They're scams. I get those all the time. My favorite is the lady with the British accent. If you ask her to stop calling they just hang up. It drives me crazy.

Here is a link that might be useful: scam

Yup, they are scams, drive me crazy too although I've never gotten a call from the woman with a British accent LOL.

Nanny, Please be careful. With all the crazy things happening in this world today you should not discuss any of your financial stuff with someone who calls you ever. If someone calls you with a business offer and you're interested, take down the name of the company, research the company to make sure it's legit and then you initiate a call to them to discuss what you're interested in. You just have no way of knowing who you're talking to otherwise.

I would definitely err on the side of caution. I believe you "chickened out" because your intuition was screaming bad idea. Never provide any incoming caller with financial/personal info, regardless of the name appearing on your caller ID (in the event you have that feature). I usually ask that a written offer/request be sent. Works like a charm. 99% of the time I hear, we don't/can't do that. At that point, we have nothing further to discuss. You also need to practice the same discretion when receiving email offers.

Many times the bank logos, etc. look exactly like your cardholder's registered logo. There are some very creative crooks out there that spam/scam for a living. Never click on the reply and provide personal information. Any legitimate offer will still be good in the time it takes you to make a telephone call to verify the email offer. This has happened to me so many times.

One rampant solicitation in our area are those callers purporting to be soliciting for the "police" this or that association. During one call, I was cursed out by the caller because I would not donate without a written solicitation. Having several family/friends that are in law enforcement, I know that these calls are typically scams. It is sad that our society has come to this. You want to be as generous as you can afford to be, but you need to protect your financial information and not give any type of donation via bank info or credit card number over the phone or internet.

Should you want to lower any interest rate, you can call your provider directly. The legitimate phone numbers appear on all bills (as required by law).

Oh my gosh, I was getting those calls repeatedly for a while. I could not get them to stop. They offer an "opt out" function and I tried that several times, but that didn't work.

As some point a Congressman went after these companies and it seemed to stop.

It's a scam.

I don't answer the phone if it's not a name or number I recognize. If it's a legitimate call they'll leave a message. I have zero tolerance for solicitation of any sort.

I get those calls all the time on my work cell phone. I tell them it's a government phone they're calling and they hang up immediately.

Used to get those car warranty calls constantly, but that finally stopped.

And those police solicitations...DH had one guy call him repeatedly cussing him out because he refused to buy their stupid tickets. He asked for written paperwork and they screamed at him too. Nuts.

Scam.

You Usually don't need to pay a fee to transfer credit card balances.

Here is a link that might be useful: Transfer CC balances

I have received two of those calls. They are a scam. The first, I had to push "1" to lower my calls. When I did the caller indicated I had called to lower my interest. I said "No, I did not call; I received a call". He hung up.

THe second time, I played along, and when they said they were offering to lower my rate, I said, "Oh, which card are you referring to - I have a Visa and a Mastercard". He said, "Oh, the one with the ________ balance." I said, "Ummm, I don't think I currently have a balance on either, I just paid them off; might have a minor charge currently." He hung up.

Tuesday

I usually never answer any number that I don't recognize, but this call came through right after I'd hung up with a legitimate call and I was sort of stuck. Then intrigued by the offer. Glad that I finally figured out it was too good to be true.

Thanks for your advice, everyone.

SCAM SCAM...eventually they ask for your credit card numbers. THEY HAVE NO STREET ADDRESS AND NO WAY TO HAVE YOU CALL THEM. The only recourse, I've found, is to report the number to the FTC. FIrst, register your number on the do not call list at http://www.donotcall.gov Once you have been registered, report each and every call, the date and time of call. It takes 2 minutes to do it. This company uses numbers in many, many area codes. I've googled at least 10 or more. All the same. I talked to the guy today and told him to take me off the list and he said I had to call my bank to request that. THIS IS ILLEGAL, people. According to donotcall.gov, You may file a complaint if you received an unwanted call after your number was on the National Registry for 31 days. You may also file a complaint if you received a call that used a recorded message instead of a live person (whether or not your number was on the Registry). AND I FIND THIS INTERESTING... "A consumer who receives a telemarketing call despite being on the registry will be able to file a complaint with the FTC, either online or by calling a toll-free number. Violators could be fined up to $16,000 per incident. "

Maybe I'm overly-paranoid, but I'd be afraid to even "press 1" if I received a call like that - and if I even answered in the first place. Like Natal, if it's not a caller ID that I instantly recognize, I don't feel compelled to answer the phone.

What's driving me insane right now is that over the past few years we have received calls for a "Maria Salazar", although we know of no such person, and it always sounds suspiciously like a debt collector calling. These calls have ramped up lately and we're getting more. We've tried telling the caller that no such person resides at our number - that they've got the wrong number - but there's always an air of disbelief in their response and they persist in calling. Seems to be several different companies calling (believe it's medical-related). Often we won't answer the phone if, as I said, the ID is not recognizable, but invariably they'll leave a recorded message, which means we have to slog through that in our voicemail. Ugh. I have no idea how to get these dorks to stop calling us, or even how/why they have our number associated with "Maria."

Julie, We have been on the donotcall national registry for well over a year or two - and rarely do get many unsolicited calls anymore, except for these that came in May.

Some of our regular credit card companies do call us from time to time, to offer special programs, etc., so I assumed that this caller was from one of those credit card companies that DO have our number on file. Obviously, this was an incorrect assumption. I didn't think to call the registry and complain, but I will make note of any more calls like this in the future and report them.

auntjen - our number was associated with someone who had a lot of credit trouble too. We received calls for her for years! If I told them it was a wrong number they usually just hung up and then I got another call a few days later. It wasn't until I took the time to explain that she either gave a fake number or that we got her old number that the calls finally stopped. It was very annoying. They always seemed to call when you're in the middle of something so you run for the phone only to have it be a bill collector!

Auntjen, I had a similar situation where bill collectors had my # for someone with a similar name who defaulted on a bunch of stuff I think. Finally, after years of frustration trying to make them understand it wasn't me, I just started saying, "Sorry, she died." The calls stopped.

olychick - I wish I had thought of that! LOL