Complain about a product or service

GE Money Bank

Michael of West Hollywood, CA July 6, 2009

I am under wage garnishment from the State of California due to an overpayment of benefits they extended to me, which I have been paying back monthly for over 2 years now. After the more serious part of the economic crisis hit California this spring, the department called in the entire amount of the balance leftover, in the form of a wage garnishment.

When I questioned them about it, their response was that I had missed 2 payments over seven months prior to the current date. I asked them why they would consider that a reason to garnish my wages when since that time, I'd been paying them the agreed-upon amount, monthly.

A wage garnishment is reserved for cases when the customer refuses to pay anything, or cannot be located. Also, it would seem that the interest fees they were charging were intended for that purpose. They had no response to any of that, and instead said the agreement was now broken and that was it. In effect they were looking for a way to collect the entire amount of the loan as quickly as they could. I objected to the amount of money they were taking out and formally filed a claim for exemption, due to my cost of living expenses. They relented and offered to take out 200 less per check, which was more acceptable to me.

The monies past that amount which the state had already taken out of my checks will be retroactively paid back to me, by the middle of July. Until that time, I needed to make arrangements with my creditors (utilities, etc.). Southern California Edison, Sprint, and Time Warner Cable were all very willing to extend my due dates to the end of the month, with no added late fee.

I called GE Money Bank and explained the situation to a representative. I informed him that I would be able to pay half this month's balance but could resume the normal payment schedule on the next cycle. The gentleman I spoke with said that would be fine, entered the conversation into the account notes, and told me that it would not affect my account. We hung up and the next day I made the payment as agreed.

Three days later the company was calling my phone three times daily. When I picked up the third time wondering what this was about, I was shocked to find out that the arrangement I had made was null and void and that they did not understand why the rep I spoke with did not tell me differently. The only "accommodation" they were willing to offer me, even after I'd escalated the call, was a "hardship" program - which still would have required me to pay the entire past due balance upfront before admittance.

I explained to both representatives I spoke with that this was not the issue and that I did not need a hardship program. I only needed at best an extension on the due date for the current month's balance, although since this is a "revolving account", I would have actually hoped the company would allow me to make the partial payment and resume full payments on the next cycle. But either way, no one would budge.

In this time of economic uncertainty, when most advisers suggest attempting to negotiate financial difficulties with creditors, it is unfortunate that GE Money Bank is unwilling to comply with its customers. I recommend NEVER signing a contract with this company, as months down the road, your debt will begin to stack against your favor and into the hands of this greedy institution. Not only do they charge hefty interest and late fees (30 late fees), but as I've detailed above, they will not work with you when you experience even a temporary setback. Disgusting.

Brian of Blacklick, OH September 6, 2009

Back in Feb. we realized that we were being buried by credit card payments. We contacted GE Money Bank to see if there was anything they could do to help. Until then we had been able to make our payments. They said that because we were making regular payments there was nothing they could do. They then suggested we stop making payments until we qualified for the hardship program.

We finally qualified in July. Since then we have made the regularly requested monthly payments which is a great financial struggle. We are then called up to 5 times a day and requested to pay more. My Husband and I have tried to speak to several people concerning the number of calls.

Today 9/06/2009 we spoke with an employee and a manager about the calls only to be told there were no notations of any previous discussions about the number of calls. This has been going on for more than 3 months. We are called all hours of the day, starting at the open of business until after 9pm. Every Time we try to address it the person on the other line acts as if this is the first they heard of it and threaten to remove us from the program if we don't make an additional payment.

We have paid them monthly as agreed upon. In the letter that tells us we qualify it simply states to make the 1 monthly required payment as we have done. We believe we are being harassed for additional payments and threatened when we can't come up with an additional payment. We feel we have done all we can to inform them of the issues at hand and are not getting anywhere. This complaint is used as a last resort.

Leigh-Ann of Rainier, OR September 5, 2009

As stated in my previous complaint, I felt I was being unfairly charged for a "late fee". They did infact remove my late fee of 39.00 from my account, but upon further investigation, They have now, in fact, charged my account 15.00, (and I quote from Justin, an "acceleration specialist") "For the act of incurring a late charge". Now, here comes the tricky part: In August of 09, when making payments online, they did NOT at that time have a "calendar" in which you had to pick a payment date from. So by all rights, my payment, that was payed ON THE DUE DATE should have not incurred a late fee. They accepted my payment. As of September 09, they have implemented a "calendar" in which to pick a pay date, and in fact, the calendar will not let you make payments on Saturday's or Sunday's. At the time of my payment, they did not have this calendar!

Also, the 15.00 charge for "Incurring a late fee" is now charged as a "Purchase", which in turn, has a higher interest rate! On no portion of my statement does it say that I am purchasing an "Act of incurring a late fee". Now, by LAW, credit card companies must inform you of any policy changes PRIOR to your next billing date. GE Money Bank did no such requirements. And last, but not least, I was reading through their web site in the FAQ's category. I came upon "auto" pay policies. They state, they will take out your payment on the due date.... what if that due date fall's on a Saturday or Sunday? Do the auto people folks rack up late fee's most every month? I would look for this on your statements folks!!

I was told directly, by JUSTIN, that they only accept payments Monday through Friday's. If so, why then, when I made my payment on 8-8-09 (a Saturday), did they accept it? Then they went on to "POST" my payment on 8-9-09 (a Sunday) to make me a day late, and on a weekend? Thought they didn't accept payment's on weekend's... hummmm. *** PLEASE, IF THERE ARE ANY LAWYER'S OUT THERE, LOOK AT WHAT GE MONEY BANK IS DOING!!! *** We, the people, need a savvy lawyer to file a class action suite on this company!! There are THOUSAND'S of people, just like me, that are being taken advantage of!! PLEASE STAND UP FOR US!!

Leigh-Ann of Rainier, OR September 5, 2009

Like most folks, I didn't have dental insurance when I really needed it. I found an add in the yellow pages of dentists whom you could get credit through. I was accepted by GE Money Bank, for their Care Credit credit card. I had no complaints about GE/Care Credit until August of 09. My monthly bill came, and I see they are charging me a 39.99 late fee.

I called them up, and asked why. (I pay my bills on line and have proof of when they are paid.) I say, I paid my bill on the due date, why the late fee? They told me that the due date does not matter if that due date falls on a Saturday or Sunday! That I needed to pay my bill Monday thru Friday. I told them I had never received notice of this policy change. They asked me how I paid my monthly bills, I told them that I pay on line. They say, it's stated on our web site that payments are only accepted Monday through Friday's.

I say ok then, but isn't it the LAW to inform customers of policy changes through the mail prior to the due date, and what if I had made my payments through the mail, would I have had notice then? She said yes. LIER. On my monthly bill it states VERY CLEARLY "Payment due by 5pm Eastern on the date due" in big bold lettering! I did not point that out, as they said they would remove the late fee. Great, all is as should be.

I just received my September bill. It show's my credit of 39.99, but now they want a minimum payment of 91.00. My usual payment is 76.00 per month. I go through my bill, all the figures add up correctly, so why the 15 dollar difference? So once again I call customer service. They send me over to an "EXSCALATION SPECIALIST" named JUSTIN. JUSTIN is a very NASTY little man. VERY rude, and acted like HE wanted to fight.

JUSTIN told me that the 15.00 charge was for "THE ACT OF INCURRING A LATE CHARGE". I said hummm, nowhere on my bill does it state that I am getting charged for that "Act of incurring a late charge", the only thing I see is that my monthly payment went from 76.00 to 91.00. I then asked whom I should call on Tuesday. JUSTIN ask's why? I said that I wanted to speak with someone "higher up". JUSTIN then said, "THERE IS NO ONE HIGHER UP THAN ME" and that "THERE WAS NO WAY I WOULD WIN THIS FIGHT".

Little does JUSTIN or GE MONEY BANK know! I'm like a dog with a bone and I won't give up this fight without a win! I intend to write my state represenatives, the Better Business Bureau, and President Obama! I also intend to write every consumer rip off web site I can find to voice my opinion about the unfair practices of GE Money Bank. Good luck to us all! We will need it in our fights against GREEDY CORPORATE RIP OFF'S! POWER TO THE PEOPLE, WE'RE SICK OF BEING RIPPED OFF!

Dennis of Orange, CA September 3, 2009

I purchased a pair of glasses from Lenscrafters and opened an account with them and GE Money Bank. I paid 100.00 down and the rest was financed. I was forced to go with a bill consolidation program and gave them the amount of balance. I know that the balance was 300.00 but GE told them it was over 900.00!!! I have written them and have not received any answers to my letters asking for an explanation. Also the consolidation company had been making payments to them and these were never applied to the account. I want to know what GE did with the money that was paid to them already and want my balance back down to the 300.00 My credit is already shot and I've lost my place to live and have nothing of value, no job and am receiving my mail at a friends house because I don't have a place of my own. I refuse to pay that amount they gave as a balance and want to know where the money went that was already paid to GE. The consolidation company has records of the payments on record.

Michelle of Superior, WI July 1, 2009

2 years ago my 2 year old son needed teeth removed. I have very good insurance but my portion was still a large amount of money so my dentist suggested I apply for Care Credit. I did and with my very poor credit history they denied me. I turned to my sister inlaw as a co signer and was given a card with a 5300.00 credit limit. After about a year I also needed extensive dental work and had paid off my balance without ever being late. In that year I had paid off some very large bills and raised my credit score quite a bit.

Care Credit reran my credit and lowered my limit due to a loan I had taken out to purchase my vehicle, which I understood being that I now had another bill. I went ahead and had my dental work done and my bill was about 2700.00. I went with a longer promo being that I planned on paying it in full come tax time, again I was never late and always payed more then my minimum balance due.

In April 09, Like planned I payed off my balance of 2500.00. Being that my dental work had to be done in 2 stages and I had payed the first part off I went in for my final appointment. I charged 570.00 to my card. At that point I was very pleased with Care Credit. About a month later my fiance had needed to make an emergency appointment and we used another 200.00 to get his partial fixed. Still never been late and always payed more then minimum due. A couple of months went by and was making a payment when I noticed that my credit limit showed 0. It kinda confused me because just a few months prior they sent me the letter explaining why they had lowered my limit to 3300.00 due to them rerunning my credit.

So I called the customer service number to see why it was showing that I had a 0 credit limit now. The person I spoke to first told me that my account had been closed. When I asked why they said they couldn't tell me why just that it was closed. So of course as anybody would I asked if I could speak to someone who could explain to me why. They told me there was nobody that I could speak with.

I being a manager know better then this so I asked again but this time I asked to speak to their supervisor. When the supervisor took my call I asked if he could help me understand why my account was closed after almost 2 years of never being late and paying by balance off early? He explained "that due to the economy being the way it is, they had changed their criteria on who they give credit to,and after they reran my credit again I do not meet the new criteria." Now this didn't really make sence to me being that my credit was very poor when they first gave me a 5,000.00 credit limit with my cosigner.

And since then have raised my credit score almost 200 points by paying off old bills and keeping up with current ones. I explained that I could understand the new criteria for someone who is maybe applying for a new account, but to completly close one that has a perfect standing with them for over 2 years didn't make much sence to me. I then asked if this was going to show up on my credit report? He said "of course, it will show up as account closed due to creditor". I have to say that was when I got a little angry. i explained to him that I had worked very hard for the last 2 years repairing my credit and that they had no right to put that on my report when I had done nothing wrong.

I then asked if it would show up on my cosigners report as well? He said again " Of course it will." I have to say I was shocked at this. I explained to him that I had done nothing wrong in the first place for them to close my account but to put that kinda mark on her credit report let alone mine was not right and that I did not want them to report that to the credit agencies. He said that they have to. I am sure there are many other people out there that know how hard it is to fix bad credit, and I have worked very hard to fix it, and for these people to put another bad mark on my report and my cosigners report when I had nothing wrong can't be right. Is there anyone that can help?

Tamara of Cross, SC September 3, 2009

In Aug. on 8-3-09 I made a payment on account. Recieved a confirmation number and also a letter in mail that it was made. On 8-20-09 i received a call that it was not made and past due. After checking with my bank to make sure it had not been taken out, i paid again. During that day i received three calls about my account. I guess no one there knows how to read notes. When my Sept. statement came it showed that my payment for Sept as 117.00 , it is around that each month. I'm never late and always try to pay more on this account. But when i called in payment we went all the way through until we got to confirmation number then the lady tells me that my payment is not 117.00 it's 159.00. They were to take off all late fees and like i said i'm always on time with my payment. It was there fault that payment was not taken.

Eric of Yardville, NJ July 2, 2009

I contacted GE Money Bank in the hopes of achieving a mutual agreement on a debt settlement. After I explained the severe financial hardships that my family is suffering through, GE Money Bank agreed to a full and final settlement. On May 29, 2009 I submitted my final payment and on June 6, 2009 GE Money Bank cashed the check that I had sent.

When I reviewed my account, I saw that GE applied my payment as only a partial payment to my balance instead of the agreed upon full and final settlement of this account. I am requesting that, in accordance with the accepted terms that this payment was made under, that this account be reported to all credit agencies as closed and satisfied in full and to receive a letter stating that the account is paid in full with my credit in good standing.

Maureen of Converse , TX September 2, 2009

My daughter had to have oral surgery, the Dr office was very nice, Dr very good, we received price of surgery before hand, roughly 1900, we were told they would work with us,they had a plan called care credit that would cover the cost... we applied... daughter was in chair and had already been numbed up... dr walks out of room when told by employee we needed a co-signer for care credit due to our credit.. fine, called someone, they agreed... anyway, we payed every month... could not get it paid before the six months.. but we have paid for the price of the surgery... but we still have a balance of 2,775.82 !!! due to the intrest!! we can never get out from under this. we live on a fixed income, husband is disabled as is my daughter..we initally started with a 5,ooo limit, when i had an emergency impacted tooth, I found out that care credit canceled my credit, I had to pay 240 to have a tooth pulled. i feel like they are a scam and taking advantage of people who do not have med or den insurance.. the interest alone is killing us, When i speak to GE money bank on the phone they are extremely rude and un caring, so is care credit, Husband tried to use card for eye glasess, the store said they do not except this card, but they charged it anyway... that was an addtional expense of 38 .. I need help to get out from under this nightmare.. we can not pay this, we would have been better off making payments to the Dentist, if they would have let us, they inssited on care credit, and how wonderful it was....Help!! They are a scam!!!

linda of wharton, NJ September 1, 2009

they over charged me a late fee for 39.99 on my august bill ,it was paid 08/14/09 and due on 08/15/09 and charged me 39.99 on 08/16/09 for this fee and said i paid on 08/17/09 ...ridiculous i have my bank statement.i want them to credit me 39.99 back they get enough money from the interest they over charge

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