How 'free trial' web offers can be credit card traps

FuturDreamz said:

richnrockville said:

That is one of the best options about ShopSafe, You put a dollar amount and an expiration date on the temporary credit card that the bank issues..

If they try to put another charge against it, it will be declined as NSF or not valid.

Rich

Not everyone's banks offer ShopSafe, and they may send a collections agency to hassle you.

Hi there
Collection agencies have about as much legal right as my late Grandmothers Dead Cat to collect money or hassle you in any way whatsoever.

On this side of the pond they are usually known as DCA's or "Debt Collection Agencies". These people are the lowest of low life's usually sending out loads of "Threatograms" saying Court action or possibly other sanctions -- they have absolutely no legal right whatsoever and you can safely ignore these vile scum.

The ONLY time people can legally attempt to collect money from you is when they actually PURCHASE the debt -- and these small time agencies don't do this stuff for trivially small amounts of money --they just prey on people's ignorance.

In the UK if these people turn up on your property --just tell them to leave and if they don't they are TRESPASSING.

Case law in the UK has established that the ONLY people who have a right to enter your property are THE POSTMAN and people asking for directions.

(The Police with a warrant can of course enter as can Emergency services like Gas / Water repairmen to fix leaks although the Gas and Water people don't actually have an automatic right - but nobody would prosecute them for entering a house to prevent a gas leak causing major fires / explosion etc).

The same Laws operate in All US states as well as in Europe and loads of other countries as well --NEVER EVER get scared of or pay any money to debt collection agencies.

There are loads of places you can get "Stand alone Credit cards" or top up credit cards --you don't have to get them from your local bank.

Cheers
jimbo

They are still a royal pain. And do you honestly thing everyone will g through the hassle of setting up temporary accounts for each thing they buy online?

"supposed to"

I highly doubt that companies that refuse to let you cancel would ensure the DCAs they use follow the letter of the law.

I agree 100% with jimbo45 - the way to handle these offers is with prepaid cards. I've been signing up for free/trial offers that require credit card numbers all over the Internet since the late '90s, and since prepaid cards have become widely available in the past few years I've shifted to using them exclusively for these types of trials and have never had a problem. The site jimbo45 referenced looks great for the UK. If you're in the US like me I'd recommend creditparrot.com (which is where I found both of my own prepaid cards, click on the "Debit Cards & Prepaid Cards" link on the left for a large variety).

FuturDreamz, these aren't temporary accounts and you don't need to set up a new one for each thing you buy online. You only need one, and then you pre-load it with only a small amount of money so that if someone tries to charge you for something you didn't agree to and it exceeds your balance, the transaction won't go through.