Manage Your Money

What's That Charge on Your Credit Card Bill?

July 14, 2008

In the last 12 months BBB has received nearly 1,800 complaints from consumers who noticed unusual charges on their credit cards. The complaints are against Affinion Group, an affinity-marketing company formerly known as Trilegiant. Most complainants say that they discovered unexpected credit card charges for membership services such as "Shoppers Advantage," "Privacy Guard" or "Great Fun." Charges ranged from $12 to as much as $59.99 per month. Some complainants had been charged by Affinion Group every month for several years, ultimately paying hundreds of dollars for services they never took advantage of or even realized they were signed up for.

Many customers got signed up for Affinion's programs without even providing their credit card information directly to the company. Typically, consumers bought items online—such as movie or airline tickets—from a reputable Web site, and then clicked on a pop-up ad or chat box offering an incentive such as a $20 rebate card or 10% savings. Complainants allege that they were then signed up for unwanted services, even if they ultimately declined the offers. Affinion Group was able to access their credit card information through an agreement with the Web merchant to automatically transfer consumer credit information when the customer clicked on the pop-up ad or chat box.

BBB has also received complaints from consumers who did knowingly sign up for the memberships or services offered by Affinion—with the promise that they could cancel after a month and pay nothing—but then never received the promised rebate cards or other incentives, or were given the runaround when they tried to cancel their membership.

In 2006, 16 state Attorneys General reached a settlement with Trilegiant Corp. and Chase Bank totaling $14.5 million, to resolve allegations that the two companies partnered to deceive consumers into paying for membership programs. According to BBB records, Trilegiant is now doing business as Affinion Group—but it's the same business and same people continuing their pattern of misleading consumers by not making it clear when a consumer has purchased something.

For more information on Affinion Group and to see the more than 50 names the company is doing business under, see the BBB Reliability Report™.