SST Card Services review: Unlawful billing tactics and arbitrary fees! 168

OMG I am so infuriated right now, I have been going rounds with this company for over a year now! The original balance that WAMU sold to SST was 616.00 now a year later and 512.00 in payments my balance is 987.00!

What crooks! I have cried, screamed yelled, made complaints to the FTC etc etc their "dialer" calls me 4-9 times a day! Just last sunday I had 6 missed calls from 5pm-8pm!

I dont know what I can do, do I just pay them and put up with it? I tried to get them to settle for around 400 which would bring me to having paid over 4x's the original debt! and they said no...

These ### are by far the most unethical group of people in the woeld and why anyone would want to work for them is beyond me. I have been trying to get this monkey off my back for a year and it seems to going very slow even if you double up on payments and make them on time...my big question is why our govt. allows this type of robbery to go on right under their noses and why no caps have been put on interest charges that keep people from paying them off...but as we all know our system is built around a govt. bought and payed for by these ###s and why nothing will ever be done about it when these very companies donate millions of dollars to their guy to get elected...so when I talk to the SST customer pitbull I am just as rude and nasty to them as they are to me...no more Mr. nice guy with these minimum wage earning stooges and ###s...being nice did not help and paying on time doesn't either so screw them!...next time they call you give them as much crap as possible because your requests are just falling on deaf ears..pay off the account and never travel down the SST road to hell again...I sure hope they read this post.

I also had an account with Washington mutual that I was in good standing with for over a year. About a year ago, My account was sold to SST. I have since acrued over $1, 000.00 in finance charges. My acct. has a $2, 000.00 limit on it. AT the time my acct. was sold, I only had $1, 000.00 on the card. I have made no charges in almost a year. My interest rate was 13% when the card belong to washington mutual and went up to 30% when it was sold! Because of the finance charges, payments they said they never received, on line payments they stated they never received, my account is now over its limit AND I'm being charged overlimit fees, on top of the outragous charges... I am extremely PISSED my account was sold and now my credit rating is at risk because I can't keep up with the fee's on this card. How can this be legal?

I have had similar problems with this company. I certainly hope there is a class action suit and that it comes to fruition before I die. I currently have breast cancer. 2 years ago, I called SST to see if I could get a deferment on my account for a couple months as I was having problems as I was unable to work while having chemo and radiation. The lady I talked to was very very rude and told me it wasn't their problem that I was sick and that I still had obligations to them for the amount I owed. I have no problem with paying this bill, EXCEPT, my limit was $1000 and I steadily paid the payment of $100 regularly each month until I had a problem with my finances and being sick. When I checked into things more carefully, I realized I was still owing over $1000.00. How could this be if I have not used the card in over 2 years and continuously paid $100.o0. My other credit card companies were willing to defer payments during that time. I was called at least 5 times a day everyday (NO EXAGGERATION) I refused to talk to them because they were very rude and obnoxious. I paid when I could. I now realize that all kinds of charges were added time and time again, sometimes more than once a month from what I could decifer from my bills.

My Washington Mutual credit card was sold to SST ALSO. I've been with SST since 2006 . I set up my other accounts for payment a month in advance which I could not do with SST. You can only pay that one four days in advance of the due date. Last month my husband was in the hospital with double phnemonia for 8 days. He's also on Dialasis. Has been for 3 yrs. I forgot to pay this bill I believe I was 5 days late. When I realized this I called customer service and explained my situation. And I made a 200.00 Payment. I also payed the 39.00 late fee. When I got
my bill this month I noticed that the interest rate was increased to 29.09%. I called an talked to mark. I was told nothing could be done unless I paid 1/3 of the balance off and then they could lower my interest rate to 25%. I explained my situation to him. His remark was I'd only been a customer since2006. I have always paid my card on time with this one exception, and always paid more than the minimum amount. I became quite frustrated and told him to close the account which he did I was also told that I would still be charged the 29.09%. And he repeatedly said we've done nothing wrong.what about ethics. I called again tonight and talked to aron and was given the same information I asked to speak to a supervisor she came on the line and again said they could do nothing . My remark to her was if he died would it be the same situation and she said yes. I thanked her for the lovely serivce and that i surely will recomend the company to every one I Know what a Laugh. I previously got a Letter from SST the first
sentance read we appreciate the opportunity to serve you "SST" remains committed to maintaining a high level of customer satifaction an welcomes the opportunity to assist. Sounds good doesn't it? When you were giving the opportunity to do so you failed misserably. I have never been treated by anyone with such a lack of uderstanding, compassion and such poor customer service.

Caroline O'Mara

Please note that Systems & Service Technologies, Inc (SST Card Services) is a subsidiary of JP Morgan Chase & Co.. SST Card Services is a simple Data Processing/Call Center site in St Joseph MO.
Your best bet is to send them a certified letter requesting that they "Cease Phone Contact".

Systems & Service Technologies, Inc
4315 Pickett Rd
St Joseph MO [protected]
Tel: 816.671.2671 or 800.789.8001
Fax: 816.671.2029

Start inundating them with calls and faxes. They will love it!
Their Senior VP/CEO is Glenn Estrella and their VP is Rick Moffett.
I am sure they would love the same harassing phone calls and emails from John Q. Public?!

I was also a credit card holder with WaMu. I was in good standing the whole time that I was with them. Then, all of a sudden, I was sold to SST! The very first month with them I have had problems. I have since faithfully paid my bill online with no problems, accept this month. I thought that I had paid $75.oo. I few days later I was going through my checking account and realized that my payment hadn't yet cleared. Then I remembered: You initially agree to the payment. Then, IN LITTLE TINY WRITING, it asks you to "Confirm" the payment authorization. I guess I missed that this time, therefore, the payment never went through. I think a 6 year old could have designed a better Website than the one that they have. Now, I just tried to make my DOUBLE PAYMENT DUE + LATE FEES and the Website isn't working! Now, my credit that I am trying to rebuild has just taken a negative hit! THANK YOU WAMU and SST!

I have a list a mile long. Many communications. Screwed on interest rates now almost 30%! Because they can, they say. I have written my congressman.

Now their website does not work for payments! What's with that!

*****************PLEASE READ!************************************

SST is a fraud and everyone NEEDS to check their credit reports. I had an account with Providian who sold to SST. Stopped getting statements from them so I just assumed they sold to another account I am making payments on. What a mistake I made to assume! I currently have a new vehicle on hold at a dealership. Having trouble getting the financing because SST shows on my credit report as an unpaid car payment that went to REPO!

After this showed on my account, my husband decided to check his credit. He to is showing a car payment to SST also. How does this credit company have the right to and get away with this ###?

This is going to take forever to clear our credit history...

I also had my account sold to them by Providian last summer, with no notification about the sale, nor about any changes in terms that took place afterwards.

I paid off the balance last July, and didn't use the card anymore, until this past week. I tried to use it, and it was declined. I checked my account online, and it looked fine - it said I had a full credit limit available. So I called...

They said my account had been closed due to inactivity. No notice, of course, no communication whatsoever. I asked if I could reactivate it - no.

So even though I was never happy with being forced into doing business with SST to begin with, I have now lost about 25% of my total available credit simply because they weren't making any money off of me for a few months.

Beware, those of you who pay them off thinking this will solve your problems - you're going to lose that credit after a couple of months if you don't keep using the card!

I really cannot complain about the service of SST because I, personally haven't an "account" with them. However, I do realize, having dealt with this shady company on an intimate level that politics reign supreme. i. e. It's not what you know, but who you know and what shade of brown you want to allow your nose to get. I cannot stress enough to the the unknowing and unsuspecting credit card account holder that if you are an unfortunate soul that finds yourself in this ever-so-comprising position...pay this company not a dime. Pay this company not a nickel. Pay them not a single red cent! For if you do, you will be on their self contained "hit list" and will be harassed, bothered, singled-out or, at the very least called by a self-righteous sheep in their late teens asking you to beg, steal or borrow from your friends, neighbors or your elderly, invalid great-aunt that cannot make ends meet with a fixed social security income let alone assist in a non-relevant narcissistic credit card bill. Last time I checked, food, water shelter and clothing were the main factors of human survival. Never had a fifth factor nor an eleventh commandment of "Thou shall pay 29.9% interest on you visa bill" has been etched into a scroll of slate. There are strength in numbers. We cannot allow further travel of this vehicle of self reliance and ill prosperity. Simply stated...refuse to pay. Do not pay late fees. Do not pay check by phone fees. Understand one thing for certain; after one-hundred and sixty(160) days of account delinquency, Visa accounts are charged off and are no longer a pressing issue. Thereafter, reverse snowball-effect takes place. Less hassle, less phone harassment, less stress, more self worth, more professional and personal productivity and your "debt snow-ball" has melted. In closing, conservatively stand up for your beliefs, values, personal rights and turn the symbolized political and financial cheek on SST. THERE IS STRENGTH IN MORALITY AND MAJORITY. Thank you.

I never heard of SST until I received a statement from them in the mail showing I had a balance of 250 Dollars and my payment was 5 days past due. I called them and explained I never had an account with them. They told me they were Providian Bank and now have a new name, SST. OK fine I made a payment. I then found out they lied to me, and they purchased my account from Providian. Under California law, the practice of purchasing a credit account from another bank and attempting to collect the amount due without permission of the customer is illegal. They are also not allowed to report this as a negative transaction to credit monitoring/rating companies. I wrote SST a letter and explained this to them. They have not called me since then, there is no negative credit report from SST on my credit rating. If you had an account with Providian, Washington Mutual is the legitimate owner of Providian credit card accounts. If SST ended with it is because they purchased the debt from Providian at an amount of a few cents per dollar of the balance once owed to Providian.

Im online this morning trying to pay my cc bill due today and the website is not there! i was a WAMU cardholder, and had been for 1yr. I never missed a payment and I always payed more than the minimum required. One day I logged onto Wamu and was told that my account had been sold to SST. The experience has not been great at all. The online site is always down and if you call over the phone you have to pay $10 along w/bad cst service! Why are these people still in business w/all these bad business practices? Theres one thing i'm glad I didnt do, once Wamu sold me for no reason, I kept the account closed and never activated the card that SST sent me that would have locked me into their terms.

I don't know how they can operate the way the do and get away with it. I was a Washington Mutral card holder who's acct. was sold to SST. They screwed me the very first month. I usually divided my payment between my bi-weekly paychecks. Did this with them and ended up with late fees and having to make an extra pymt. The my balance goes down but my pymt goes up. They said it is to help me pay my balance, what a joke I just called them to see about getting my 29.09% rate dropped so more of my pymt goes to the balance. HA, was told the only offer they have is to close the acct. and pay 25% of the balance. NOT going to happen. They are joke. Then I recieved a offer from WaMU today for another card. That isn't going to happen either. IF you get SST try to pay it off. THE are crooked.

I agree with everything that has already been stated. Several of my payments have not been applied to my account, however they have cash the check against my bank. In addition, they would hold my check that I would send via snail mail for a long time... before processing...(well after its due date) So I started making my payments online... Now, just recently I changed my bank account payment information online... and they entered the wrong routing number... my routing number is no where near what they have down which resulted in 3 missed payments. They never notified me to let me know that the routing number was inaccurate, they just kept supposedly processing my payments. I honestly believe they entered the wrong routing number on their end purposely... so that my payments would not apply. I am so ready to SUE this company! What do we do?

My account also was sold to SST from WAMU. Half the time their website does not work to pay my bill online. But, they will be happy to charge you $10.00 to do it over the phone. I made a mistake of getting a $20.00 advance at an ATM machine with my card. Now I get socked a $17.00 per month finance charge for the advance, because it is charged on my total account balance. I have tried to resolve this issue with SST but to no avail. Any complaints towards this ripoff company is valid.

I have read comment after comment and swear this is my story over and over again. What do you do? All of the above are true for me as well. I have paid my balance due in full, yet still recieved a bill with $108.79 owed? and a finance (31.24%) charge of $2.79 due. The current balance shown is $2.79. I am locked out of the online services, via phone my account will not pull up and I have called the VPs office and mobil number. Please if anyone has a solution to end this nightmare, please let me in on it.

As soon as my account was sold to SST trouble started. 1st; I missed my first payment because I recieved the letter after I sent my payment and they said it would still be accepted by Washington Mutual, but it wasnt, 2nd; my intrest rate went through the roof, 3rd; my routing number changed all of a sudden ( even though it was saved and was the one I used for previous payments). I am a single mother and doing my best to survive and they are trying to drown me! I cancelled my card the 1st month I had problems (the 1st month they took over) and I am still having problems. Something needs to be done, NOW!

I dont understand how any company can have the law on there side, it has been the same with me late fees overcharges phone calls, and hang up calls.

Never in my life have i been involved with such a bunch of crooks.

i am having problems with sst when it comes to paying my bill online. When i try to pay it will not allow me on the site and then i am charged the 39$ late fee which is not my fault. Then to pay by phone they charge the 10$ fee. How do i get out of this cycle? The interest rate also went to 31% and i have always paid on time when it was with Providian.

I agree with all peoples statements. I was paying my bill off with providing as stated then my card got sold to SST. I have always paid my bills online. Mysteriously last month they stated I didn't make my payment which I did. They failed to take the late fee back and they say they have no record of me paying it and I received an email stating I paid it. I was met with poor customer service and now they call me constantly! Up to 6 times a day. If they see that I am on the phone they will continue to call back time after time and buzz in on my phone call. I am glad to see that I'm not going crazy that these people are jerks.

Kimberly.

I HAD AN ACCOUNT WITH PROVIDIANE. THEY SOLD IT TO SST WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. I AM HOPING I DON'T GET SCREWED OVER, SINCE U CAN'T REACH THEM. I GUESS PROVIDIAN DOES NOT LIKE GOOD CUSTOMERS. I PAID OFF MY BALANCE EVERY MONTH. IF I GET SCREWED CAN I JUST NOT PAY THEM?I CAN'T REACH THEM, THEY CAN'T REACH ME. WHAT IS IT? THANKS

my account was transferred without my consent to sst as well. When I tried to go on line to make my payment their site would not let me in. I called them by phone only to be told that they were "updating their system" and that I should try again tomorrow. I tried again the next day and was unsuccessful. I called them again, by this time my payment was due and I was able to complete the transaction. Of course, when I received my statement I had a late fee. When I called to explain, they were rude and told me that I was nobody since I was on one of their "special programs" and they were doing me a favor. Lets get the class action suite going. They are rude and should be put out of the country.

I keep getting statements saying that I am behind. I am not. Now I'm trying to contact them via phone and email to no avail to PAY THEM OFF. Automated service keeps disconnecting my calls no matter what option I select. I just want to Talk to a person and pay my debt! Were are these people?

Let me add my unfortunate "SST" story to the rest of these. I was making twice monthly payments for my bill. AS a result, I never had a late payment. However, my payments were not posting on my account for sometimes up to 30 days. I did not understand why and called Customer Service. No one there could tell me why either. This month I made one payment rather than two, which was mailed approximately 20 days before it was due on October 8. The check cleared my account on October 5 (3 days before due date). I received a phone call from SST on October 15 telling me that my payment was late, I would be assessed a $39.00 late charge, and that likely I would be put in a high risk, high interest rate category. I explained that I sent the payment. The customer service rep checked and determined that I had the wrong address (no other reps told me this when I called them earlier). She told me that if I would fax a copy of my bank statement proving that my check was accepted and did clear, that they would reverse the charges. I faxed a copy at a cost of $4.00 and called to find out if they received it. They did not. I was asked to fax another copy at $4.00. Five days later, I received a letter in the mail telling me that my claim was declined and that the late charges would still stand. I called and tried to resolve this matter; SST did not budge on the late fee or interest rate hike. I told the customer service rep that I was done doing business with them and to cancel my card. To which she replied that I would never be able to open an account with them again... AS IF!

I was hesitant to keep my account when it was sold to SST by Washington Mutual. I decided to keep it with the idea that if I had one problem out of them, I would cancel the card. My suggestion for anyone reading this who has an SST card is to cancel it right away before they have an opportunity to charge you for the "privilege" of their company. I will never do business with them again!

I strongly agree.

this is highway robbery,,,no way to pay on line,,,

I HAVE BEEN CHARGED 5 TIMES FOR LATE FEES FOR NO REASON.

Providian sold my account to SST card services without my permission and then SST raised my interest rate to 31.49% from 15% with NO LATE PAYMENTS! This company should be put out of business and investigated for questionable business practices.

After being locked out of my online access to my SST inc VISA account early January 2007, I contacted SST via phone. I wanted to make another on time payment. All my payments have been on time via internet. During a 10 day, give or take, process of calling/discussing my problem I was still locked out. Of course they mentioned paying via phone with a $10. fee. I refused.

A same and copied complaint as another customer menioned.
However, I paid the balance off and left the account open. It is best to do this for you FICO score.

We have had nothing but problems with this company. No one seems to know what they are talking about or doing. We receive statements every other month or two or etc. When we send a check they say they have not received a payment. My wife have bill pay and it comes right out of her account and they still tack on late fees or over the limit fees. We have had it with them. I believe this company is a rip off and needs to be sued.

I agree with you all. My wife and I had a CC with WAMU and it was sold to SST. No problems until I had one payment go through that was a saved account on my online account page. I had paid the bill before with this account and then all of a sudden this one month they couldn't process that account. I was told by 3 people that it was because of insufficient funds in the account. I faxed them my bank account with the balance and then they didn't know what it was. I double and triple checked my routing and bank #'s and they were confused why it wouldn't go through. I even checked with my bank and they said everything was fine. This was all the day after my payment was due. Since we couldn't figure it out I paid it with another account but they wouldn't take off the late fee. Plus since it was late it defaulted me to 32% interest! and that is where I am stuck at now. Needless to say I am transferring it to another card. These guys are horrible!

Here's a number to contact at JP Morgan Chase ~ [protected]. It is their executive office and you can contact them about your complaints RE SST. We are closing our account, still working to reverse finance charges from the over 31% interest rate that it shot up to. Count me in on class action. Thanks to the rest of you, I will be requesting a faxed notification of the closed account and keeping a very strong paper trail! Again, file a complaint with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. They have an official form and you can mail it or FAX it. They then are REQUIRED to contact JP Morgan Chase and investigate the complaint. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency web address is: www.occ.treas.gov or you can just google them to link up. You can also call them with your information. Make sure you HAVE contacted SST and asked to speak with a supervisor. It's good to have the time line also of how they don't respond. Their number is [protected]. contact your senator and let them know your situation via e-mail and ask them to jump on the credit trap legislation band wagon.

This is very redundant. The same thing just seems to keep happening and my situation as well. Account sold, no statements, high fees, charging late fees inappropriately, harassing phone calls. The main thing I would add is that Providian/Washington Mutual should be held accountable for selling personal information without permission first. Also for continuing to sell to this particular company after so many complaints. Add me to the fight.

Sst sends the bill already late or like this month no bill at all. I got behind two months over the limit because of all the extra fees they charge.

john Hall

*you have an average daily balance and will have finance charges accrue on the account. It's plain and simple and is the case with every credit card. *

This is absolutely NOT TRUE. I have many credit cards, and only SST has sent me statement after statement, billing me for interest on interest. Before they took over my account from WAMU, I paid it off with WAMU. Then they billed me for interest on the account, already paid off. I sent them a check. Then- the will billed me again for the interest on the previous interest. This is ridiculous! The account was paid off... before YOU, SST, took it over.

People- it's a game. The interest upon interest game is played so you slip up... thinking the account is paid off, and miss that next bill cycle. Then it's hello $39 late fee. Plus, interest on that late fee.

Right now... a bill is before Congress that would outlaw this practice by SST. I hope you contact you're local representative urging their suppost of this. SST is right to collect if you are legitimately past due, but this company is playing games, to get you to be late... and that's not right. That's why we need Congress to act... and don't expect the Republicans to help you out on this either. They clearly represent SST on this issue.

My providian account was sold to SST and I was not aware of this until my bill came. They charge more in late fees and my interest rate increased. I had to do a debt management plan for my 3 credit card companies in order to keep up. Capital One and Discover approved my proposal plan for debt management and everything has worked out great with them. My debt management company, Care One, sent SST a proposal on July 16, 2007 and they said they never got that proposal in the mail. We then faxed a proposal on August 15, 2007 and they never got that fax. What does it take for them to receive something?! I need to fly there and hand them something personally in order for them to receive it and process it!

I had my account sold to SST in Feb of this year by Washington Mutual. The first thing that happened was that my FICO score dropped because I now had a new account opened on my credit file with equifax which made me very angry as I have worked hard to maintain a good credit history because I have looked at credit histories every day for the last 20+ years in the car business and know how important credit scores are. Then, get this, SST never sent me a new card and swears that it must be a problem with the mail service in Titusville Fl because I never recieved any of my cards which they say they sent 3 times and never recieved a statement from them at all EVER. My rate went from 9% with Washington Mutual to 29.9% with SST because I was 2 days late with my first payment but I had , and still to this day do not have, an account #, an address, or even a card that would have this info for my acct. I now pay my bill over the phone and have to use my ss# to pull up my acct. and I use the 800 number on my caller id the first of every month. I have to pay a fee to use this service but I have no other choice. I have good credit and need to know how to fix this problem without opening another new acct. Thanks. Lisa
p.s. If anyone out there has an idea Email me ldj32780@hotmail.com.

I too along with others had my card sold to SST and my interest was raised. They are not willing to work with you and I think I am going to let this go to collections because this is such a scam. I have tried to pay on time and get them to work with me but who can make there payments. I would also like to join a lawsuit.

This company is the worst credit card co. ever. They took over a providian account, never sent statements, locked me out on-line, can't give me account number on phone, and increased the rate to a ridiculous and criminal amount.
They don't send statements so they can charge you out the wazooo.

When is the FTC going to do something about SST?