Union Workers Credit Services

Early today I got an interesting offer. Considering I'm one of the few people who reads and loves his junk mail, I opened this letter from Union Workers Credit Services, which promised me a $10,000 credit limit, guaranteed, once I pay their annual fee. All I had to do was mail them a check for $37, and soon enough I would get a credit limit of $10,000 (not up to, exactly!) at only 5% APY!

Surprisingly, however, the offer did not come with the traditional credit card disclosures that come with all my normal credit card offers come with. I was a little concerned... every offer I received in the past had special "Term & Conditions" and "Extra Disclosures", all of which are required by law. This made me suspicious. The letter did say "you don't have to worry if you have been denied for VISA or MASTERCARD before", which implied, in my mind, that they would be offering me a VISA or MASTERCARD. Oh, no, there's fine print, and most people don't bother to read this part of the letter. Dozens of people have been scammed into mailing a check for $37 only to receive a catalog of things they can order from... at ridiculous prices.

The fine print, however, clearly states this is not a regular general-purchasing credit card. In the small, all-caps print at the bottom the letter details you can only use the credit they give you to purchase products from a catalog they send you. Their catalog includes products like Hoover, Sharp, Canon, etc, but not at any sort of discount. Their plan is to get you to use the $10,000 they send you, and end up owing them interest and money for life.

Several consumers have been scammed by this unscrupulous company. They pretend to represent some Union Workers... yet I'm not even in a union. I work in a simple retail job part-time, yet still they somehow have my address. I have a feeling they may get their marketing database from the same people as the folks over at Cambridge Who's Who. They mail these letters indiscriminately. Anyone, regardless of credit history or credit score might get one of these letters - it's not like an actual bank, who checks if you really deserve credit before sending you a pre-approved offer.

Just a caution - don't accept offers you receive in the mail until doing your research - you'll pay for it if you don't.