Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Nationwide
A growing number of credit card customers are learning of the deceptive use of payment protection programs to boost credit card company revenue at the expense of consumers, including the elderly, the disabled, the retired, the seasonally employed or the self-employed.
The nationally respected Philadelphia lawyers at Golomb & Honik are investigating and actively litigating claims that credit card companies are employing deceptive and unfair business practices to generate monthly fees from so-called payment protection plans. To date, our lawyers have recovered more than $100 million for consumers in settlements with credit card companies due to abuses associated with payment protection coverage.
Payment Protection Plans Defined
Payment protection plans—also referred to as debt suspension, debt security, card security and account protector plans—are financial services offered to cardholders by credit card companies and are marketed as means of deferring minimum monthly payments should a life-changing event such as a disability or unemployment occur. In exchange for debt suspension and corresponding benefits, cardholders are assessed a monthly fee.
However, an increasing number of consumers allege that they either did not consent to these programs or that they were ineligible for the benefits offered by the program despite the fact that the credit card company regularly charged the monthly service fee knowing of their ineligibility.
Deceptive Practices Used by Credit Card Companies
Among the devious methods used by credit card companies to sign up customers for payment protection plans and collect the associated fees are:
- Denying cardholders benefits when the stipulated events are legitimately invoked
- Enrolling cardholders who do not qualify for program benefits according to a credit card company’s own rules
- Enrolling cardholders without proper authorization or consent, also known as slamming
- Failing to provide the full services of the program to approved customers
- Not informing cardholders of the monthly fees at the time of sign-up
You may qualify to participate in a class action suit against your credit card company if you were enrolled in one of the programs without your consent or you enrolled in a payment protection program and were a senior citizen, self-employed, employed part-time, a seasonal worker or had a disability at the time of or during your participation in the program.
If you believe you have been the victim of wrongful payment protection plan billing or other fraudulent financial services, please contact the experienced national credit card attorneys at Golomb & Honik to schedule your free case consultation. We represent clients in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and nationwide.
