GE Money Bank cheats your average Joe.
My story is very much the same. With only $1,300 remaining on a $12,500 flat screen TV-stereo system 16 month 0% pay back purchase, and 3 weeks and one last payment shy of the promotional due date, GE Money Bank cancels the promotion purchase date and assesses my account with a $3,500 finance charge! Three to four phone calls to India, then 4-5 calls to their office in Kettering Ohio was the most futile of experiences. No one individual, save one woman who was willing to half the charges, demonstrated any concern for a customer, with excellent credit, who grossly overpaid many monthly minimums, and who was to pay off the balance 2 weeks before the promotional due date. According to them I was 61 days delinquent on my 15th payment to them. Mind you, the 16th payment statement said nothing of the sort, and again as I have done many times before, I overpaid the minimum payment (of $159) with an online transfer of $1,363.45. Then the final statement arrives 3 weeks prior to the promotional due date announcing the cancellation and the assessment of the $3,500 finance charges. Unbelievable.
Ultimately I sent a letter to their El Paso, Texas office explaining the situation, disputing the finance charges, and hoping that, unlike the 9 to 10 very uncaring brick wall telephone conversations I have had with GE Customer Service, I would get some where, anywhere. The reply was rote, it reiterated the 61 day delinquency, and said if I have further questions to call Customer Service. Again, unbelievable.
What is very interesting is that 61 day delinquency did occur, but without me ever receiving a 15th monthly statement in the mail ( I am to visit my local post office to see if any delivery failures occurred.) I assumed that no bill was sent because of nearing the end of the promotional due date, that because I overpaid on the account on many occasions, and the fact that I made 2 separate payments on the 14th statement ($567 in excess of the minimum) that GE purposely delayed the final billing. Boy was I wrong! Now, I think it was a conniving maneuver on their part to penalize me for skipping a monthly minimum payment, just before I could payoff the 0% debt. I keep meticulous records and file all my statements. I never received a statement during the 61 day delinquency, and according to my last phone conversation with Customer Service they made 29 phone call attempts to reach me at home and work to notify me of the lapse in payment, none of which I ever received.
Where does an average Joe like me go from here? I am so bewildered and frustrated by GE Money Bank's disregard for any negotiation or leniency, not to mention the impending $3,5oo finance charge that I have to pay on a successful paid in full promotional purchase. I plan to submit my complaint to the Maryland State's Attorney office. But, for me and all the other average hard working people out there getting screwed by GE Money Bank, I wish there was an attorney willing to take on the surreptitious and unscrupulous dealings of such a rotten and unjust corporation.
Jeff, your plight is mine (see GE Money Bank cheats your average Joe). Currently the State Attorney's Office of Maryland has forwarded my case against GE Money Bank to the Office of Thrift Supervision in New Jersey. I paid off my bill in total within the promotional time period, then caved in and paid over $3,600 in finance charges after 20 or so relentless phone calls to an inhumane and uncaring GEMB Consumer Department. GEMB is a global sublending institution that surreptitiously exploits average hard working people. Somehow their practices need to change. Godspeed.
