PRISM/CBSD: what does it mean on my credit report?

I just received the same thing on my Trans Union report. Were your Macy's card accounts closed or just inactive? I ask because I have had accounts change hands before to a different company, is this any different?

THANK YOU to all of you for saving my sanity by posting this blog!!! I am with 51...WE NEED TO FILE A CLASS ACTION SUIT for causing all of this unnecessary stress. I called the number provided and the account was closed without giving my SSN...as I asked them to search for the account using my last name. Thank you!

This is completely insane!!!. I was notified about new accounts on my credit report. I just called them 1-866-510-2761 up and the reason for this showing up on your credit report (twice) is because Macy's wnet though a conversion of all their open accounts were converted. I closed mine 5 yrs ago!!! The operator was able to close the account and i requested a copy of that letter.

thanks to all who gave info on here as also called 1 866 510 2761 gave phone numb and closed account. it was macy's...lowerd my credit score also

These Posts helped me too. I had the same problem. New Citibank card showed up on my Credit report that was opened 09/07. Of course, I was suprised to see a new Credit card on my report that I did not authorize. Like everyone else, I am concerned about identity theft. Fortunately, I check my credit report frequently. The Citbank person I talked to at the number listed in the Posts below recognized my problem immediately and was really quite friendly and helpful. Also, I was able to remeber my old phone number so this helped in identifying the account and getting it closed. Thanks to everyone who contributed to these posts!

Thank you so much to Relieved for posting this information about the Macy's to Citibank transaction and contact phone number. I was very upset about getting notified by my credit monitoring service about this new account being opened in my name, and I thought it was identity theft. Thanks to your information, I made one phone call and got the problem resolved and my anxiety calmed in under 5 minutes. Thank you so much!!

I also received a message from truecredit withthe same isse and used the number listed above and they closed my account. Thanks to the person who found this number and all of you who gave your stories and instructions. it much appreciated!!! Account has been closed and will be receiving confirmation letter.
Thanks !!

CCSM SPECTRUM/CSBSD
I found your page when looking for the above
group of letters. I received an alert from my credit secure and had no idea what they were talking about.
Thank goodness for your page or I would not have been
able to figure this out. That said, because I was unwilling to give them my ss #, (after all it's possible they've already hurt my credit rating why would I trust them?) they would not tell anything about what they have done, but they are Citibank and they did say that I had a Macys account altho they must mean Filenes as I never had Macys. Now I must find a way to get rid of this quickly. Thanks for your help.

LETS BILL MACY'S FOR EVERYONES TIME TO RESOLVE THESE ISSUES.IM IN 4 4 HOURS AT $ 250.00 PER HOUR MY TIME.CAN WE CREATE A MAJOR LAWA SUIT?

It also works for department store cards that Macy's purchased...like Kauffman's which is what happened to us. Kauffmans to Macys to Citibank..OH my. Thank you for the number...1-866-510-2761.

i got the email this morning from equifax, called the number a hour later and killed it. They asked for the last 4 digits of my ss# and birthdate. What a scam.

Just called 1-866-510-2761 and with the eight digit card number any the last four numbers in my SS#, I was able to close the CitiBank Acct.

We too just went through the same thing. It was a dormant Foley's account acquired by Macy's which is issued by Citi. After a big panic attack we find out they "reopened" our account. Nice - not!

Thank you all for providing the phone number. I had the same issue where a new account was opened without my permission in Sep 2007 in PRISM/CBSD /// CITIBANK USA, NA/CCSMC-SPEC account. Found out by calling the 18665102761 number that both of the above accounts are one and the same. It is a citibank - MACYs account. Found out that they had automatically upgraded my CC account!. Apparently they claimed to have sent a letter stating the upgrade of an account that was long closed!. The letter supposedly claimed that my account would be automatically upgraded unless I declined the offer!!!. I was able to call upand cancel the new account... Thank you

A horrible scam to ruin your credit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They should be arrested and convicted for this fraud!!!!!!!!

Same story here. I just pulled my creditreport 20 minutes ago, reading through it and wondered when and with whom I opened an account with in september...thx to this forum I know its because of my Macy's Card.

Glad I googled this bullshit. I am fighting mad. And thanks to all you people for posting responses. Saved me alot of wasted time & frustration. I am in the same situation. First, a letter comes happily explaining my "new account" which I never opened & second, the Equifax alert. GRRRRRRRR....I'd like to ring some necks over at Macy's & Citibank. Total bullshit shady business practices. If in fact, my old Macy's account was transferred over...that damn letter I got should've stated that same fact.

I'll be on the phone in the a.m. chewing out some ****. I hope I get it resolved because I WILL NOT be providing any ss # info to these idiots.

[color=Red]****Adult term removed - Jason[/color]

So, is there anything we can do about this or did we sign some kind of fine print allowing macy's to sell our account when we applied for it?
Btw, why do some of u dont wanna give out ur SS# number to cancel the account?

Thanks all for the information - this just happened to me as well (old Macy's account). I called the number and all they needed was my (old) phone number. Can't believe they get away with this BS!! Hopefully, this is the last of it...

PRISM/CBSD means that a credit card you have been using has been transferred to CitiBank Mastercard or CitiCorp. What Citibank does is notify you through the mail of this transfer, and if you don't call them to indicate you do do not want their card, you automatically receive their Mastercard card in the mail.

Yes, it is a scam. Unfortunately, CitiBank is counting on you to NOT READ your junk mail carefully.

Here's what it says on your Experian report:

New Account xx/xx/07
PRISM/CBSD
PO BOX 6003
HAGERSTOWN MD, 217476003
Banking; New Bank/Credit

I did not receive the card CitiBank claimed they sent me. I called 1-800-950-5118 to cancel the card, to check to make sure the balance was still at zero, and to report the card as lost or stolen.

Does this BS negatively affect your credit score?

It dropped my score 10 points.

Same thing happened to me. I just closed the new card but I'm willing to join in with anybody that wants to investigate the legal aspects of all of this.

I mean, where does it stop. We're told that a credit card with a zero balance makes our credit score look better, but if we don't use the card, some other entity can work with the card issuer and we end up with a new credit card. I'm really irritated about this and I'm sure there has to be some action we can take.

Thanks to whoever posted that phone number. I saw the activity on my credit report and it was indeed CitiBank. The guy told me the card had not been activated yet. I told him my Macy's account had been closed for years and that I never authorized this new card. He closed the account- which is funny since he tried to explain I never really opened it! Regardless, this is a total scam and I'm calling BBB right now!

Just had the ccsnc spectrum/cbsd show up on my monitoring service also. Class action anyone? We can fight back

I too received a statement from TU about a new account, but I had also received this Citi card beforehand. On the Citi card letter, they have a toll-free cancel number which connects to an automated message and allows you to cancel; so they must know they are doing something shady...

I received a credit Alert email from PrivacyGuard that a new account was opened in my name. The account was CCSMC SPECTRUM/CBSD. I called 866-510-2761 and pressed # to bypass having to enter 16-digit account number. Customer Service rep told me Citibank has "taken over" Macy's accounts not used for last 2 to 4 years AND CONVERTED them to MasterCards. Amazing they are allowed to do this. I was able to cancel it over the phone.

Contact information:

U.S. Attorney General's Office
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
AskDOJ(at)usdoj.gov.

Citibank: 866-510-2761

Macy's: 1-800-289-6229

Google consumeraffairs.com and Macy's to get a good website with more information on fighting back.

Just got a call from a card holder asking this very same question..did a google search and got the answer...thanx

same thing happened here.
Great forum, it helped me resolve the issue. THANKS!!

This is Citigroup. I received the alert for the same reasons. I also received my new credit card in the mail. I was able to cancel the account by calling 1-800-432-0282.

the exact same thing happened to me this weekend. i found the prism/cbsd and CCSMC SPECTRUM posted as new accounts opened...what is going on. how can get rid of this....my credit score dropped by 20 points!!! insn't there any way to fight back...or get our credit scores back!!

Same thing happened to me.. Thank you for the number, - it was exactly what you said. - I cancelled the card immediately with the customer service rep.
I would absolutely join a class action lawsuit.
I guess we should thank Citibank for reporting to all three credit bureaus so we at least found out that the account was opened

Have you tried going on ine and filing a complaint eith the Federal Trade Connission and wit your state consumer protection division? This may help us all if nogh people take the time.

They also "upgraded" my Macy's account to the CitiMastercard which I discovered when I received the credit alert along with the notice that my FICO score had gone down 5 points. The first time I called they said that they couldn't find any record of the account. Nice. This time the lady I spoke with told me that they had pulled all the Macy's accounts with no activity for the previous 24 months and that I was "lucky" that they hadn't just closed my account as that would have been much worse on my credit.

Thanks all for posting the contact numbers etc.

Never again will I get another dept store card.

i AM disturbuting a charge. The sale i made was never complete.I would like two things 1.a copy of purchase and order 2. and a reciept that you delevered item to me. thank you Judy Downs acct. 7738139441685 :shock:

I just called this number 1866-233-4027 and canceled the card. I had opened a macey's account in 2000 and closed it several years! I printed out my credit report today and saw it on there, and it was reopened somehow an reinstated by Citibank. I can't believe they can do that. This what it said on my report: CITIBANK USA,NA/CCSMC-SPEC

PO Box 6003
Hagerstown, MD 217476003

Unfortunately I don't have the credit or any record of the card anywhere. So I had to give my social to close the account. This is completely unfair.

Thanks to all the info included on this site. I was able to take care of business expeditiously. The Citibank rep I talked with suggested that consumers cancel any dormant credit cards which may have been opened w/stores and are no longer used. Stores sell these cards (such as in this case) to major cards and you have the problem of these cards as a needless part of your credit history.

Hello everyone. I did some research and found out that the PRISM/CBSD on my credit report is from Radio Shack. It seems as if they changes from using VISA to using Mastercard and in most cases, raised your credit limit. In doing so, effected your credit and resulted in a "hit" . No worries though. Just call 1-866-510-2761 and they will assist you. Good luck....Eric[font=Arial][/font][color=DarkRed][/color][size=6][/size]

Hello everyone. I did some research and found out that the PRISM/CBSD on my credit report is from Radio Shack. It seems as if they changes from using VISA to using Mastercard and in most cases, raised your credit limit. In doing so, effected your credit and resulted in a "hit" . No worries though. Just call 1-866-510-2761 and they will assist you. Good luck....Eric

Thanks for all the info ... this just happened to me today 6/27/08 and it was for Radio Shack. I appreciated the 1-866-2761 telephone number, because Citi/Mastercard could not help with this.

Just wanted to reply. I recently had the same thing happen to me, so I called the number listed below and they told me that this new line of credit was opened b/c I already had one of their cards and was in good standing. But, they cancelled it immediately, thank god.

This is another way for credit card companies to get your business and at the same time give you the business! I canceled immediately upon seeing the information on my report. The rep at citibank stated "a mailing was sent out several months back" I say PHOOEY on that and chalk that up to some script he was reading off of. Dormant accounts cannot be switched at whim. The proper way is that the credit card company sends you a notice of cancellation on a card that has been dormant for some time or as my Discover card sent me a notice to use it or lose it. I opt'd to lose it.

I called 866-510-2761 and as stated before bypassed the account info request by hitting the #. After identifying myself the rep canceled the card.

This is another way for credit card companies to get your business and at the same time give you the business! I canceled immediately upon seeing the information on my report. The rep at citibank stated "a mailing was sent out several months back" I say PHOOEY on that and chalk that up to some script he was reading off of. Dormant accounts cannot be switched at whim. The proper way is that the credit card company sends you a notice of cancellation on a card that has been dormant for some time or as my Discover card sent me a notice to use it or lose it. I opt'd to lose it.

I called 866-510-2761 and as stated before bypassed the account info request by hitting the #. After identifying myself the rep canceled the card.

Thaks SO much for this forum, rarely read, never respond but in this case I just had to say, THANKS! Received these same type of entries on my credit report, address only, no numbers to call.

Thanks to this thread was able to easily track down a number, 1-866-510-2761, to contact CITI and determine the nature of the issue. Issue resolved, account closed.

Thanks again for doing all the legwork, greatly appreciated.

Similar story here only difference is when I got the letter saying "your card will be replaced with new one", I called and opted out, yet they issued a new credit card without replacing the old one. I found this post and called 866-510-2761. Customer service at is not very good. Although at first they accepted their mistake and said they will remove my account and send a letter, but the letter simply said 'on your request your account is closed and has zero balance and we will notify credit bureaus to update status'. Nowhere in the letter it say it was opened in error. I needed the letter to do credit re-scoring and i can't use the one they sent because it would further lower my score unless they admit their mistake. Opening and closing account cost you more points. Therefore I requested them to send new letter which they refuse.

Finally I got help from the number off my regular credit card which was being replaced. 800-950-5114. Not directly...though, I requested to transfer to manager and then she told me the whole story. She admited when I told her the storied on this blog and then she said they got a memo stating many PRISM and SPECTRUM account are created in error even when customers opted out, and they have instructions to removed these account from credit file instead of just showing as closed status for 7 years. She promised to send a letter stating it was their mistake.....I hope she keep her promise.

Similar story here only difference is when I got the letter saying "your card will be replaced with new one", I called and opted out, yet they issued a new credit card without replacing the old one. I found this post and called 866-510-2761. Customer service at is not very good. Although at first they accepted their mistake and said they will remove my account and send a letter, but the letter simply said 'on your request your account is closed and has zero balance and we will notify credit bureaus to update status'. Nowhere in the letter it say it was opened in error. I needed the letter to do credit re-scoring and i can't use the one they sent because it would further lower my score unless they admit their mistake. Opening and closing account cost you more points. Therefore I requested them to send new letter which they refuse.

Finally I got help from the number off my regular credit card which was being replaced. 800-950-5114. Not directly...though, I requested to transfer to manager and then she told me the whole story. She admited when I told her the storied on this blog and then she said they got a memo stating many PRISM and SPECTRUM account are created in error even when customers opted out, and they have instructions to removed these account from credit file instead of just showing as closed status for 7 years. She promised to send a letter stating it was their mistake.....I hope she keep her promise.

Similar story here only difference is when I got the letter saying "your card will be replaced with new one", I called and opted out, yet they issued a new credit card without replacing the old one. I found this post and called 866-510-2761. Customer service at is not very good. Although at first they accepted their mistake and said they will remove my account and send a letter, but the letter simply said 'on your request your account is closed and has zero balance and we will notify credit bureaus to update status'. Nowhere in the letter it say it was opened in error. I needed the letter to do credit re-scoring and i can't use the one they sent because it would further lower my score unless they admit their mistake. Opening and closing account cost you more points. Therefore I requested them to send new letter which they refuse.

Finally I got help from the number off my regular credit card which was being replaced. 800-950-5114. Not directly...though, I requested to transfer to manager and then she told me the whole story. She admited when I told her the storied on this blog and then she said they got a memo stating many PRISM and SPECTRUM account are created in error even when customers opted out, and they have instructions to removed these account from credit file instead of just showing as closed status for 7 years. She promised to send a letter stating it was their mistake.....I hope she keep her promise.

If you think calling 866-510-2761 to close the account is best thing to do then you are wrong. You need to ask them to DELETE this account from credit file. Opening a new account cost you points. and closing it cost further points. The account will keep in you report for next several years. So ask them to remove this account completely.

After calling 866-510-2761, I was told that there was nothing showing up under my SS#. After a frustrating conversation with the "associate"... and you can leave out the "ociate", I asked to speak to a Supervisor who was helpful and friendly and gave me information that it "may be" that it was an account transferred to a card that was in active. He then transferred me to the "private" company as they would have access about that account. I then spoke to another "Ass..." who was even more frustrating and argumentative and told me that the only thing she could do was "close" the account, she could not "remove" it -- even after I explained that this was negatively affecting my credit history. I asked to speak to her manager who, after I camly explained that I wanted the account removed from, she said no problem, and without hesitating. I also asked to receive a letter confirming that the account would be removed and she said I should have it within 7 days. Unfortunately, you have to be persistent and not accept what the Ass...es are saying (they train them that way). Good Luck out there! (BTW... I have 2 more that I will have to clean up but I don't have any account numbers "yet".