Tribute MasterCard Company Unjustified Charges Ripoff Atlanta Georgia

I too found Tribute's practices wrong--only difference, I never opened the account with them. An account was opened in my name by an ex roommate, and by the time I found out about it, they were reporting it as a charge off in the amount of $384. The report showed four payments of $10 spanning over four months time, then several non payment months. The credit limit was $70.

I called as soon as I found the mark on my credit report, was given three different phone numbers to call, and each number I was forwarded to told me that I had to speak to the previous person because only that department could access the file---they were LITERALLY trying to run me in a circle. Because those four payments were made, the people I did speak to decided to use that as their reasoning for the account having had been opened in my name. When I confronted them letting them know that I had done my research and found several people who have Tribute accounts that attest to the fact that when they did not use the card and it had no balance, it reported (for the first few months) that they had made their minimum payment--they promptly hung up on me.

I finally said forget it and took matters into my own hands. Having been a victim of identity theft before, I remembered that I had an extended fraud alert on all three of my credit reports (because my identity was stolen when I was still a minor) that last for seven years. I called Experian (who I feel do the most thorough job of investigating disputes) and told them that because of these alerts, creditors are REQUIRED to have something from me in writing before an account can even be opened. It took only four days for my online dispute to clear and the account was promptly deleted from my credit report at all three bureaus because tribute could not provide anything with my signature, no check copies for the payments they claimed were made by me, absolutely no proof.

I believe this company is in the business of scamming those who need credit into getting their card, charging them excessive fees and gaining the interest (because hey, they are lending to people with bad credit habits, so who would doubt it?), and then selling the accounts off to collection agencies.