Applied Card, Attorney General Play Chicken with 600 Jobs

The last thing West Virginia needs right now is a game of chicken involving 600 good-paying jobs.

But it appears as if that’s what’s happening in Huntington, where Applied Card Systems says it is moving that number of jobs out of the city the middle of next year because the West Virginia Attorney General’s Office has filed a lawsuit against Applied Card and its parent company, Cross Country bank, for “predatory lending practices.”

Applied Card has responded that Attorney General Darrell McGraw wants it to pay his office $2.5 million in cash, and has hired outside lawyers to pursue the case.

These lawyers, according to Applied Card, aren’t interested in their business practices. All they want is the money.

Thus, the case has left the courtroom and has been taken to the media.

Applied Card issues credit to folks who don’t have the best credit records. The West Virginia attorney general and attorneys general in other states say that Applied Card has used strong-arm tactics to get their money from debtors.

The attorney general says collectors make offensive, abusive and profane remarks to the borrowers they call. There’s even a suggestion that money is taken from their bank accounts without their knowledge.

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