation of any law or regulation. Respondents expressly deny making any false statements or violating any law or regulation.'

'Respondents agree to refrain from making materially false representations in the future under any name or names, or through any corporate or other devise. Respondents agree that going forward any solicitations they mail or distribute in any form will explicitly state that the credit limit is for use only on making purchases from Respondents.'

'Respondents agree that all mail addressed to Union Workers Credit Services, Inc., or any other name used by Respondents in connection with their business, at 4108 Amon Carter Blvd., Suite 208, Fort worth, TX 76155-2655, that is currently being detained by the Postal Service pursuant to Federal Court Order shall be released to Respondents upon full execution of this Agreement and the lifting of the injunction by the Federal District Count.' 'Upon receipt of that mail containing $37.00 payment for purchase of a membership (as a result of initial Solicitations sent prior to the execution of this Agreement) Respondents shall return to sender the $37.00 payment with a letter in the form annexed hereto as Attachment A. Postage will be paid by Respondents.'

'Respondents agree to pay full refunds to any person who has paid monies to Respondents in connection with the subject promotions, and who has requested a refund either directly from Respondents, or through any consumer or government entity, including but not limited to the Better Business Bureau.'

I also understand the Postal Inspectors are still interested in their activities, as is the attorney general of TX and possible other states as well.

You can look here for others comments:

http://www.ripoffreport.com/searchresults.asp?q1=ALL&q4=&q6=&q3=&q2=&q7=&searchtype=0&submit2=Search!&q5=Union+workers+credit+

Message Edited by jmbfl on 11-13-2008 07:29 AM

Re: Latest SCAM -- Union Workers Credit Union -- BEWARE

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 20:06:54 GMT

I have gotten a couple offers from them and I hate getting it because just looking at it, its useless and it just infuriates me. So I always shred but last time I wrote them and told them to stop sending me stuff or I WILL task our lawfirm to go after these bastards, they piss me off. Thanks for the heads up for everyone but yeah they are scammers and been at it for a while.

Re: Latest SCAM -- Union Workers Credit Union -- BEWARE

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 17:58:06 GMT

I wouldn't say falling for this is for lack of common sense. I belong to a union, and get things from them all the time. On top of it, the woman that I work with (my boss) told me of two credit cards that she has from the issuers of OUR union. I showed her this and she said no absolutely not, take the MO to the bank and get it cashed, it's a fraud

Re: Latest SCAM -- Union Workers Credit Union -- BEWARE

haulingthescoreup — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 18:15:22 GMT

HSBC has a Union Plus card that appears to be pretty good. It seems to have much better CS, etc. than typical HSBC cards.

I'm just throwing this out there because this topic doesn't arise that much, and it's easy to confuse the various products when they're not often discussed.

Re: Latest SCAM -- Union Workers Credit Union -- BEWARE

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 19:18:48 GMT

I don't understand why a union would send me anything. I've been a manager for 20+ years, is this a trick to get me to unionize. Bahaha

I received one of these just the other day and shredded it. What a joke but I do feel sorry for the individuals that fall for it. I no longer have it but I believe the $37 was a membership fee and no guarantee of extension of credit.

Re: Latest SCAM -- Union Workers Credit Union -- BEWARE

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 22:48:12 GMT

Funny you should mention them, I have their latest letter sitting on my shredder. I like the way they offer a 'PLATINUM CARD Membership' with no mention of Visa or Mastercard and no 'terms & conditions'. And it's the first time Ive 'ever seen an approval number with out-of-sequence comma's (0123,456,7890). Unfortunately, enough people get suckered into things like this to make it profitable for these bottom feeders to keep the scam up, Heck, they got me to read the darn letter.

Re: Latest SCAM -- Union Workers Credit Union -- BEWARE

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 15:56:55 GMT

haulingthescoreup wrote:
HSBC has a Union Plus card that appears to be pretty good. It seems to have much better CS, etc. than typical HSBC cards.

I'm just throwing this out there because this topic doesn't arise that much, and it's easy to confuse the various products when they're not often discussed.

LOL -- Yup, that's my card. (Union Plus Card MC thru AFT membership -- www.unionpluscard.com)

I rec'd the Union workers thing in the mail last year. In fact, I think it just finally made it to the shredder yesterday. (Yeah, I'm behind on my shredding, lol.) I remember googling it and being scared!

Re: Latest SCAM -- Union Workers Credit Union -- BEWARE

--cypher-- — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 12:37:21 GMT

Hooray! I got mine in the mail the other day too...it couldn't have looked more suspicious if it had Ed McMahon's smiling face up in the corner. The first thing I did was scan the internet for details.

I think I'll hold out until they offer me a mini AM/FM boombox absolutely free (processing fees apply) and they DOUBLE my credit line to $20,000.

For now, I will just drop them an email thanking them for sending me some fire-starting material. It was getting cold and the kindling bin was out of newspaper....

Re: Latest SCAM -- Union Workers Credit Union -- BEWARE

Anonymous — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 13:36:25 GMT

I have just received this application in the mail, (Union Workers Credit Services). There appears to be a thin line between legal and illegal with these SCAMS. But at face value someone who is really in a bind and is taken in by the look of the application can be easily tempted, as is evident by the many complaints received. Perhaps that is what these folk count on. It's a numbers game. If you send out 100,000 applications and receive back only 10% with the $37.00 processing fee, that's roughly $370,000.00 in their pockets. I am very pleased that this site exists for us who wish to be sure. But unfortunately there are so many more that fall victim to these scams daily simply because there is a HUGH market when it comes to the uninformed, desperate and the ignorant. Thank you myFICO for this fourm.

Re: Latest SCAM -- Union Workers Credit Union -- BEWARE

haulingthescoreup — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 16:52:08 GMT

Frankly, I would be astonished if the "workers" were unionized or anything else. I think anyone might wind up getting a mailer from these chuckleheads, whether they have any union involvement at all.

This just falls into the category of buying junk at inflated prices in order to get a tradeline reporting.

Re: Latest SCAM -- Union Workers Credit Union -- BEWARE

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 21:01:18 GMT

I just got this "approval" in the mail today. First off I will never send money to someone saying they need it for a membership fee up front for a credit card. Thats just crazy. Second let me tell you how to deal with this letter. They have to pay the postage to have the return letter returned back to them. Well instead of signing it and sending money I am going to do what my Mama taught me to do with junk mail. First you take their return envelope, write a nice little ha ha letter if you want, take some other junk mail I got today and rip it up and put it all back in their envelope and send it back to them. They like sending junk mail lets see how they like receiving it back at their expense. LOL

Re: Latest SCAM -- Union Workers Credit Union -- BEWARE

BungalowMo — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:19:10 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I just got this "approval" in the mail today. First off I will never send money to someone saying they need it for a membership fee up front for a credit card. Thats just crazy. Second let me tell you how to deal with this letter. They have to pay the postage to have the return letter returned back to them. Well instead of signing it and sending money I am going to do what my Mama taught me to do with junk mail. First you take their return envelope, write a nice little ha ha letter if you want, take some other junk mail I got today and rip it up and put it all back in their envelope and send it back to them. They like sending junk mail lets see how they like receiving it back at their expense. LOL

Yes....that is a great idea...and your mom saw it where I did...on 20/20 at the end when Andy Rooney did his little 2 or 3 minute segment. That has stuck with me for over 20 years!!! Make them pay the postage to get someone elses junk.

Besides...the Postal Service can use all the extra $$ we can send their way!

Re: Latest SCAM -- Union Workers Credit Union -- BEWARE

Anonymous — Sat, 21 May 2011 16:50:14 GMT

I got this "offer" in the mail. It seemed, for someone in the process of rebuilding credit (and as you can see from my sig, I'm in the mid-600 range right now), just a little too good to be true. To go from a secured card to a $10,000 line seemed outrageous to say the least. As soon as I started typing in 'union workers credit' into google, immediately the word 'scam' appeared with the second listing-- as I suspected it would. It never fails to amaze me how bold scammers can be, and to what extend they're willing to extend their quips and schemes.

If anyone gets this "offer", rip it and pitch it. Or, fill their return envelope with the shredded pieces and a short letter containing the words, "feels good to pay, doesn't it?" and send it their way. See how much they enjoy paying for garbage.

Re: Latest SCAM -- Union Workers Credit Union -- BEWARE

Anonymous — Sat, 21 May 2011 19:10:30 GMT

@haulingthescoreup wrote:
Frankly, I would be astonished if the "workers" were unionized or anything else. I think anyone might wind up getting a mailer from these chuckleheads, whether they have any union involvement at all.

This just falls into the category of buying junk at inflated prices in order to get a tradeline reporting.

Yep. I got one a few months ago, and I'm not affiliated with any union. I looked it over, decided it was bogus and tossed it straight into the trash.

Re: Latest SCAM -- Union Workers Credit Union -- BEWARE

Anonymous — Sat, 21 May 2011 19:12:19 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I just got this "approval" in the mail today. First off I will never send money to someone saying they need it for a membership fee up front for a credit card. Thats just crazy. Second let me tell you how to deal with this letter. They have to pay the postage to have the return letter returned back to them. Well instead of signing it and sending money I am going to do what my Mama taught me to do with junk mail. First you take their return envelope, write a nice little ha ha letter if you want, take some other junk mail I got today and rip it up and put it all back in their envelope and send it back to them. They like sending junk mail lets see how they like receiving it back at their expense. LOL

I like this! I'll remember it for the future. Thanks for sharing the tip.

Re: Latest SCAM -- Union Workers Credit Union -- BEWARE

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 18:52:00 GMT

I RECEIVED A LETTER SAYING I WAS PREAPPROVED FOR A CREDIT CARD, JUST SEND IN $37.00,FOR A FEE LOW INTEREST RATE. I WAS NOT AWARE OF IT BEING A CATALOG MEMBERSHIP. I UNDERSTOOD THIS TO BE A CREDIT CARD,WHEN I DID NOT RECEIVE ANYTHING FROM THE COMPANY, I CALLED THEM; SINCE MY CHECK HAD ALREADY BEEN PROCESSED.THE LADY NAMED RENEE WAS VERY RUDE SAYING YOU SHOULD HAVE READ THE LETTER, BECAUSE IT STATED WHAT THE COMPANY WAS ABOUT.I ASKED TO SPEAK TO A MANAGER,SHE WAS JUST AS RUDE.THERE SHOULD BE SOMETHING THAT WE COULD DO TO KEEP OTHER PEOPLE FROM BEING RIPPED OFF.

VERY TICKED

Re: Latest SCAM -- Union Workers Credit Union -- BEWARE

p- — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 20:20:58 GMT

Disclaimer at the bottom of their offer:

:YOU HAVE BEEN APPROVED FOR THIS PLATINUM CARD MEMBERSHIP OFFER BECAUSE YOU SATISFIED CERTAIN CONSUMER CRITERIA. VISA AND MASTERCARD ARE REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OF VISA INTERNATIONAL AND MASTERCARD, INC. RESPECTIVELY, AND ARE UNAFFILIATED WITH THIS OFFER OR UWCS. CREDIT AMOUNT REFERENCED HEREIN SHALL NOT BE CONSTRUED TO FUNCTION AS ANY TYPE OF MULTI-PURPOSE CREDIT CARD AND IS EXCLUSIVELY APPLICABLE FOR CREDIT PURCHASES FROM UWCS. ADDITIONAL CREDIT MAY BE GRANTED IN THE FUTURE AT CREDIT PROVIDERS SOLE DISCRETION. FAILURE TO RESPOND BY EXPIRATION DATE WILL RESULT IN TERMINATION OF YOUR ELIGIBILITY."

Always read the fine print! It's like those durned EULA's: