Released: November 17, 2009

Confessions of a credit card telemarketer

Source: Bob Sullivan, Redtape Chronicles MSNBC

What if there were a way to have your credit card debt erased if you lost your job or became disabled? That’s the pitch behind debt cancellation, a service offered by many credit card issuers and retailers.

Debt cancellation doesn’t come cheap: it costs between $1 and $2 per $100 balance.  A consumer with a $3,000 balance, for example, could pay nearly $60 a month for debt cancellation service. That might not sound like such a great deal, but thousands of consumers sign up anyway. Why? One telemarketer who sells the service told msnbc.com recently that there’s only one reason: Sellers intentionally confuse cardholders about the programs and their costs.

“I hate flat-out lying to someone, but that’s exactly what we do, 150 calls a day,” said the telemarketer, who requested anonymity out of fear of losing his job.  “I have seen so many people ripped off that I had to attempt to let people know.”

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