In the mail recently I received a pre-approved credit card offer from the First Premier Bank of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  They promised me a Platinum MasterCard and all I had to do was take sixty seconds to go online and apply.  They couldn’t make it any easier.  It looked like an interesting offer, so I perused it further.

When I get these solicitations, the first thing I do is find the interest rates and fees, usually hidden deep in the paperwork.  After some searching, I found the information in a fold out section, and they had it hidden for a good reason. The Annual Percentage Rate (APR) was 36%.  Yes, that is not a typo.  Thirty-six percent.  Shylock had nothing on these vicious bastards.  That kind of rate should be illegal.  I know loan sharks who charge less.  But we’re not done.  The annual fee was $175.00 the first year, and $49.00 after that.  Plus, they also have a servicing fee of $14.50 a month (or $174.00 annually.)  So, by the time you get your card it will already have charges on it.  Isn’t that nice?

I checked further on First Premier, which shall henceforth be called by their proper name, Shysters, Inc.  They have a horrible reputation, and if you surf the internet for complaints, you can easily find them.  They are known for shoddy customer service, inflated charges, and issuing charges on other banks cards.  One complaint noted that a card from HSBC was charged by Shysters for undefined internet services, and when the wronged customer called Shysters they told him to write a letter to their security department, and could not help him over the phone.  Real class organization, this Shysters, Inc.

Furthermore, they were voted the worst credit card issuer in America, with a top-tier APR of 59.9 percent.  Again, that is not a typo.  And bankers wonder why they are pariahs in our society.  They also paid a $4 million dollar fine to the state of New York to settle a claim of shoddy business practices and hidden fees brought by Andrew Cuomo when he was Attorney General.  Need I go on?

So if you get a solicitation from Shysters, Inc, rip it up and put it where it belongs . . . in the trash.  Its bastards like these who will eventually bring down America.  They should all be arrested for fleecing the American public, but they won’t be touched.  The business of government is business, and the bigger the better.  As the tenth largest clearinghouse bank in the USA, I’m sure they have carte blanche to do as they see fit.  Proof of that is the 59.9% APR that would make most loan sharks blush.