Next time, make your own Credit Card contract

This one sounds a bit like fraud to me...

(not a lawyer though.. so I guess I should not have opinions about such things)

That was my first thought too, but I read a couple other sites that gave some legal opinions and their opinion was that it's not fraud because he gave them the contract to read before they signed it.  They chose not to read it and signed it which was there fault and it is legally binding.

Where fraud would kick in was if he were to change the contract after they signed it and then tried to enforce it.

The other interesting part is what jury on earth would rule in favor of the credit card company.  lol

Obviously I'm not a lawyer either, but I think he's got a good chance at winning.

I just re-read the article.  He actually already won in court.  He's now suing them again.

Earlier this week a Russian judge ruled in Mr Argakov's favour. Tinkoff had signed the contract and was legally bound to it. Mr Argakov was only ordered to pay an outstanding balance of 19,000 rubles (£371).

"They signed the documents without looking. They said what usually their borrowers say in court: 'We have not read it',” said Mr Mikhalevich.

Again, not a lawyer. and of course this is Russian not the US.

But it feels fishy that one could get an credit card offer, change the conditions without properly notifying the offerer, done so carefully that the lender didn't notice, and then that be.. legal. 

It is kinda funny though...

I'm not a big fan of credit card companies. 

lol, yeah that's my interest in this whole thing.  

Even if it were fraud and in America, I bet there's a high probability of the dude winning  purely because everyone in the jury would want to screw the CC company.  lol

Without properly notifying them?  It's a brand new contract.  They should read a contract before they sign it, just as the he was expected to.  Is it dirty?  It probably is, but I don't think that's fraud.  Fraud would be him altering after they signed it.

Yeah, people change contracts all the time and resubmit them until both parties agree and sign.  Once both parties agree, it's binding. 

I LOVE this:  "They signed the documents without looking. They said what usually their borrowers say in court: 'We have not read it',” said Mr Mikhalevich.

It's a good lesson.

I think it's funny that many of you find it funny.  I mean...it is a bit comical, but nobody here should be glad he won his suit unless you want your credit card fees to go up even more.  Now, it's highly unlikely that any of you have a Tinkoff credit card, but the people that do are the ones paying the suit.  Nobody working for Tinkoff is taking a pay cut for this, and it will fall under an expense line that will mean costs will go up to their customers to compensate it. 

As a carry over to other banks and CC issuers, if this lawsuit would have been upheld in the US, then now all US CC issuers need to protect themselves against similar actions.  Maybe they need to hire lawyers and draft up a new application that clearly states it cannot be altered.  There is a cost to that...in lawyer fees as well as reprinting all the existing inventory of applications that will basicaly be shredded.  Again...guess who eats that cost in the long run?

I find it a little interesting about how people despise CC companies so much.  If you don't like credit cards...don't use them.  Carry cash around with you at all times.  Problem solved.  If you want the convienence of not having to carry around cash, and then not paying the bank back in full at the end of the month...well crap...what do you expect.  Banks don't do stuff for free.

You're right about the costs going back to the consumer, good point. Just like anything in our litigious society.

I am not interested enough to find and read a current credit contract with a popular US company, say Capital One, but I would be very surprised if it can be changed or if they would even consider looking at changes. I attended a seminar recently that included, among other things, contract law. One of the teacher/attorneys said that probably the only contract he'd signed that he had NOT changed recently was for his credit card.  I suspect they already have this wrapped up.   I suspect they'd just throw it away.

I do take issue with this guy changing it in such a way that allows him to basically steal money.

On the other hand, if someone changed a contract to protect their rights (perhaps unfair overage fees) then I applaud them for sticking up for themselves.  It's easy to have a happy relationship with your credit card company if you do everything right, the payment never gets "lost in the mail", your identity isn't stolen, etc.

Interesting to ponder, I'm going to bring this up next time I am looking for a conversation with friends.

As an aside, there are some common clauses in contracts that a person should look at and they often don't.  A business contract is always written in the best interests of the company writing it.

For instance, if there's a dispute have you signed away your right to a trial?  (binding arbitration)

Or, if there is a trial, where will it be?  Just because you are in California doesn't mean it will be there, it might be in NY. Can you afford to be in NY for a trial?

I work in a library and so I often get contracts for things that are used by people I don't know/many never encounter.  It would be standard in a contract for me to accept responsibility for their misuse, but I can't possible do that.  That needs to be struck out/changed.

Ah, contract law is so stimulating!

def: Wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain.

I'd say what he did was deceptive.. 

I said it was dirty, but it isn't fraud in the legal sense.

Wait.. but you Expect changes to be made.. 

You are looking for them.. and that's, I'm thinking the usual procedure within your negotiations...

I'm not saying that the company wasn't dumb.. but, 

The procedure for filling out a credit card application is not usually done by rewording the document.

How can you compare your two situations? 

And I have no idea what is considered "fraud" in the legal sense in Russia... Is that a universal term? 

That was one of my thoughts as well.  I know in the US we typically just go online to digitally sign CC applications.  Even if I signed a contract and sent it in, I would never expect them to send me a copy back that was counter signed.

I just received an Amex application in the email last night.  I'm going to read through it tonight.  I'm curious if they have a statement about "no alterations" in the contract.

I saw one credit card agreement which required any modifiers to payments (i.e. "paid in full') to be sent to a different address than regular payments or else the cc company would not be bound by those added terms.  I suspect the offer letter in the mail has something similar.  

I don't know about Russian cc companies, but it is tough to get one over on a US company.  I am sure many people have tried similar things in the US.