$20 Bonus for BankOne's First Protect Program

Contributed by mm | September 18, 2004 04:51 PM PST

BankOne is in the game of aggresively marketing its credit card insurance program. Like CitiBank, which sent me a $15 check to lure me into its Credit Protector program back in May, BankOne is now giving me a $20 one for its variation called First Protect. You can clearly feel a credit card war is heating up: I remember one year ago, the typical check amount is only $2.50 or $5.00.

The First Protect program is very close to Citi's Credit Protector program, both providing short-term relief in the events of job loss, disability, hospitalization, accidental death or other life events. First Protect is charging 79 cents for every $100 of average daily balance -- this is a bit different from Citi's Credit Protector, in which charge is based on the balance at the statement day.

If you recall, I have four credit card accounts with BankOne/FirstUSA. It happens that the $20 check is targeting one of my most infrequently used account. So I'll happily cash out this unexpected gift. I will still cancel within the first 30 days -- who knows there will not be another $100 or $150 worth of free lunch?

This post has 3 comments. Read and share your opinions.

Similar Posts

October 2004 Credit Score: TransUnion/659, Experian/744 (November 02, 2004)
October brought some positive changes to my credit score. The lagging score, reported by TransUnion (thru Providian) rose 24 points to 659. The score from Experian also improved 12 points and ended the month at 744. This brings the gap between the two numbers down ... Read

September 2004 Credit Score: TransUnion/635, Experian/732 (September 30, 2004)
Some of you asked me why I haven't posted my September credit score yet. I didn't post it earlier because I recently changed the source to get my score. As you might recall, I had been using Eloan's Credit Monitoring Service in the last 12 ... Read

Doubling Up Credit Card Rewards (September 13, 2004)
If you follow my gold credit card portfolio to get your share of $1,000 cashback rewards every year, you might notice the biggest bottleneck to squeeze even more cashback dollars is the caps put in the top two cards. Specifically, Citi® Dividend Platinum Select® Card ... Read

TrueEarnings: The Better Amex/CostCo Card (September 08, 2004)
If you are a Costco member and use the American Express/Costco Cash Rebate credit card, pick up this money saving idea from FatWallet forum: Amex and Costco are rolling out a new version of cash rebate credit card called TrueEarnings. Read

Read all 54 articles in the same category.

Comments

>>> Patty Gephart Commented on February 15, 2005

First Protect made unauthorized charges to my Bank One card for credit protection services I had never ordered verbally or in writing. I told "First Protect" to do an investigation and now they must provide me with a voice recording or photocopy of my signature authorizing these charges within 4-6 weeks. They'll either come up empty handed, or someone is going to get sued for identity theft. I reported this to the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau, the Credit Bureau, and Bank One. I also told "First Protect" to put a "do not solicit" order on my account. I recommend you do the same if this has happened to you.

>>> patrick Commented on March 18, 2005

Patty -

I had the same thing happen to me with First Protect, I'm not sure what to do to get them to stop this fraud.

Bank One must be providing them with our credit card number, I never sent it to first protect. I assume Bank one owns First Protect!

They called and wanted to know if I wanted more information, I told them yes, and asked if they would charge anything to my card and was told "no".

I don't see any complaints on the BBB site, though I'm not sure where to look. I also file a complaint on the FTC page.

>>> Sue D Commented on May 17, 2005

I am another one that just discovered charges to my card as well for First Protect. Unfortunetely, I didn't check my activity and didn't notice it until my account kept going over the it's balance limit. I hadn't charged anything so I couldn't figure it out until I checked the charges and saw this. I never authorized them to take out anything either. Where any of you able to get back your money?

Add Your Comments