by Anonymous
- 2 years ago
“I mailed my normal 24.00 payment on 9-23-09, due on Sunday, 9-27-09. They arbitrarily did not post it until Monday, 9-28-09, and then charged me a late fee on my October statement of 39.99, stating that my October minimum payment due was now 64.00.
I deducted the 39.99 late fee from my October payment, and mailed them 24.01, plus a letter to their Billing Inquiries, disputing the late fee. (While a late fee is being disputed, the cardholder does not have to pay the late fee, only the minimum monthly payment, as stated on the back of their monthly billing statement, and, as I understand it, required by Federal law. The "minimum monthly payment" is the tricky part.)
I then got a call from India, from a person I could barely understand. As nearly as I could tell, he said that the late fee had first been added to my principal balance, but then removed from my balance the very day he called. But they had raised my minimum monthly payment by 40.00, from 24.00 to 64.00, and somehow I now owed 104.00. In spite of my best efforts, a meaningful discussion was impossible.
Tonight, I received another call from India, but again, for the 30 minutes of our call, the caller might as well have been speaking whatever language is native to India. The caller stated I still owe 104.00, the same amount as before, but I received in the mail today an acknowledgment from GE Money Bank that they had cancelled the late charge.
The bottom line is, GE Money Bank is apparently circumventing the rule against collecting disputed fees, by adding them to the existing balance while the dispute is in progress, and arbitrarily raising the customer's minimum monthly payment by the amount in dispute. They then use, as a weapon, a language barrier which they themselves have created, to prevent any customer recourse short legal action. In effect, they have made the fact that their employees don't speak English OUR problem, instead of THEIR problem.
It seems to me that there should be some intense Federal regulation of companies like GE Money Bank, and the recent legislation initiated by Senator Chris Dodd is a first step in the right direction.
”