Aspire Visa AKA CompuCredit AKA Columbus Bank & Trust OUTRAGEOUS interest rate, Penalties for paying by phone, Late fees even though they stopped sending bills. RIPOFF Atlanta Georgia

I've had an Aspire Visa account since 2001. I have not made any purchases since then. Originally I spent $200.00. My interest rate shot up to 35%, and my account was growing exponentially. Inevitably I soon surpassed my credit limit (even though I was making no purchases)and was being charged $35.00 late fees every month, and a $35.00 over-the-limit fee every month.

In January 2004 I started keeping track of all of the phone calls from them, and was making regular payments to them (by phone, because at this point they weren't billing me by paper anymore) and my balance continued to grow. Every month I asked them why I hadn't received a statement, and their response was "Ma'am, a bill has been sent to your current address" (they confirmed I was who I said I was when they called by confirming my address, which later - when they acknowledged that they stopped sending bills, said that they had as a different address)

In September I filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commission, and the States Attorney General's Offices in Washington and Georgia - To no avail. They offered me this deal of "no interest, and no over the limit fees for the life of your loan" as long as I paid on time, but when I didnt get a bill, I was inevitably late, and lost the deal... 3 or 4 times at least.

In January 2005 I put them on my automatic bill pay thru my bank, and I got a notice, then a phone call saying the payment wasn't enough, and they required me to pay more, I gave them a payment by phone to be effective February 7, 2005. They did wait until then to draft the payment, but then they sent me a letter stating that my finance charges were going to increase do to habitual delinquince on my account. Currently I have a 40% APR. I hired an attorney, and he told me to gather all of my statements from my bank from January 2002 thru current, and when I added up how much I had paid them over the last 3 years it was over $1,100.00, and they're saying I still owe them $850.00.

I do have an attorney regarding this matter, and we're taking legal steps to have this resolved. He suggested that I look online for any class-action lawsuits against Aspire Visa. Does anybody know of any in progress?

Jessica
Vancouver, Washington
U.S.A.