April 25, 2008 - If you are like many people, when you receive junk mail you simply throw it out without ever looking at it. Many people do this, even when they receive what appears to be junk from companies that they actually do business with. But if you are an Exxon Mobil credit card holder, throwing out your junk mail could be very costly. That's because they have started sending out checks that are blank but which draw against your credit card account. And if these checks get intercepted, or retrieved out of the trash, your next bill from them could be a real whopper!

The checks are not being included in the company's regular monthly bills. Instead, they arrive in a separate envelope that looks like junk mail. If you throw the checks out and you happen to have someone go rooting through your trash, you may very well become a fraud victim.

The checks are preprinted with a dollar amount. The one that was furnished to ACCESS is made out in the amount of $1,400. Once cashed, that amount would have been placed on the credit card balance of the card holder.

In addition to the amount of the check, the card holder will also be hit with a 3% service charge. In this case, that charge would have amounted to $42. This is over and above the quoted interest rate of 21% - which is well above market rates. Many credit cards offer similar cash advance options through checks and for promotional reasons will freeze the interest rate at less that 10%.

The letter accompanying the check comes with a fine print warning about interest rate increases too. If you are late on any of your payments, the interest rate can increase to the default rate of 25.24%.

Although the offer appears to be perfectly legal, it defies common sense. The way that the checks have been distributed, is bound to lead to problems for some Exxon Mobil card members. Beyond this, the interest rate charged is ridiculous, even for checks written against a credit card account.

ACCESS is advising its readers to open, or at the very least shred, any junk mail that you receive from Exxon Mobil. Although current credit card laws would protect you against any financial loss of more than $50, it would still be your responsibility to clear up any credit problems that could result from these checks falling into the wrong hands.

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