GE Money warning

[Dakara]

$3k can be easily found in Interets depending on the conditions of your loan...

Say you borrow $10,000 over 3 years @ 15%. That equates to $4500 Interest over 3 years If the interest is calculated off the inital loan amount.

I have no idea how GE loans are structured, but most banks calculate your interest off the daily balance, so even if each week your payments are the same, as your balance is decreasing, and so is the Interest compontent.

At a glance, it sounds to me what may have happened is they fucked up the interest calculation... however, as to which figure was the fuckup, you'll need to calculate.

[Mom]

Grab a calculator and add up every payment you've made, what the loan amount was, how Interest was charged (i.e calculated weekly/yearly/flat rate) and try to work out a figure you think you should of owed. An extra $3600 is a hefty price to pay in error.

Nope, that is far to scarey to find out...LOL. Actually that is not true, we know exactly how much GE have bled from Mark since he first took a loan with this company four years ago! Sometimes you have no choice, you borrow money from the finance company the bike shop promotes (note to self to advise them just how this panned out ) They made an error, or we got ripped, instead of saying something is wrong here, lets sit down and work it out, they went straight to calling us liars. As my first post says, their "log" is the key to this. Too hard to give all the proof we have on here, people will fall asleep.

more posts added while I was thinking about my post..

so they wanted $8k when it was really $11k? That is a massive difference. Point made about forward interest and the pricipal/interest ratio is much in favour of the interest for the first part of the loan period. Cant really fathom how it could be that far out though.

Sadly this loan was principle plus interest, calculated on a monthly basis. It is clear on the statement 4 or 5 weekly payments reduce the loan and then a big hit of interest. I have worked 30 odd years in and around finance, I know how these things work. Apparently not though when dealing with the "hand" policy of GE Money.

[Dakara]

Nope, that is far to scarey to find out...LOL. Actually that is not true, we know exactly how much GE have bled from Mark since he first took a loan with this company four years ago! Sometimes you have no choice, you borrow money from the finance company the bike shop promotes (note to self to advise them just how this panned out ) They made an error, or we got ripped, instead of saying something is wrong here, lets sit down and work it out, they went straight to calling us liars. As my first post says, their "log" is the key to this. Too hard to give all the proof we have on here, people will fall asleep.


Sadly this loan was principle plus interest, calculated on a monthly basis. It is clear on the statement 4 or 5 weekly payments reduce the loan and then a big hit of interest. I have worked 30 odd years in and around finance, I know how these things work. Apparently not though when dealing with the "hand" policy of GE Money.

I hear where you're coming from. At the end of the day phone logs or not there is only one correct amount that you owe, and you have your own financial records to prove how much you had paid. But yes, I can imagine the story would go a few pages deep if we had all the info!

I'm surprised fair go didn't wanna snatch this up however, as it's not the first time GE's been in the spotlight.

I was offered finance on my next bike, instead asked for a cash price then got it from the bank (Most recently Visa) so much easier than dealing with the sharks.

[Mom]

I'm surprised fair go didn't wanna snatch this up however, as it's not the first time GE's been in the spotlight.

You get 1000 words to tell them what is what. Have never read/heard anything adverse about them before this to be fair. They have probably had about 3000 words from me to date. Seriously this finance company needs to be taken to task about how they treat their clients/suckers.

I get those annoying letters from time to time too from them. I once rang back, I needed a new computer as mine had died. It held all my financial info so I could make a tax return giving me a nice refund. Had no money to buy a new PC at the time. The early payment penalties were outrageous!!!! I told them thanks but no thanks.

I was offered finance on my next bike, instead asked for a cash price then got it from the bank (Most recently Visa) so much easier than dealing with the sharks.

Sadly there are some that dont have that option open to them. This is a lender of last resort, the take advantage of the little guy lender, the no client of ours is honest organisation, the lets load this to the max to keep our investers happy.

I insisted I meet the Regional Manager for Northland in person, so he could see who he was talking to, my power clothes were as worthy as his....LOL

I actually had him silent, he had no response to what I was saying. Seriously he had no response. Makes for an interesting meeting when one party can only say what he is authorised to say!

[Str8 Jacket]

sounds like an early payment penalty, or similiar, not unsual but not a good thing either.

I didnt read past this post...
Legally they cannot penalise you for early payments anymore. Its the law... Theres more to it as well, like I think that the extra $$ on top of your regular payments must go to the principal not the ineterest, but I may be worng...

MOM - I am going through the exact same thing. They have now put me in baycorp but I refuse to pay. I was lucky and rang them and got them to send me a statement that said I have a nil balance. However they seem to think I owe them $500. They can rot in hell as far as im concerned.
I learnt a huge lesson a awhile ago. If you cant pay cash, then you cant afford it...... And if you do have to get a loan, dont get it from GE!

[jrandom]

This is fucked up.

Surely your loan agreement with GE makes provision for early settlement?

Under the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003, it's no longer legal for finance companies to charge interest past the actual repayment date of a loan, and any early repayment penalties have to be spelled out in the loan agreement.

Do you still have a copy of it somewhere? Can you get a copy off them?

This bears further investigation. I'd be very happy to assist. I suspect that you will be able to recover the extra $3,000 from GE at the Disputes Tribunal.

[The Stranger:Me]

Sometimes you have no choice, you borrow money from the finance company the bike shop promotes

Sure you have a choice. Buy a Yamaha!
I have had 2 loans with YMF (well one wasn't mine, but was in my name) and both times the interest rate was well below par and on both occasions the amount they said over the phone was the amount I paid to clear the loan.

I suspect they are more interested in selling Yamaha bikes than gouging every last cent on the finance.

[Mom]

This is fucked up.

Interestingly we seem to have no papers at all in relation to this last loan Mark had. I know, i know OK! LOL

It is over as far as the new owner of Neddy is concerned! That was the biggest thing for us. He was decent enough to trust our word we would sort it, because of course we told him of the problems we were having.

I burn big time about it to be fair. Talk to the hand mate!

[barty5]

having read threw a lot of this every one is saying they have a seperate account for early settlements now there is now way they give you that account when you take out the loan. So therefore the only way you can get it as you have all stated is to phone and ask for it. This to me would be proof alone that you rang and asked for an early settlement figure or you wouldnt have been able to deposit the money in to said acount. Right??????

[jrandom]

Interestingly we seem to have no papers at all in relation to this last loan Mark had. I know, i know OK! LOL

Call GE and see if you can get a copy of the loan agreement you signed.

[Mom]

Call GE and see if you can get a copy of the loan agreement you signed.

I like your style. To be honest, fighting this company has taken a huge toll. I had that on my list of things to do, but put it aside until it was settled for Mark and the new owner of Neddy.

Rupali...here I come!

[mowgli]

i agree with ya here mom, ive had my car finance through them for a year and a half now and i had worked out how muh i had paid off in that time and how much i should have to pay them if i was refinancing so i rang for a settlement figure, it was way more than i had worked out, i reckon they must sting ya for interest they would lose or something, it promptly went in the to hard basket and im still paying it off.

Early repayment penalties are actually an early repayment discount. You agree how much money in interest you'll pay when you take out the loan. When you repay early it's normal for the finance company to charge you a percentage (often 10%) of the interest that they are missing out on. This makes sense because if the loan was shorter from the outset then you'd expect a higher interest rate. I think it's referred to as the "Rule of 92" or somat like that. My advice, read the fine print.

As for Mom's situation - I have nothing but contempt for GE finance. They give the impression of a bunch of rat-bags out to deliberately target unwitting (young) consumers with debt they don't need. I hope you find some resolution to your unfortunate situation.

[Maha]

having read threw a lot of this every one is saying they have a seperate account for early settlements now there is now way they give you that account when you take out the loan. So therefore the only way you can get it as you have all stated is to phone and ask for it. This to me would be proof alone that you rang and asked for an early settlement figure or you wouldnt have been able to deposit the money in to said acount. Right??????

You would think so aye?
When I put that to them, they tell me '' you paid into the wrong bank account''..... there is no reasoning with them at all, they are right and all others (in this case me) are wrong!
Their phone log shows that I made one call on May 22nd when our phone account shows we made three calls, but that dosen't matter, their phone log is correct ours is bullshit.

[Brett]

Just out of interest...GE do the loans for the likes of Harvey Norman etc. where you get 30 months interest free, no deposit etc. Was looking at this on the weekend as we wanted to buy a good camera, and for the sake of cashflow were interested in an 18 month interest free term. After a shitload of work trying to fil out the forms, I gave up and decided I didn't want to really do it this way and went and bought it $600 cheaper on a cash price.

Has anyone been caught out by these sorts of deals?

Personally, unless I can pay for it with cold hard cash, I will go without it.

[Mikkel]

Damn it - what a bunch of bastards! I hope you're up for fighting them about this.

Call GE and see if you can get a copy of the loan agreement you signed.

If they can not provide you with a signed copy of the loan agreement in question, I am sure there must have been made an error somewhere. E.g. I can not imagine you authorising two transfers at $8129.xx and $3600 respectively just for the sheer hell of it...

I hope you get them back! I hope GE enjoys bad publicity - because it doesn't get much worse than this.