A Response From GE Capital
This response to my original letter came in two parts, the first an unsigned, error-riddled missive from an unknown service representative. It is fortunate for them (and not out of character) that the second letter arrived first.
January 21, 2003
Dear Mr. LeCour:
Thank you for your inquiry of January 15, 2003, concerning Mrs. Care Credit account.
Unfortunately, we are unable to address your concerns concerning her account, since you are not a signer on the account. The account is an individual account in Kimberly LeCour name only.
In order for the concerns to be address, Mrs. LeCour will need to contact our customer service number listed at the bottom of this letter, or correspond with us by letter.
If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact us at 1-800-333-1071.
Sincerely,
Correspondence
Fortunately, they redeemed themselves later in a three-page, comma-happy letter, a second response that I doubt I would have received had I not copied the original letter to Jeffrey Immelt, the Chairman and CEO of General Electric. Information which was duplicated from my original (and also lengthy) letter is omitted here for the purpose of brevity.
January 30, 2003
Dear Ms. LeCour:
I am in receipt of a letter dated January 8, 2003, from Richard D. LeCour, which was forwarded by GE Capital Consumer Relations, and received in our office on January 27, 2003. Mr. LeCour’s letter concerned your CareCredit account, for which GE Capital Consumer Card Company, (GECCCC), is the credit provider. I appreciate the opportunity to address the concerns outlined in the letter.
GECCCC is bound by state and federal legislation regarding the release of sensitive information on the accounts we service. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide Mr. LeCour with a response, or with documentation, since this account is listed in your name only. We apologize; however, since you have provided us with a verbal authorization to speak with Mr. LeCour concerning your balance, we are unable to address our response to him; therefore, we are directing our response directly to you.
Please accept our sincere apology for any unprofessional treatment extended by our representatives. Customer service and satisfaction are a very integral part of our business, and our representatives are trained to provide that type of quality in the services they render. We sincerely appreciate that you shared your experiences, so that we may evaluate and explore other options, in order to provide our customers’ with a consistent high quality of service, that you, the consumer, expect and deserve.
CareCredit offers promotions that are interest free if repaid before the promotional period expires. Minimum monthly payments are required during the promotional period and finance charges are accrued, but deferred. If the promotion expires, all deferred finance charges, plus any remaining unpaid balance, are posted to the acount’s regular balance. This information is included on each monthly billing statement.
We apologize if there was a delay in receiving [the March 4, 2002] statement; however, our records indicate there was no postal issue, and the statement was sent to your billing address the first week of March 2002.
Whenever the minimum monthly payment indicated on the monthly billing statement, is not provided by the due date, a late payment totaling $29.00 is assessed to the account. This fee and additional terms and conditions governing the account were outlined in the Cardholder Agreement, which is attached to the credit application and sent with the credit card soon after an account is opened.
It is the policy of GECCCC to collect on a past due account. Our employees are trained to perform their duties in the highest standard and in full compliance with applicable law and policies. We sincerely apologize if our effort to collect on a valid debt was perceived as rude; however the notes on your account document that the telephone call completed on Sunday, September 8, 2002, at 11:32, (EST), which would have been 8:32, (PST), and is within compliance with the Fair Debt Collection Practice Act.
Please be advised, GECCCC, the credit provider on the account, is permitted by Ohio and federal law, to access late payment fees and finance charges on a revolving credit account, as long as such charges are assessed in accordance with the terms of the credit agreement.
We apologize if there was a misunderstanding regarding the regular purchases or the promotional agreements and time frames. We also apologize if there was a misunderstanding concerning the terms and conditions governing the account; however, the information was provided in an appropriate and timely manner. Had payment been received within the promotional time frames, there would have been no deferred finance charges to the balance of the account.
You are considered as a valued customer, and I would like to personally apologize for any unprofessional treatment rendered by our customer service representatives. Since the account balance was paid 23 days after the expiration date for two of the promotions, we have credited the remaining account balance.
These credits will be reported on the next monthly billing statement, which will conclude on February 4, 2003.
In addition, we have removed the delinquencies from the account history and this updated information will be included in our next monthly reporting to the credit bureaus.
As documentation of the preceding information, please find the Optional Finance Plan, the Cardholder Agreement, and the monthly billing statements. In addition we have included the authorization and estimate, and the itemized transactions completed at the Regents of UC Davis that were subsequently billed to the account.
Our representatives have tried to explain the situation on numerous occasions, and we apologize they were unable to provide you with an adequate explanation, and regret the situation was not handled in a more professional matter. We hope the preceding information clarifies this matter to your satisfaction.
If there are additional questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
Robyn Rountree
For GE Capital Consumer Card Company
The fact is not lost on me that her letter was ALSO copied to Jeffrey Immelt; appease the customer, suck up to the big guy, and attempt to save face. Under the assumption that the February statement arrives with the expected credits (if it arrives at all!), I guess I’ll drop the matter of the $1.55, the skirmish, battle, campaign, and the entire war won…
Certainly GE and others who offer these kinds of programs don’t emphasize the details. They are far more interested in trumpeting the “NO INTEREST” part and leave the “for a year” in smaller print. Hoping to sucker folks like Matt Briel who don’t stop to figure out just what they are signing up for. But I have used these kinds of plans several times and have always been very aware that I had to pay it off within a year or I would be charged interest. A bank will lie and deliberately try to make things as confusing as possible. They will never give anything for free. So when they claim they do I always look for the hidden catch. If I don’t find one, I don’t sign up. Because I know it’s there somewhere. Only enter a room when you know where the traps are.
Gee Sean, you are a lot of help! Does anyone have any useful information that may help in getting GE to do the right thing and remove these outragious finance charges. I even called the merchant today and they still claim that there is No Interest for 12 months and don’t know anything about the interest being deferred and if the balance isn’t paid in the 12 months, all interest charges apply.
Well, I have to agree with Sean a bit here. In MY case, GE shortened my 12-month interest-free purchase to only 120 days, screwing up statements and balances left and right each month. In YOUR case, you admittedly paid after the 12 months expired. No, it doesn’t really seem fair that if you leave a balance of even only a penny that they will tack on the deferred interest, but most promotional payment plans work that way. In fact, I currently have a Home Depot account where I took advantage of a 12-month interest-free purchase last year. The difference between GE and Home Depot is that HD is honoring the terms they advertised, whereas GE blatantly did not. Either way, you can be sure I’ll be paying off the balance at Home Depot by the end of this May (two weeks BEFORE the due date!!) However, that said, I will close with the thought that I completely agree with you that many companies, GE included, do not make proper disclosure of terms in order to make a quick and dirty buck. - RDL
Sorry, Matt. I don’t have any useful info that may help for this particular case other than suggesting you push the matter with GE. Sometimes, if you’re persistent enough, you can get them to agree to a deal. I do have useful info for going forward: Never again sign up for an account where you are “never given an account terms explanation at that time”.
You all are not getting the whole story. The terms that were given to me at the time of purchase did not reflect anything that resembled that I would be billed the full interest if I did not pay within the 12 months. It in fact stated that there would be NO INTEREST/NO PAYMENTS for 12 months. Therefore I do not believe that I am responsible for the full amount of the interest, only the interest on the balance after the 12 months expired. They want me to pay the whole interest amount including the amount the wasn’t supposed to be charged for the first 12 months. That is my complaint.
Thank you Sean, I apologize that I was a bit irritated with the whole thing when I snipped at you earlier. I appreciate all comments. I have written them another letter explaining the matter again and have forwarded the matter to the Attorney General’s office for their review. I noticed that I have several accounts (Home Depot, Lowes and the Kitchen Hearth account) that are managed by GE and am closing all of them. I own a small company and be sured I use credit often, unfortunately for GE and credit companies like them, I will look a little closer in the future and never use them again.
Matt, without seeing all of the papers you signed when you opened the account there really isn’t any way for anyone to know what you’re legitimately on the hook for or not. But I would be AMAZED if they don’t say that the full interest on the entire amount becomes due if the full balance isn’t paid off within that initial 12 months. It may be not as clearly stated as one would like, or as obviously placed (although there are requirements about making these things reasonably prominent), but I’m sure it’s there. I’m sure because these “pay no interest for 12 months” plans are common now and every one I’ve ever seen has been the same. Yes, pay nothing for 12 months if you want, but if anything is still owed at teh end of that period interest on the original balance is charged. “NO INTEREST/NO PAYMENTS for 12 months”. Yes. Absolutely true. You don’t have to pay a penny for 12 months. But having interest on the full amount due after that point doesn’t contradict “nothing for 12 months” at all. Matt, I wish you luck. If you push you might (might) get something. Having several accounts managed by GE you might have some legerage. “Fix this to my satisfaction or I will take all of my business elsewhere, which will cost you more than fixing this to my satisfaction will cost you.” Sometimes it works. But realize, in this case, they probably are correct and you are on the hook for the full interest.
Wow, I just stumbled across this because I am getting flustered with the GE Money bank people.(aka GECCC) Though my situation is a little different. I purchased a motorcycle in 2002 and used Conseco “funancing” for it. They went bankrupt. Sold my account to Mills Creek Bank, they changed their name then sold me to GE Money bank. Ever since then I’ve had nothing but problems. First the invoices always come 5 days before they are due. Second I’ve notice as of the last 5-6 invoices they are charging me “over limit” fees of $30. Being that my loan is fixed term fixed payment I don’t see how they can do this. But it gets worse, I dwelved a little deeper to see that they have also raised my interest rate from 15% to 21% Again, being a fixed term loan it seems like this violates the original contract. Any calls to them always result in rude customer service reps telling me they can do that because my “card” is $3,500 over the limit. I never got a card from these people. They bought my loan and are now treating me like a credit card. Anyone have a clue what I can do about this? Any useful phone numbers that might get me to someone that understand the concept of a fixed term loan?
Sean, Thanks again, I have gotten the satisfaction from them that I was seeking. I assure you that I have read the documents that I signed over and over. What I have claimed is correct, that the original agreement states that interest would be charged after the 12 month promotion and did not say the total amount would be billed. GE has removed the interest from my account and billed me only for the interest on the unpaid amount after the 12 months. I did tell them that I would close all of my accounts and since have closed them. They (GE) are not GOD and don’t have the right to break the law! Which is exactly what they did by charging me the full interest. I would suggest that anyone in my situation, don’t accept the first denial letter that they send, resend your complaint until they do the right thing. I also forwarded everything to the NYS Attorney General for his investigation. They know what they are doing is illegal and know when to back off.
Matt - Glad to hear it all worked out.