FCNB BEYOND SCUM!!!! paid off agreement & they continue to bill me for more! Portland Oregon

I am a victim as well and I have my own report posted about FCNB..

With the 22-26% interest cardholders were paying, never mind bogus late fees, over-the-limit fees, yearly fees, and every other ridiculous fee FCNB charged... whether in the fine print or not... they should have had plenty of money to stay afloat.

But, as is evidenced by the bankruptcy, the hundreds of dissatisfied customers, and the class-action suit against them, they did not do a very good job running their business.

One ex-employee said that they went under because of charge-offs--i.e., "deadbeats"... well, even if that were true, that is really the fault of the people doing the approving of credit, now isn't it? They must have made some pretty poor decisions when determining credit risk...

Additionally, how can you stick up for a company that didn't even tell you, obviously one of their most loyal employees, that they were folding and that you would probably be laid off? Didn't you say something like all you all could do was speculate... I can see all of you poor saps standing around the water cooler now...

Anyway, it sounds like many of these ex-employees (and the operative syllable is "ex" here) are suffering from something like Stockholm syndrome...

Oh, and if you don't know what that means, look it up... how would you say it? DURR...

As an ex-FCNB employee I delt with those of you who were angry on a daily basis. It is unbelievable what some of you think you can say to someone and expect that person to help you. I have taken call after call from people who are furious because they did not make payments on their bills for months. As for FCNB telling the public about their situation they did. When Speigle went off the stock market all that information was made public. It also needs to be stated that as employees we were not told about what was going on until after the changes and closures were already made. Much of what we thought was happening was speculation at best. All I can suggest is alway always always read your account agreements. Yes it is boring yes it is pages of small print, but if you want to understand the agreement that you are making the moment you use that card you better read it.
Rebuttle had a point...many, and I do mean many people did not make their payments which did contribute to FCNB's downfall. Those who's accounts were in good standing often if not always had the occasional fee removed. The only time my direct answer was no was when the account warrented the fee due to the history on it. Just something to think about.

I am the writer of this original report. I would like to present a recent follow up which may help others. I first took advantage of a free credit report from one of the credit monitoring businesses advertizing on line. It gives you thirty days of viewing your report. I did mine on line which took a few minutes. You can then cancel if you do not wish to continue with the services offered and you are charged nothing. Within their program are a few helpful ways (including a fill in letter format) to contact the credit bureaus requesting changes or investigation into your account/s. For each of the three credit bureaus, I sent a copy of my complaint and explanations, a copy of the settlement contract from FCNB, and a copy of my cancelled check both sides. I have now received a response from one of the three. They have changed my information listed with FCNB. There is nothing listed as negative. It states the account is closed and paid in full, closed by consumer. And I'm hoping that the other two follow with a similar response.

I am the writer of this original report. I would like to present a recent follow up which may help others. I first took advantage of a free credit report from one of the credit monitoring businesses advertizing on line. It gives you thirty days of viewing your report. I did mine on line which took a few minutes. You can then cancel if you do not wish to continue with the services offered and you are charged nothing. Within their program are a few helpful ways (including a fill in letter format) to contact the credit bureaus requesting changes or investigation into your account/s. For each of the three credit bureaus, I sent a copy of my complaint and explanations, a copy of the settlement contract from FCNB, and a copy of my cancelled check both sides. I have now received a response from one of the three. They have changed my information listed with FCNB. There is nothing listed as negative. It states the account is closed and paid in full, closed by consumer. And I'm hoping that the other two follow with a similar response.

I am the writer of this original report. I would like to present a recent follow up which may help others. I first took advantage of a free credit report from one of the credit monitoring businesses advertizing on line. It gives you thirty days of viewing your report. I did mine on line which took a few minutes. You can then cancel if you do not wish to continue with the services offered and you are charged nothing. Within their program are a few helpful ways (including a fill in letter format) to contact the credit bureaus requesting changes or investigation into your account/s. For each of the three credit bureaus, I sent a copy of my complaint and explanations, a copy of the settlement contract from FCNB, and a copy of my cancelled check both sides. I have now received a response from one of the three. They have changed my information listed with FCNB. There is nothing listed as negative. It states the account is closed and paid in full, closed by consumer. And I'm hoping that the other two follow with a similar response.

Let me clarify. I did NOT state that all the card holders did not pay their bills, I happen to know first hand that FCNB had alot of wonderful, hard working people that paid their bills on time. I enjoyed helping them. The fact remains that the charge off rate was extremely high and had an impact on why the company went under. That is all I was saying. I did not call anyone names as some of the responses suggest. If you took offense, I am sorry.

I also disagree with the characterization of people as "deadbeats" who caused the company's failure. They were already charging me a healthy 22.99 percent rate ( most millionaires get to borrow at about a six percent rate, for comparison!) and I was notified that they would be raising the rate to 26.99 percent. Naturally I closed the account. But getting them to abide by the terms that were extant when the account was closed--which is the LAW--has been no easy task. For example, they are constantly trying to charge me late fees even when my payment is not late, and they always charge the $35 late fee. I have told them over and over again, that I ahd closed my account when the late fee had been $29 and that is all they are legally allowed to charge!

They lie to you to get you to accept the "settlement." I had another company try to pull that one on me--they settled out with me at about 80 percent, but the person who persuaded me to do so lied and said that the arrangement would not hurt my credit. I found out after I sent them the money, that yes indeed, it DOES hurt your credit to take a compromised amount. So I restored the original remainder balance and paid it off (finally) in 2001. That caused no negative credit reference.

Another nasty surprise is that, yes, there is a tax penalty for taking the settlement. For example, if you have a $4000 obligation that is settled out at, say, $2800, that $1200 forgiven amount is 1099ed and the government considers it INCOME--like someone just handed you $1200 because it is money you no longer owe and you are expected to pay tax on it. Naturally, the croporate banks trying to get you to settle out so they can raise cash, never tell you about that! I am trying to warn people.

Another company started to add a "participation fee" (!) to the account of $6 a month--a YEAR after I had closed it. I wrote to them and I said, Listen, if you think you can simply dream up new fees and charges to tack onto a closed account, you are living in fantasy land! But for that kind of stuff you have to write to them. The people answering the phone are just minium wage workers and they have no power to do anyhting but spou the company garbage. If you write altter it will get into the hands of someone with power to help you.

Since this complaint created a number of rebuttals I felt compelled to also respond to the ex-employee rebuttal.

First and foremost, his sarcastic, degrading, insipid attitude is a fine example of what many of us have had to deal with when contacting FCNB,(thats when we could speak to someone and when the stories were straight and when they didn't out and out lie about pertinent information).

The majority of us are not looking to "get out of what we owe", but pay what is clearly due in a fair,legal, and responsible manner. In my case, FCNB offered me the settlement and it is written very clearly and without any stipulations, addendums, or clauses.

If what you stated is true about consequenses resulting in settlement with FCNB, then FCNB lied and manipulated again!!!To me, this was obviously an offer to "get money quick and easy" since "they" were in trouble. FCNB, stands out for many reasons but one in particular...BAD BUSINESS PRACTICES !!! AND That's why they failed! BAD BUSINESS PRACTICES!

The responsiblity of their problems and closure are all THIER OWN!!!! In response to, "Who do you monitor,Durr",...IF other companies took over "business" as you stated,then isn't someone responible? Although I did not read all of the US Department of the Treasury demands on FCNB, someone or maybe several must be in charge!

The web site for the report is...

http://www.occ.treas.gov./FTP/EAs/ea2002-40.pdf
It is shameful that big business is treated much differently than an average consumer but, I patiently wait for more to be revealed about the "DISGUSTING BEHAVIOR" of FCNB.

I WANT TO CLARIFY A FEW THINGS STATED IN THE PREVIOUS COMMENTS, BY EX EMPLOYESS AND THE OTHERS...BEING THE VICTIM AS WELL, I AM APPALED AT THE COMMENTS OF CALLING PEOPLE DEAD BEATS...I ATTEMPTED TO PAY MY BILL ON TIME FOR A LONG TIME NOW...UN-FORTUNETLY, THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE...WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN GIVIN WARNING THAT THIS PROBLEM WAS OCCURING, AND THE OPTION TO RIDE IT OUT, OR RESOLVE IT..."FCNB"GAVE NO SUCH THING, AND CONDUCTED "BAD BUSINESS"...THEY RIPPED OFF CONSUMERS FOR THERE OWN BENEFIT, AND NOW THE GOOD PEOPLE ARE PAYING FOR IT...THEY WENT IN TO DEBT BECAUSE OF THERE OWN BAD MANAGEMENT, AND HAD THE MONEY TO FIX THIS PROBLEM LONG AGO...BUT AS WE ALL KNOW, BANKRUPTCY GIVES THEM THE CHANCE TO BAIL, AND STILL KEEP THERE OWN POCKTS AND THE MANAGEMENTS POCKETS SECURE...THE LITTLE GUY IS THE ONE WHO PAYS...I AM GOING TO THE PAPERS AT THIS TIME, AND CONTACTING THE PEOPLE I KNOW WHO FIGHT AGAINST THESE FRADULANT COMPANIES...AND I WILL BE HEARD!!!I WILL NOT SROP INTILL THIS IS PUBLISIZED, MEDIA, MAGAZINES, ETC....
SO THEY BETTER REALIZE THE FIGHT HAS JUST BEGUN, AND JUSTICE FOR PEOPLE WILL BE DONE!!!!!
THANK YOU

Your response to the people that have been ripped off is not totally accurate. Not all of FCNB's customers were deadbeats.

It seems that the ones that have been paying their accounts were the ones that got the brunt of FCNB's ire. Spiegel did not go totally bankrupt because of unpaid accounts alone.

They also had some mismanagements and bad decisions made by upper management to target credit risk in their business as well as good credit consumers.

All companies have had people to default on a credit account so no one can say this is the only reason spiegel went bankrupt. I would also like to add that spiegel used to be a very reasonable company would good quality merchandise at an affordable price. but in recent years, their clothing and other merchandise became outlandishly expensive and in some cases of inferior quality.

Everything I ever purchased at Newport news was good and reasonably priced. But again I cannot say that from others. I would receive spiegel catalogs but never purchased because of the prices; but I have friends that had problems.

Robert,

Send a copy of your settlement letter and statement to the dispute address on the back of your credit statement, with a written request to
honor the prior agreement.

If you have your ducks in a row, they will honor
the terms and clear up the problem.

If you did it in May, you would normally get a June statement to reflect that they received your payment. It does take time to code it as a settlement but you no longer owe payments. The remaining amount does not just go away, it is charged off as a loss. It will be reported as a settled account on your credit report with a charged off amount (yes that includes a R9 rating, the worst you can get) You should also receive a form at tax time because the charged off amount is then considered as a financial benefit. The bottom line there is no easy way out of the debt you owed.

As for "monitoring their disgusting behavior" as you said they are closed down, last time I checked, companies that are "closed down" do not have employees. Who do you monitor? DURR!
The accounts that still have balances have gone to other companies. FCNB was liquidated because Spiegel (the parent company) filed Bankruptcy and because of all the losers that couldn't/wouldn't pay the money they owed.

My suggestion is always read your disclosures and ask questions before you do anything such as a settlement.