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Had a lawn company send me and estimate for a yearly service which seemed reasonable. I called them to sign up and they pulled the old Bait & Switch; "Oh that is a computer generated mail listing, I'm looking the address up here and it looks like it's gonna be..." comes up with a figure almost twice the original amount.

Really, is it any different than a Credit Card offering a certain rate then trying to charge a different rate once you get the card or a contractor writing an estimate up then trying to charge more once the work is completed?

Had a lawn company send me and estimate for a yearly service which seemed reasonable. I called them to sign up and they pulled the old Bait & Switch; "Oh that is a computer generated mail listing, I'm looking the address up here and it looks like it's gonna be..." comes up with a figure almost twice the original amount. Really, is it any different than a Credit Card offering a certain rate then trying to charge a different rate once you get the card or a contractor writing an estimate up then trying to charge more once the work is completed?

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[–] • 3 pts

A CC company does not send estimates for interest rates that I'm aware of.

They actually sort of do. They will promo that they have a low interest rate but that is the lowest rate they offer based on perfect credit scores and reports. You will often see something like "Low 3.99% APR*" where the * has a fine print note that says something to the effect of that rate being for preferred credit customers and all other customers will have a higher rate. It's not really a bait-and-switch, but it is still a trick because they will only give the advertised low rate to a very small number of eligible customers with perfect credit. This also applies to car interest rates and leases.

[–] [deleted] • 2 pts

You are right, CC companies and loan adverts usually include the "for well qualified" as a stipulation. Most mailings that I've gotten from CC companies were more targeted but I'm sure the fine print was still there.