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Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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Posted by jules8429 (My Page) on Thu, Oct 12, 06 at 6:28
| Just wanted to post this for everyone's info. If you have any accounts through GEMB then please pull your credit report and check them carefully!!! My husband had several accounts through this company in the form of home depot, lowes, and care credit. We received a bill from home depot 2 days ago and there was a fraudulent charge of 3200 on it. My husband called and was told he had bought 2 plasma tvs at a store 250 miles from our home. He disputed the charge and now has to complete paperwork on it and deal with that process. He then pulled a credit report and found that two accounts under walmart and sams club (also GEMB) had been opened in his name and maxed out. He contacted Lowes card which was showing up okay on the report and learned that his credit limit had been raised 4000 dollars last month (AT HIS REQUEST???) and that another 3300 in fraudulent charges had been placed on it. He has disputed all of these, closed any account not affected and frozen all of his othes to prevent new charged. We have placed a fraud alert with the CRA's and filed disputes on the GEMB accounts as well. As soon as we get the information packets from the companies then we plan to report to FTC and file police report on identity fraud. We can not help but believe that this information has been stolen by an employee and used or information sold. We will never use store cards through GEMB again. Sorry for long rant but everyone please check your information and be very careful with GEMB! |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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| To be honest, it sounds as if your husband has been the victim of identity theft, and of course, anyone who has access to your mailbox could have done that. It may or may not be an employee of your credit card company. In this day and age, there are so many ways a dishonest person could get his vital info, so it might be that your credit card company is actually being scammed alongside your husband. Only time will tell, I suppose. Do you have a lawyer on the case? However, I'd be leary of ANY thing connected with GE. The company itself is rotten to the core. My Dsis worked for a large, successful East Coast Company for over 25 years. She was in management (first woman in the company to reach that level). She made a good salary, had a fantastic pension. "Had" being the operative word. GE bought out the company, spouted off a lot of propaganda about growth and development--but in reality, they bought the chain so they could bankrupt it for tax purposes. Within a year or so, her company was out of business, and she got a one-time $16,000 payment in lieu of the pension she was counting on. Now, in her mid-50's she's pounding the pavement as a mail carrier, because she needs a job that offers a pension--and she's going to have to do that for at least 10 years, so she has at least a pittance of a pension to live on when she retires. I won't have anything at all to do with anything GE is involved in--they're dishonest, scummy, not to ever be trusted in my book. |
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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| What does GE stand for? Sue |
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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| George Elkins Mortgage Banking Company ('GEMB'). |
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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The GEMB/GE Money Bank I am referring to is through General Electric Corporation. Their website on the net is GEMoney.com. They finance lots of revolving accounts through retail stores such as JCPEnney, Sears, Exxon, Lowes, Home Depot, etc.
azzalea-I know my husband has been a victim of identity theft. At this time I stand by my opinion that it came through GEMB. No other accounts of his other than the GEMB have been affected by the fraud-not individual, joint, or business. He is very careful with his accounts. The only new fraudulent accounts opened in his name were through GEMB also. This points to one of two things: Employee involvement or a compromised security system that has allowed a hacker into it. I am leaning toward employee due to the fact that I feel a hacker stealing the info would have then used it to compromise his other information as well. This does not appear to be the case at this time. It looks like someone was out to make some quick bucks by using fraudulent accounts to purchase high priced electronics for resale. Makes you wonder where some of those Ebay bargains might come from doesn't it? |
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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Don't wait to file a police report! Do it now!
One other thing you need to know is you also need to file a police report in the jurisdiction it occurred. My dh was a sheriff's deputy and a woman filed a complaint about ID theft. Turns out the actual crime occurred in another state, so she had to file a report there as well. You should be able to find out the location of charges easily. Also, each c/c company should have a fraud prevention department. I would first call them to explain everything that has happened and follow it up in writing. From what you described, it does sound like it could be an inside job. |
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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| I had a different, but also unpleasant experience with this group. I have an account with them through a local building company I was doing business with. One month I realized I had overlooked my payment date. To avoid a late payment I did a payment over the phone. I talked to a rep who took down my account info, routing # etc. Much to my surprise the payment ended up bouncing. I knew i had enough $ in my my account and when I investigated I discovered the information they presented to my bank for payment didn't match at all what I had told them. They had completely screwed up the account # etc. Despite no previous late payments, problems etc., they refused to consider it was their mistake, charged me for a bounced check, a late fee, and upped my interest rate. Needless to say I paid that account off and haven't used it since. Just lousy customer service. Abbey |
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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| Abbey-I've heard of this happening to lots of people on the same as cash deals through GEMB. I now have to slightly revise my opinion of GEMB. I have a lead on the person who did this and it appears to have originated through Home Depot's account with GEMB. So instead of just blasting the bank itself, I really have to take issue with a store that lets someone walk in give them an account number and name on a piece of paper say their card has been lost or stolen and lets them charge 3300 in merchandise without even seeing an ID! You would be amazed how simple this is. In fact, this person used this information to open several new accounts at other stores(6 and counting) with no one being suspicious. It made me realize that when I financed some furniture last year that no one asked for ID either. This is a serious breakdown in the fraud chain in this day and age...no wonder so many people are being scammed. Still don't know how he got the personal information-but I've heard everything is for sale on the internet. |
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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| Last spring a GEMB / Walmart account appreared on my wifes credit report. The balance was $5200 and the account was in arrears. We started an investigation thru Experian which came back as having been 'verifed as your account'. We then wrote directly to GEMB and explained that this was not my wifes and that ID theft may be involved. Their response; "it appears that your spouse signed the sales receipts". That was certainly not true. We next filed a police report and sent this along with an ID Theft Affivadit to GEMB. The next thing we know, they sent my wife a new GEMB / Walmart credit card. Couldn't understand why, until, about three weeks later, she got a bill from them. They had transfered the amount from the fraudulent account ($5200) to her new account with late fee's and etc added. What a scam! This seems to me to be grossly unethical, and as a matter of fact, I believe sending a credit card to someone, unsolicited, is a violation of Federal Law! Avoid GEMB like the plague!!!!! |
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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On your "claim" with Experian you will find a file number call them, if you have a claim/file number you can get to a real person easily ask them how they "verified" the account.if GEMB just sent them a statement sayiing the signatures "matched" could be the reason it came back "verifed"
Did your wife include a copy of her drivers license with the dispute?
Also send a letter to GEMB requesting a copy of the orginal SIGNED application along with the signed receipts.
If they cannot provide a "paper" copy of the application and you can prove the signatures don't match you can have Experian rework the dispute. |
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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| I just Googled "gemb complaints" and found a bunch of stuff. This is timely because I just got a credit card application for an alumni association credit card through them. Looks like I'll be shreding that one. |
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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| Just to make everyone aware if you're not already. The fine print on your credit card statements will tell you what you're really responsible for in the event you have a discrepancy on your bill. I learned the HARD way. Like $8,000.00 the HARD way! This has nothing to do with GEMB or GE, but so far the credit cards I own has proven this to be true in most cases, but like I said...READ the FINE PRINT. I transferred a balance from my Discover Card to my "new" Chase card. Yep, you got it...$8000.00. My statement the next month was void of the transfer and so I still had the monthly payment to make on that account, and I now had the new charge from Chase on my "new account" bill. I called Chase to find out why the transfer hadn't been made and spoke to a supervisor about my concern. He assured me that the payment had been made, and that it would show on my Discover card and my "new" Chase card statements the following month. He said the payment obviously crossed during the billing period. Rest assured though, it had been made. So the next month comes, I had taken a bad fall and was bed ridden on pain meds when statements came. Because I had both accounts on automatic payment schedules (this prevents me from ever forgetting a payment even by a day, thus avoiding the risk of losing my low rate) I didn't concern myself with opening the statements right away. A few weeks passed and I started reviewing my bills. I again noticed that the transfer wasn't being registered on my statements. I called Chase again and was told that they would investigate it, but that "rest assured" the payment had been made. It might take a few days for them to find the payment, but that I would receive a call back when they did and also would receive a letter to verify also. Well, the phone call didn't come and the letter didn't either. By the time I actually got through to someone who really understood my concern, it was too late. That's right, TOO LATE! I now owed not only my Discover Card the money, but Chase Card too. Hard to believe I know, but it's the God's honest truth. After a very concerned representative, who assured me that there must be some mistake somewhere and that I shouldn't have to worry myself about it, she would take care of it and get back to me..."promise." Well she did. Seems the fine print on the back of my statement prevents her from being able to do anything at all to help me and she felt so horrible about it, but this was the first she'd ever heard of anything like this. She was going to leave the company over it too, because the higher ups she went to told her it was too bad for me, I should have read the fine print. It was my obligation to do so as a responsible consumer. So I read the fine print after my stomach settled down a bit, and there it was clear as day. It states, and I quote, "Billing Right Summary In Case of Errors or Questions About Your Bill: If you think your bill is wrong or if you need more information about a transaction on your bill, write Cardmember Services on a separate sheet at P.O. Box 15299 Wilmington, DE 19850-5299 as soon as possible. We must hear from you no later than 60 days after we sent you the first bill on which the error or problem appeared. You can telephone us, but doing so will not preserve your rights." The key words here that cost me $8000.00 are "write" a written letter is the only thing they will accept...the first supervisor failed to tell me this and told me that it might take up to 2 statements before the transaction would appear on my bill. If you do the math it would be 60 days if there were only 30 days in each of those coming months and of course don't forget after the statement is sent out, it still takes a few days to get delivered, thus it would have been impossible for me to wait a few statements and still have any legal rights and he should have known that being a supervisor I would think. Anyway, the other key word was the 60 days. And they mean 60 days from the time the first bill was SENT out. So now it's clear, by the time I received that statement, I was already out of 7 days of the 60 I was entitled to. I am now struggling to pay $16,000.00 not $8,000.00 and the interest on the original $8000,00 that I wanted to pay off with the "new" Chase Credit Card offer I received that would have saved me an enormous amount of money each month, choked me enough financially that I actually had to take money from my equity line and pay off the Discover balance to preserve my credit. I even made an appointment and saw an attorney about it because I thought it was so unethical and I had been in touch with the supervisor as soon as I got the first statement from Chase, but there was nothing he could do about it except agree with me that it was completely unethical. Obviously, that didn't help my situation, but it did teach me a very valuable lesson. I hope this helps someone from becoming a victim like I did...and here I was being so careful to protect myself from identity theft, and it was the credit card company itself that stole my money legally! Oh and lest I forget, I never call anyone anymore without paper and pen at my fingertips. I couldn't recall the name of the supervisor who originally took my complaint by the time I spoke to that woman who sincerely wanted to help me, and of course he hadn't done his job I guess and made a notation of my complaint either. Not that it would have helped me, but at least they could have reprimanded him for what he did, or I might have been able to take personal action against him in court. So ALWAYS read the fine print...take what they say LITERALLY...and TAKE NOTES when you talk to anyone. |
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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Not talking about any person posting here, but I don't understand why people want all these store credit cards anyway. If someone has one good credit card or possibly two, why does anyone need more? The more cards you have, the more chance there is for fraud.
I have one through a credit union....highly recommeded way to get a card. If you forget or are late paying a bill, call them and they normally forgive any charge. Had fraud on my card once of about $6,000. I filled out some forms saying they weren't my charges and that was the end of it. They gave me a new card and I never heard any more. Pick a small credit union where you can get to know the manager. Have a problem, call him or her. |
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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| Barb, report them to the Attorney General in your state and the State Banking Department. I would highlight the fact that you were hospitalized. The reality is that if they are billing you for money they never sent then it is fraud which is criminal. The 60 day rule is not designed to protect them from their own fraud |
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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| Yes Beware of GEMB I had a large dental Bill with care credit back in Feb of 07. I always send $1500.00 a month 3 money orders of $500.00 which is the limit in NYS.In Sept 07 i sent my 3 normal money orders all in the same envelope and was only credited for 2 which is only $1000.00 not the $1500.00 i sent.Not to mention i have sent them the reciept for the $500 4 times, i have faxed them and i have mailed them and called at least 15 times to no avail. They tell me i have no answers for you. so i ask for a supervisor, and that person was rude and crude pretty much made me feel like how dare ask them for my credit that i have coming WITH PROOF no one seems to ever recieve the proof i send. How many freakin times do i have to send proof??? this is ridiculous. I think there hoping ill go away, ya fat chance, ihave since then contacted the Attorney Generals Office and next will be channel 4 news for call 4 action |
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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Their customer service is a fine example of "customer noservice".
1. I was sent a new (renewal) Sam's Club/Discover Card (issued by GEMB) that was titled "Advantage Member". I've been a Business Member of Sam's Club for over ten years, and all previous Discover Cards linked to my membership have been "Business Member" cards. Called GEMB to request replacement card with the proper designation, was told it would take up to two months to correct my account data and issue a new card. The same 'cust. serv.' rep agreed that all my account info in their computer stated "business member" but that it would still take 2 months to 'straighten out' the account info. ????? Make ANY sense??? Sam's Club personnel say they have no ability to help - it's all up to GEMB!! 2. Complained that annual rebate funds (Discover Card rebates) only came in the form of paper checks that had to be taken to Sam's Club to be cashed/used, whatever. Other Discover Card issuers sent rebates either as straight checks that could be deposited or as credits against Discover balance or could be used via phone or internet to get merchant discount cards. Cust Serv person absolutely could not have been less interested. Said that's how they do it and that there's no method to register a complaint or request a change. These are lesser issues than thousands of dollars incorrectly charged to an account but it all just echoes the card issuing banks complete disregard of customer satisfaction. |
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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| we have had fraudulent charges on our Citibank Mastercard. We have had this happen three times, (each time they changed the account number). Never had it happen when we had a Citibank Visa card. Changed back to Citibank Visa and to date not problems. Also have Amex, no problems there. Currently pull credit reports every three months just to keep an eye on things. Can't wait for our state to allow us to freeze our credit (august, I think). |
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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Can't wait for our state to allow us to freeze our credit (august, I think)
hmmm...I just scanned the link below, but it seems the freeze is now available in all 50 states, as of Nov 2007. and this was copied from the FAQ link on the page linked below. Is the security freeze available in states that haven’t passed laws requiring it? Beginning November 1, 2007, all three major credit reporting agencies (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) will make the security freeze option available to consumers living in the eleven states that haven’t passed laws requiring it. Sue |
Here is a link that might be useful: Consumers Union's Guide to Security Freeze Protection
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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| I'm trying to get a mortgage for the first time. And in reviewing my husband's credit report, we found an account with GEMB/WALMART. The report states the account was opened in 08/1989! This would have been a few months shy of his 15th (that's right 15th) birthday!! The report also states the it's a joint account. Anyone that would/could have opened this with him has no knowledge of it. The account is currently being used! The one thing that gets me is, it appears to be in great standing. Any ideas?? |
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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| Can he find out WHO is using it, since it is a joint account? The mailing address of the statement would be nice.... |
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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| A year ago I obtained a care credit line through my dentist. He doubled the amount financed. I sent letters, phoned, and complained to GEMB and they continuously sent me paperwork to fill out. Finally, someone from the company sent me a letter stating I had not complained within the first 30 days. They were incorrect, it only took me 11 days to see the illegal transaction. After a year of arguing the charge, I had to retain an attorney. Then they listened, only after they had negatively impacted my credit score. Finally, they credited my account & sent letters to credit reporting companies. I feel sorry for those who cannot afford an attorney! |
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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| Will someone please tell me, is GEMB a part of General Electric or not? This is important for me because, although I do not have anything to do with GEMB, I might have other dealings with companies that are a part of General Electric, and the information in this thread will cause me to change some plans. Thanks for your help. |
Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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| I worked for GEMB from 2007 to 2008 through a temp agency. All I can say is if you receive any credit or loan offers SHRED IT. If you decide to accept a line of credit GE will attempt to increase the interest rate every six months based on "supposedly running a credit check" or "you defaulted/paid late." GE hopes that these letters go undisputed increasing finance charges reaping in the profits. I could never figure out the mysteries surrounding the department store credit accounts when a customer called and complained. Approximately 90% of the calls were complaints. I'm so glad I got out of there. Taking calls from frustrated and ripped off consumers became too much for me. It's sad how the supervisors mock the consumers during their time off in the break room pretending to be a customer acting out crying and being desperate on the phone. It's bad business practices and I often questioned if what they were doing was legal. |
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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| I have a question for everyone. Has anyone on here been charged a late fee even though they've sent their payment on time? It's happened to me three times now with this company. I send my payment in at least two weeks in advance of the due date because of this,but the last three times,they've still charged me a late fee. And oddly,each time the payments show up on my bill as received the day AFTER due date. I think I'm getting screwed and I don't know what to do about it. |
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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| GEMB violates the Fair Credit Billing Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act. They will not fix this for you unless you report them to the Federal Government FTC and Office of Thrift Supervision I too have fraudulent charges on my JC Penney account they have refused to provide any information on, they also changed my mailing address so I stopped receiving statements and made no attempt to contact me regarding this. I found out about them via the call from a COLLECTION AGENCY! My account was sold as Junk Debt. |
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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| Buyer BEWARE! Jamie got this card through care credit who is another representative company of GE Money Bank... They repeatedly post our payments late...no way around it, they are going to get the whopping $39.99 fee for late payments every single month! They have repeated made it impossible for us to prove our payments are ON TIME. We send them directly from our account. They claim our bank sent them late. We mail them ourselves, we sent them late. We pay with a card including another service fee they charge...they take it out late...our fault apparently...go figure... Every now and again....they take out some finance fee, each time its bigger...usually around $100.00. This happens about every three months. Now...our balance was $3,700.00. Jamie had laser eye surgery. Now, since we started paying these people, we have NEVER paid late. The payment they claim we owe monthly is $131.00, and we have paid that every single month, right along with a late fee of $39.99. On top of that we are paying these variable finance charges, this time it was $90.00. Yet, our account is still owing $3,812.00. Go figure! These people call us constantly. Incidently, if you pay a payment ahead at ANY given time, that will be supposedly applied to the end of your loan...which apparently never gets done but the money is gone and you will never see it again...bottom line...BUYER BEWARE...we have the creditor from hell, we are afraid to transfer this amount to any other card or try to pay it off because of what we read all over the internet about these people when they try to pay them off... This company needs to be put out of business...they are not in any way, shape, or form providing a legal banking service! |
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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| I am not by any means defending this company and I think it's terrible that they operate this way. I will say that I have used them twice for dental expenses and had no problems. It's been quite a while since the first time so I have no memory about the details other than I paid no interest or late fees. The last time I financed dental implants for $4500 and paid $250/mo for 18 months. I just finished paying it off last week and I checked my account just now and have a zero balance. I make the payments online through my bank account, always make the payments early and I doubled up the last payment just to make sure it was within the time frame for no interest to be added. I always write down the code # they provide for the payment. I have never paid a penny interest so for me it's working fine, I just use their money. I did look to see what the "deferred interest" amount would be had I defaulted and it was almost $1K, which I think is rediculous. I don't know how they stay in business if they try to screw everybody over. As for CitiBank Visa or M/C, I have used their cards for 30 years and never had a problem that they didn't take care of immediately. I've had fradulent charges and they cancel the card, give me credit and I have a new card by the next day. A couple of times due to a memory glich I've paid a few days late and been charged a late fee. When I call them they look at my record and see that I normally pay on time (or early) and they take the fee off. Amex, on the other hand, not so accomodating. DH ordered something using their card and was sent stuff in addition to what he ordered. He sent it back, they wouldn't issue a credit so we called Amex. It took 6 months and MANY calls to get it cleared. We stopped using Amex. I normally only use one card but I like to get the max in cash back and had already reached the limit with CitiBank at that time. |
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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| President Obama has named Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of GE, to his new economic advisory board. I think this is very telling of what is ahead of us as American's. |
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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| Don't confuse GE Money Bank (a subsidiary of General Electric) with GEMB (a reputable mortgage lender on the west coast. http://www.gemoney.com/en/index.html
http://www.gemb.com/ It is GE Money Bank with its usury rates and inhospitable customer relations that we should be taking aim at. |
RE: Beware GE Money Bank/GEMB
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| It seems kind of funny that this original post was mostly about identity theft and it turns into everyone ranting about GE Money Bank's customer service. |
Here is a link that might be useful: GE Money Bank
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