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GE MONEY & LOEWS FINANCIAL have been harassing me for the past several weeks attempting to collect a debt for an account holder with the same first and last name as mine, but is not me, nor my debt. First of all, I have never applied for a LOEWS credit card, nor have I ever owned one. I am not even a home owner, so not much home improvement going on at my place by me. I originally received a letter attempting to collect a debt in the amount of $935.00. I was surprised to receive the letter knowing I had never owned or applied for services through GE, or LOEWS. That day I ran my credit (and paid the credit site fees out of pocket) to see if someone had stolen my identity and was attempting to use my information to obtain services and credit. I was pleased to find that nothing was reporting to my credit from LOEWS or GE MONEY. I then called GE MONEY & LOEWS FINANCIAL at the number posted on the letter. I informed them that I didn't think they had the correct individual, and they asked to confirm my social security number. I gave them the last 4 digits, which DID NOT match the SS# they had in their collection records. I then asked to confirm the additional information on the account to see if they had my phone number, or address. According to the rep, they additional information did not match mine either. She stated that it appeared to be a mix up, and that they most likely found my information through "skip tracing" and that she would remove my info and note on the account what she had found. I then wrote what she had advised me to on the letter and returned it as instructed. She stated I SHOULDN'T be getting any more mail or communication regarding the matter. I felt like matters had been addressed accordingly and gave it no more thought, until...
I received yet another letter, and another, and another in the same week. All four letters came after our conversation, so I assumed they were already in the mail, called GE MONEY to tell them that I was still getting mail and send the additional letters back as I did the first time exactly as they instructed me to. Again, the rep told me I shouldn't be getting any more letters, and that she had COMPLETELY removed my info from their system (which apparently didn't match what they had on record, that they magically denied having every time I called about the letters).
So, the next week I was happy to see that no more letters came from GE MONEY or LOEWS FINANCIAL. However, at this time they started in with the harassing phone calls. So, I had finally gotten the letter issue handled and they started calling me instead. The issue I have here is that I gave them my phone information so they wouldn't call me, and then I started getting calls, so it was easy to assume that they had started using the information I gave them to continue to harass me for a debt that isn't even owed by me, or anyone I know. I nicely requested each time they called me that they review their notes on the account and that they kindly see that I stop getting these types of calls, and that it was getting pretty old after having received an average of 4 calls a day to my cell phone over the course of the week. Each time I got a new rep who called me, I told them the same thing, and was as polite as I could be (not my typical reaction to these mistakes, but I was trying to be nice). Each time I was assured that my information was out of their system, and that they have no record of me in it, and that I wouldn't be receiving any more calls to my cell phone. At that time, I was under the impression that things were handled and that I wouldn't be getting any more calls. Not so lucky...
The next week, and weekend. I was again surprised (getting harder though since now nothing would surprise me from these people) to get another call, this time it was on my home phone, which I don't even give out or use for any reason. The other funny thing, is that my phone bill for my house isn't even in my name, it's in my roommates name. I was literally steaming as I was trying to spend Valentines Day with my sweetheart and during our movie, the damn COMCAST caller id kept popping up saying it's GE MONEY calling. Arggg. At this point I had had enough from these people, and felt like it was not borderline harassment anymore, but was now full-fledged harassment. I immediately phoned the number that was calling. I asked to speak with a supervisor, got a new person, asked to speak with their supervisor. When I finally got to the person who told me they were as high as I could go, I explained what was happening (basically everything I wrote above) and that I was not happy at this point about the way this matter was being dealt with. I then told the rep that if I got even ONE MORE call, period, that I was going to write reviews and pursue the harassment by any means necessary including via my State's Attorney General (Rob McKenna), the Better Business Bureau (BBB), the FTC and Online through review sites, blogs, forums, Twitter, Youtube, etc. and any other way I could find. She nicely listened to my rant and assured me that AGAIN, FOR THE TENTH TIME, that I WOULDN'T receive any more calls, either on my cell or at home. And that after 30 minutes I FOR SURE wouldn't be getting any more calls to any of my numbers. She also attempted to transfer me to the Fraud Dept. so that I could have them investigate the matter form their end. I am not sure why she suggested that, but figured any one I could get to remove my information on their end would be better than taking their word for it. So, during the transfer I got cut off, had to phone back and wait forever to get back where I was. Finally got through and turns out the Fraud Dept isn't even open on weekends. I decided to give them one more chance at this point and went on with my Valentines Day. Did not get any more calls thank heavens.
First thing on Monday, I phoned the Fraud Dept. to follow up with what the rep and I had spoken about on Sunday. I got on with a very nice gal at the Fraud Dept. that was nice and seemed very helpful. She informed me that it wasn't Fraud, that it was a mix up due to the fact that they skip trace for information that may or may not match information they have on record for their accounts. She kept using the word skip trace. To me this whole scenario seemed weird. And had never had anything like that happen before in my 28 years. She also assured me that my info would be cleared on her end, and that I shouldn't be getting any more calls, unless they run another skip trace and end up with my information again. I told her that wasn't acceptable, and if they were going to use random information like that, that they needed to have a way of removing information that was deemed to be invalid for their actual account holder, that way, people like me wouldn't be getting harassed like I had been. She said she couldn't do anything and that she had removed my information and that I need not worry about calls.
Less than 30 minutes later, on Monday I got another call from GE MONEY and LOEWS FINANCIAL on my cell phone. "Are you kidding me?" I asked. Needless to say, I was not nice to the last person, I told them that this call was the straw that broke it for me, and that I was going to follow through with my promise to report them, review them, and plaster my story all over the Internet. So, that's what I'm doing. I usually don't even write reviews online, nor do I have time to do such things. I just really feel like this is all wrong and that if I don't speak up it might continue to happen to me, and others out there.
If you find yourself in a similar situation with GE MONEY and LOEWS FINANCIAL don't wait as long as I did to start speaking up. Seriously, I tried to be nice and it doesn't cut it with these collection people. If I were you, and had it to do over again, I would have reported it to my State's Attorney General, BBB, FTC and all over the Internet from the beginning. Take my work for it, the squeaky wheel tends to get the grease.
I received yet another letter, and another, and another in the same week. All four letters came after our conversation, so I assumed they were already in the mail, called GE MONEY to tell them that I was still getting mail and send the additional letters back as I did the first time exactly as they instructed me to. Again, the rep told me I shouldn't be getting any more letters, and that she had COMPLETELY removed my info from their system (which apparently didn't match what they had on record, that they magically denied having every time I called about the letters).
So, the next week I was happy to see that no more letters came from GE MONEY or LOEWS FINANCIAL. However, at this time they started in with the harassing phone calls. So, I had finally gotten the letter issue handled and they started calling me instead. The issue I have here is that I gave them my phone information so they wouldn't call me, and then I started getting calls, so it was easy to assume that they had started using the information I gave them to continue to harass me for a debt that isn't even owed by me, or anyone I know. I nicely requested each time they called me that they review their notes on the account and that they kindly see that I stop getting these types of calls, and that it was getting pretty old after having received an average of 4 calls a day to my cell phone over the course of the week. Each time I got a new rep who called me, I told them the same thing, and was as polite as I could be (not my typical reaction to these mistakes, but I was trying to be nice). Each time I was assured that my information was out of their system, and that they have no record of me in it, and that I wouldn't be receiving any more calls to my cell phone. At that time, I was under the impression that things were handled and that I wouldn't be getting any more calls. Not so lucky...
The next week, and weekend. I was again surprised (getting harder though since now nothing would surprise me from these people) to get another call, this time it was on my home phone, which I don't even give out or use for any reason. The other funny thing, is that my phone bill for my house isn't even in my name, it's in my roommates name. I was literally steaming as I was trying to spend Valentines Day with my sweetheart and during our movie, the damn COMCAST caller id kept popping up saying it's GE MONEY calling. Arggg. At this point I had had enough from these people, and felt like it was not borderline harassment anymore, but was now full-fledged harassment. I immediately phoned the number that was calling. I asked to speak with a supervisor, got a new person, asked to speak with their supervisor. When I finally got to the person who told me they were as high as I could go, I explained what was happening (basically everything I wrote above) and that I was not happy at this point about the way this matter was being dealt with. I then told the rep that if I got even ONE MORE call, period, that I was going to write reviews and pursue the harassment by any means necessary including via my State's Attorney General (Rob McKenna), the Better Business Bureau (BBB), the FTC and Online through review sites, blogs, forums, Twitter, Youtube, etc. and any other way I could find. She nicely listened to my rant and assured me that AGAIN, FOR THE TENTH TIME, that I WOULDN'T receive any more calls, either on my cell or at home. And that after 30 minutes I FOR SURE wouldn't be getting any more calls to any of my numbers. She also attempted to transfer me to the Fraud Dept. so that I could have them investigate the matter form their end. I am not sure why she suggested that, but figured any one I could get to remove my information on their end would be better than taking their word for it. So, during the transfer I got cut off, had to phone back and wait forever to get back where I was. Finally got through and turns out the Fraud Dept isn't even open on weekends. I decided to give them one more chance at this point and went on with my Valentines Day. Did not get any more calls thank heavens.
First thing on Monday, I phoned the Fraud Dept. to follow up with what the rep and I had spoken about on Sunday. I got on with a very nice gal at the Fraud Dept. that was nice and seemed very helpful. She informed me that it wasn't Fraud, that it was a mix up due to the fact that they skip trace for information that may or may not match information they have on record for their accounts. She kept using the word skip trace. To me this whole scenario seemed weird. And had never had anything like that happen before in my 28 years. She also assured me that my info would be cleared on her end, and that I shouldn't be getting any more calls, unless they run another skip trace and end up with my information again. I told her that wasn't acceptable, and if they were going to use random information like that, that they needed to have a way of removing information that was deemed to be invalid for their actual account holder, that way, people like me wouldn't be getting harassed like I had been. She said she couldn't do anything and that she had removed my information and that I need not worry about calls.
Less than 30 minutes later, on Monday I got another call from GE MONEY and LOEWS FINANCIAL on my cell phone. "Are you kidding me?" I asked. Needless to say, I was not nice to the last person, I told them that this call was the straw that broke it for me, and that I was going to follow through with my promise to report them, review them, and plaster my story all over the Internet. So, that's what I'm doing. I usually don't even write reviews online, nor do I have time to do such things. I just really feel like this is all wrong and that if I don't speak up it might continue to happen to me, and others out there.
If you find yourself in a similar situation with GE MONEY and LOEWS FINANCIAL don't wait as long as I did to start speaking up. Seriously, I tried to be nice and it doesn't cut it with these collection people. If I were you, and had it to do over again, I would have reported it to my State's Attorney General, BBB, FTC and all over the Internet from the beginning. Take my work for it, the squeaky wheel tends to get the grease.
GE MONEY Violates the Fair Credit Billing Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
If you do not file this complaint, the government cannot stop them for violating Federal lending laws
Its finance companies like GE Money that are responsible for the current economic crisis we have now.