FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION IS INEFFECTIVE
I wrote to Federal Trade Commission, and Office of Thrift arising out of an issue that deals with deceptive and fraudulent practices. Details are below. But, BEFORE I GOT MY RESPONSE FROM GE MONEY, they rubber stamped it in six days calling it conclusive investigation. We know the government is corrupt and ineffective so what the purpose of passing a law when the application is ineffectively governed? By rubber stamping it and preliminarily sending a disposition, they LOST MY VOTE and to boot, they made it worse. DO NOT SEEK THE GOVERNMENT FOR HELP.
In or about 4/2008, I went thru a vision correction surgery. The financing was available through my doctor who used Carecredit / GE Money.
At the time the paperwork was processed by the doctors office in conjunction with Ge Money association, they advised me and it was advertised, that the it was Zero interest financing for over a year and that the interest will not accrue during that time. It will enable me to pay off the $5700 tab in leisurely fashion. I paid on time and sometimes twice a month and never late. I reduced the balance down to about $1900 by November 2009. But in November 2009 I saw on the bill that the balance that I owed was twice that much and the interest and fees tacked on was $1905.50. The fees and charges that they had tacked on are in 100% of the balance which, is inconsistent with my understanding, the advertisement and the representations made to me by the facilitator of the financing. I wrote to GE Money challenging the bill bc the cornerstone of that bill was that the representation of zero percent financing was clearly wrong b/c if it was truly a zero percent financing for X term, then they would not need to calculate the interest. By accruing the interest during it remained at alleged zero they were not making a full and accurate statement b/c they were accruing while the bill clearly stated that it was zero percent.
It cannot be Zero percent and also accrue. If there is a hidden accrual, the bill should clearly state that the distinguishable feature that common consumers will be readily understand. They should have two columns which is marked Current Balance and Balance due if not paid fully by X date. That distinction would be clearer.
I challenge the interest b/c it was clearly deceptive. Had I had fully known, I would have paid this off much sooner, and not subject to 100% increase. There is no point in getting a zero percent interest if there is hidden interest fees that are being accrued while they call it zero percent financing. The balance I owe is about $1200 which I will pay in full and no more.
Congress legislated this and the bill is before Senate b;/c of the deceptive practices like GE Money generate on a routine basis. This is contrary to the Federal Debt concerns.
Flynrider
Phoeix,#2Consumer Suggestion
Wed, December 23, 2009
This kind of deal is offered by a lot of lenders and is primarily aimed at those who do not bother to read the loan contract. If you go by what someone tells you or what you think "zero percent interest" means, rather than what the contract says, you'll be getting an unpleasant surprise after the term is up.
You didn't really think that a finance company was going to offer you free money did you? Here's how all of the "no interest" deals work. The loan agreement says that you'll pay no interest for a given number of months. As long as the loan is fully repaid before the "no interest" period runs out, you are good as gold. The way these companies make money on these deals is in the part of the contract that describes what happens when you don't pay it off before the term runs out. Suddenly all of the interest accrued over the "no interest" term appears. They are betting that a certain number of people will sign up and then not follow the "no interest" terms.
Basically, you'll find all of this info in the loan contract that you signed. You just have to read it.