First Premier Bank Ripoff Not posting Legitmate payments and no viable answer why on the phone Sioux Falls South Dakota

Well to the last comment, yes you need to read the terms and conditions thats what the bank sends to you so you know of the terms, they can't call every single customer and tell them all the terms of the credit card. If you have questions about the terms don't just assume call the bank thats why they set up customer service centers.

Now banks have to treat every customer the same way and with the same terms, they can't treat one customer with better rates just because they have been with the bank for a couple of years or have better credit. Its called Fair Lending Laws, that they do have to abide by.

The payment hold is not a personal attack on any certain person, it can and will happen to every one of the customers with the bank. Its a high risk company and they deal with high risk customers that is why the policies and terms are different from other crediters.

I just canceled this card after several years of having it. I got this card when I was faced with hard times that impacted my credit, and never got rid of the card because I really did not have any particular issues with it. The fees were ridiculous but at the same time I had placed a $2K security deposit on this card, had things being automatically billed to it each month, and it just became more convenient to keep it than to cancel it.

A couple of weeks back I made an online payment to First Premier, and exactly 14 days ago a bank transfer (electronic funds transfer) was posted to my bank account reflecting the payment was made.

Still, when I went to use the card, it was declined. I logged into the website and it simply showed the last payment as $7, the current balance due as $7, the available credit as $7, it basically showed $7 across the board. It wasn't even updated.

When I contacted First Premier, I was told they reserve the right to hold onto the payement for 20 days or longer if they deem it to be "suspicious" in any manner. I spoke to one rep named "Jamie" and then the "account supervisor", Beth.

Beth could not explain what happened - first she said it may have been insufficient funds. To which I said that this was not the case because not only were the funds there, but they had been transferred out of my account already two weeks ago. She then replied that this was not a "wire transfer" so it wasn't considered a cash payment and they didn't have to post it right away according to the fine print. I reiterated that I understood it was not a wire transfer, that it was an ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER, and that if the money had already physically LEFT my bank, and First Premier was not showing it as available credit on my account, I wanted to know where the money had gone. After a ridiculous amount of rhetoric, tap dance and no particular explanation as to why they took my money and held onto it for weeks, Beth explained that MAYBE the fact that I had made two payments within the same month appeared "suspicious".

So, let me pull this together now. I had the card for years, I made my regular monthly payment, and when I received another payment from a client I took advantage of the extra cash to pay the card off - - - which resulted in a 20 day hold while they investigated the two back to back payments. I'll state this again - my card was not suspended for LACK OF payment - it was suspeneded for timely and consistent payment, and no one had to give me a heads up that this had even happened until I tried to use the card. This was not a past due card, nor a large balance on it. But the fact that I paid it twice in a month made me look peculiar, apparently. Had I NOT paid it, I would have been able to continue charging without a problem until my payment became due again.

When I complained about the embarrassment of having had the card declined despite the fact that it was current, and told them it would have been nice if First Premier had advised me that my payment was no being reflected, Jamie advised me that First Premier doesn't *have to* let me know they're holding on to the payment, and kept reminding me to read the agreement.

To the employee that basically posted that First Premier customers needed to deal with it because we essentially brought it on ourselves and First Premier is "helping" us, let me be the first to advise you that a bad run of luck does not make us all delinquents. Some of us are highly educated, well employed and well paying, and neither deserve nor appreciate being treated as morons that deserve everything they get.

To potential customers, go to www.orchardbank.com. They also have a decent credit rebuilding card and their customer service - and service across the board - runs circles around First Premier.

To current customers, unless you're still in dire straits, cut up that card. And don't expect First Premier to try to keep you - they're used to having accounts cancelled regularly once people realize they're being ripped off. They don't care because they're onto the next group of people that have been hit by hard times.

If you do sign up to First Premier, DO READ THE FINE PRINT. They're out of South Dakota - do some research to find out why. The law there basically allows them to do whatever they want because SD is desperate to keep their economy going and that's one of few good sources of employment in that area.

And remember - if you don't pay, they can cancel your charge priviledges. And if you DO pay, they can do the same. READ THE FINE PRINT - and don't throw the contract in the bottom of the junk drawer. With this company YOU WILL NEED to refer to this later.

But what do I know? I'm nothing but a no-good no-credit no-paying nobody. If you don't believe me, ask First Premier. They think that of all their customers.

As an employee of Premier Bankcard, I would like to apologize if you feel your wife and yourself were wronged in any way by the company.

However, also as an employee, I do know that we do not, nor have we ever, offered a credit card with a $150 annual fee. In addition to this, there are no credit cards that have per diem interest, that's reserved for mortgages and auto loans.

As a credit card company, we charge interest once a month when the statement prints, usually at 9.9%. I cannot think of a card we have that has a 29.9% interest rate. The highest interest rate I've seen on an account is 23.9% and that is because the account had been out of terms for 3 consecutive months.

As far as your check being returned, that can be for a number of reasons. The most common reason I see is for an invalid account number on an ACH payment. It's a really common mistake and can be fixed if you make a payment to cover the check plus any fees, just like any other credit company. And, if you were concerned about not having any of the fees credit back to the account, all you had to do was ask. If the account had not had that particular fee credited before, customer service would have been happy to do it as a one-time courtesy.

And again, I am sorry for the poor service you feel that you received and hope only the best for both yourself and your wife in the future.