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WARNING TO ALL GE MONEY CREDIT CARD BACKED PRODUCTS

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ECHOBOI4U
New Contributor

WARNING TO ALL GE MONEY CREDIT CARD BACKED PRODUCTS

Recently GE Money Bank has upgraded their account login sites for all of it credit accounts (walmart, JCPenney, etc...).  Since that time we have had billing issues that they (GE Money Bank) claims is their systems faults.  We had a small balance last month on our JCPenney account and prescheduled a full payment on the due date 6 days prior to the due date.  The due date last month fell on a Wednesday.  I woke up Thursday and logged into hoping to see a $0 balance and saw a late fee charged to my account.  Under the payment history it said the payment had processed and cleared.  Confirmed this with my bank also that day.  Called customer service and they said, sorry our system must have screwed up again.  Again...mind you they said.  They removed the late fee after my call into them.  This month, we had a small $36 balance on our walmart discover card.  We prescheduled a full payment on the 2nd of November to be paid on 11/6 (Friday).  Today, Saturday, I logged in to see a $0 balance and saw a $35 late fee charged to our account.  Payment history said "processed" and cleared.  Confirmed with my bank today also.  Called customer service and they said "oh sorry, our system must have messed up again."  I mentioned that this is the 2nd time on a GE Money Bank backed account that their system messed up, too our payment and then charged a late fee.  The lady said..."yes sir, we know about this and are thankful that you called in to let us know.  I will remove the late fee for you as it was our error."  I asked her if this happens a lot.  She paused and then said yes.  I worry about how many other people get hit with this GE Money Bank site late fee error and do not catch it until after the statement cuts, causing interest and APR, etc... increases.  We are thus closing all of our GE Money Bank backed accounts and not looking back.
Message 1 of 9
8 REPLIES 8
score_building
Senior Contributor

Re: WARNING TO ALL GE MONEY CREDIT CARD BACKED PRODUCTS

this hasn't happened on any of my ge accts so far, it is unlikely that i would respond by closing if it did unless they failed to acknowledge their error.  i would reopen and allow the apparent technical difficulty to be resolved.  closing accts can harm your profile and is not recommended except under cerftain conditions.

DCU EQ 5.0, Citi EQ 08 Bankcard, PenFed EX NG2
EX 08: AFCU, Amex, Chase, PSECU EX 98(?)
TU 08: Barclays, Discover
Message 2 of 9
marty56
Super Contributor

Re: WARNING TO ALL GE MONEY CREDIT CARD BACKED PRODUCTS


@score_building wrote:

this hasn't happened on any of my ge accts so far, it is unlikely that i would respond by closing if it did unless they failed to acknowledge their error.  i would reopen and allow the apparent technical difficulty to be resolved.  closing accts can harm your profile and is not recommended except under cerftain conditions.


 

+1.  I would also add that I am not a big fan of auto payment.  I do that with my mortgage and car payment since my checking account is in the same CU as the loans are.  Because I usually dont want my GE accounts to report a balance, I pay as soon as the charge is posted.  I also usually pay live in Walmart or sams for my Sam's card.  My advise would be to pay at least 1 week before they payment is due and as soon as its posts if you dont want it to report.
1/25/2021: FICO 850 EQ 848 TU 847 EX
Message 3 of 9
laz98
Senior Contributor

Re: WARNING TO ALL GE MONEY CREDIT CARD BACKED PRODUCTS

so far i haven't had any problems.  thanks for sharing your experience, though.
Message 4 of 9
ECHOBOI4U
New Contributor

Re: WARNING TO ALL GE MONEY CREDIT CARD BACKED PRODUCTS

Closing accounts only has a 6 month impact, and if it can save me the headache of dealing with an unscrupulous company, so be it.  I should not have to call in and note the mistake each month to alert them to remove it.  GE Money has continued to spiral downhill company wise and in their account handling per many US reports.  Auto pay is never mentioned above.  There are far better ways to pay for purchases in our wallets than through a high APR store card.  At some point, we started saying no to big business and FICO at times, saying, do we want to keep the continual headaches and keep a higher score now, or take the small 6 month ding and recover without the headaches.  We tend to throw FICO under the bus some to make sure that we live and sleep better at night without extra worries.  It is just a score.  We own our home and cars.  Credit is a luxary at this point that is NOT a need.  I can remember when we met, we care little to any about credit and lived happier.  At some point, the game must stop for you also and allow us to breathe.
Message 5 of 9
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: WARNING TO ALL GE MONEY CREDIT CARD BACKED PRODUCTS


ECHOBOI4U wrote:

Closing accounts only has a 6 month impact, and if it can save me the headache of dealing with an unscrupulous company, so be it.  I should not have to call in and note the mistake each month to alert them to remove it...

We all have to do what makes sense for us, both financially and in daily life. I sure wouldn't put up with this sort of ongoing nonsense.

I'm curious, though, where do you see an impact from closing your account that would last 6 months? There's the 6-month new account ding for opening a new account, but I'm not grasping an impact from closing that lasts six months.

The only potential immediate impact on scores from closing an account would be if you let balances report, and your util goes up from closing. But other that that, I think I'm missing something here. Smiley Tongue
* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 6 of 9
smallfry
Senior Contributor

Re: WARNING TO ALL GE MONEY CREDIT CARD BACKED PRODUCTS


@marty56 wrote:

@score_building wrote:

this hasn't happened on any of my ge accts so far, it is unlikely that i would respond by closing if it did unless they failed to acknowledge their error.  i would reopen and allow the apparent technical difficulty to be resolved.  closing accts can harm your profile and is not recommended except under cerftain conditions.


 

+1.  I would also add that I am not a big fan of auto payment.  I do that with my mortgage and car payment since my checking account is in the same CU as the loans are.  Because I usually dont want my GE accounts to report a balance, I pay as soon as the charge is posted.  I also usually pay live in Walmart or sams for my Sam's card.  My advise would be to pay at least 1 week before they payment is due and as soon as its posts if you dont want it to report.

Yeah I pay as soon as the charge posts which is pretty slow to begin with. No way would I ever use auto pay for anything. I like to see it done myself

Message 7 of 9
ECHOBOI4U
New Contributor

Re: WARNING TO ALL GE MONEY CREDIT CARD BACKED PRODUCTS

Simple.  We tested this a while back and noticed a dip on all 3 scores on our account by 5-6 points on a zero balance upon closure by consumer.  Then, about 6 months later we got alerts of the recovery by 5-6 points.  It is a personal validation tested that was hypothesized, tested in repeated trails and then concluded personally with my spouse and myself.  I also have worked years, on the side, running a site dedicated to helping other people and companies, legal law firms and small businesses, fight big business corruption and othe battles and in the interim I have tested numerous hypothesis with FICO and its effects.  This determination is just a single individual case study that has shown repeated like results over a 3 year time frame with multiple independent variables (different companies).  Other people's result may or may not vary.  Just our experiences.
Message 8 of 9
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: WARNING TO ALL GE MONEY CREDIT CARD BACKED PRODUCTS

Interesting, thanks for the explanation!
* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 9 of 9
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