A federal judge has ordered six telemarketers to pay $11.8 million in fines for having defrauded thousands of consumers nationwide through pitches for supposedly pre-approved advance-fee credit cards, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
The defendants include Credit Enhancement Services, LLC; Liberty Benefits, LLC; Broadway Management, LLC; Check Fee, LLC, a/k/a Titanium Blue; Port of Call Centers, LLC; Port of Call Centers NY, LLC and Frederick J. Dick, Jr., the owner of all six firms. The defendants used postcard mailers and inbound telemarketing to pitch advance-fee credit cards to consumers for a one-time fee of between $219.99 and $289, according to the FTC.
Some consumers who made the payments for their pre-approved and unsecured card got nothing, while others simply received an information package welcoming them to a discount buying card service, along with applications for major credit cards. To apply for these cards, however, consumers were required to pay an extra fee, the FTC alleged.
Additional promises the defendants made included the alleged misrepresentations that the cards had no annual fee and that the interest rate would never increase.
The complaint also alleged that the defendants never told consumers that they would have to meet a lender
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