- Discussion board

In November I recieved a phone call from a company called Key Credit Solutions. They told me I was approved for three credit cards with a total credit limit of $1000 and They would send them to me after I sent them $219. I being the Naive person I am about credit took them up on the offer and allowed them to debit my checking account for the $219. It is now April and still have not recieved the card or any paperwork and to top it off they have continued to debit my account $5 a month since December for a newsletter I have also never recieved. Has anyone ever heard of this company or how to get in contact with them. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

That is unbelievable. I would suggest you ask your bank to track these guys down.
You can also contact the National Fraud Information Center at 1-800-876-7060. Or the Better Business Bureau at 703-276-0100 to report Key Credit Solutions if you do not get this issue resolved.

By the way you can sign up for our credit tip mailing list for free. Just go to the main page of http://www.creditcardmenu.com and click on the link to "mailing list".

I haven't heard of this particular name, but this is a fairly common type of scam. Usually what you get for your money is one of the following:

1. A bundle of application forms for secured or other "junk" credit cards (the FTC has been cracking down on this),
2. Proprietary credit cards that can only be used for purchases from specific retailers (this is legal), or
3. Enrollment in a "plan" that gives you a credit card with say $500 credit line, of which $500 is charged up to the "plan" before you receive it. So it works kind of like a secured card in that you have to put cash in before you can use the credit line. Plus the issuer gets to pocket the $500, if you ever pay it off. This one is also legal.

Did they ask you to send the funds via UPS/FedEx/some other private courier service? If they did, it's a 99.99% tip-off that this was a pure scam with nothing to come back to you at all. They ask you to send via some non-USPS carrier so that they can't be charged with mail fraud.

Contact your bank immediately to stop the direct debit authority for the $5/month (this may involve closing your checking account and opening another, unfortunately. If this is the case, I strongly suggest you pull your ChexSystems report two or three months after your new account is open and check for errors). Your bank may also be able to help you trace the recipient of those funds.

Also try www.555-1212.com to do a reverse/address search on the address to which you mailed payment, or the phone number if you have it.