Department store credit cards

[H.B.]

These are attractive because they give you 10-15% off your first purchase if you sign up for them.

The problem is they never can figure out the correct address to bill you, no matter how clearly you write or state it. You never get the bill and then they try to rack you up with late fees. A percentage of people won't dispute it, so that's how they make money off it immediately.

JC Penny - Six or seven weeks later, no bill. I have to look up their number on-line because they don't give you one. They sent the bill to another state. After multiple phone calls, all late charges and interest are taken off.

Boscovs - I give the clerk my license to write address down (to assure there are no mistakes reading handwriting). Five weeks later - no bill in the mail. The only number they give you is a privacy opt out number and there is NO listing on-line in Google.

The only option is to wait for the collector to call and have them send to the correct address. The PROBLEM is that I have ridiculous credit - over $100K in revolving credit lines with <4% utilization (soon to be zero) and don't wish to risk damaging that, but time is money and can't waste time trying to track these Mau Maus down to find where payment is supposed to be sent.

So it's Russian Roulette with these - do you want to save 10-15% right away but have a headache (and risk destroying your credit) because they never actually send you a bill?

[MikeTodd]

It sounds like a form of fraud. How do they get away with it?

[H.B.]

I would guess because maybe one in three don't dispute it. I know the store clerks get paid if you do a credit application (some ridiculously small amount).

It just seems like more than a coincidence that this happened twice to me with department credit cards yet with nothing else.