Here's the deal and the scam:
You used to be able to pay your bill online, with relative ease. However, some MBA at GE Credit decided that the way to increase profits would be to make it much harder to pay your bill. How? By taking away the ability to pay online. The option to pay simply vanished one day, never to reappear. So - what are your options?
First, they make you use snail mail. And assign the addresses so that if you live in CA, have the address be in PA, and vice versa. Increase chances of being late.
Next, you get a one time hit for all of those folks who were used to convenience of online payment, by making them incur a late charge by missing their payment, date. Bang, late fee. Next, if you miss your payment date, they can (and will) increase your interest rate to the maximum. Gotcha!
Next, you'll notice if you've called you can pay over the phone for a $15 fee. Bang! Got another sucker. Sweet.
I have called several times about this problem, and the latest is that it will take 45 days (ha!) to "link my card to my account." What a lie. Again, delay, delay , delay equals profits. This "helpful" advice of course came to me via the India or Bangladesh or whatever based call bank that it takes all kinds of time to muddle through, but first you get offered their high-priced card security package so you don't have to worry about fraudulent charges to your card which, guess what, under the law, are not your problem anyway. Scamtastic! No opportunity to fleece the customer is unturned.
I know - You'd like to go hose down your nearest GE Capital office - if you could find one - with an AK-47, but that that would be wrong, innocent people who are forced to work for idiots might get hurt, and you'd get in serious trouble. Your only recourse if you have fallen into this particular pair of Chinese handcuffs is to pay off and kill your card as soon as you can, and warn others to stay far away from this disaster. I'm surprised Paypal would be associated with this kind of BS, since it just sours people on the whole Paypal experience, and they've had enough troubles. Maybe they get a cut of this racket and are OK with it. Gotta make a buck, right?
Like I said, some MBA had this bright idea, and they are no doubt showing increased profits via late fees and over the phone charges, as well as increased interest rates on balances. But you'd think this is rather short term thinking, as over time folks figure it out and run for the hills.
Pay it off, and go take out a credit card from your local credit union or community bank. These Too Big To Fail Banks like GE Capital are thieves. One can only dream that when Elizabeth Warren becomes head of the new Consumer Protection Agency housed in that den of thieves known as the Federal Reserve she'll do something about crap like this.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED - IF YOU DON'T HAVE THIS CARD PLEASE TAKE MY ADVICE RUN AWAY NOW!!! Get a card from your local credit union or community bank if you must use a credit card.
