On June 9 I accepted a balance transfer offer online from Household Bank. The terms they offered was 0% APR for the life of the balance with 3% balance transfer fee. I transferred a $2000 balance and paid Household Bank $60 fee for this transfer. After only six month, when I received my January statement, I was shocked to see that Household Bank was charging me a 7.99% APR on that same balance which was transferred!
I immediately called customer service and spoke with Jay Biswas. He told me that the offer was only for 6 months! As I had notated on my documentationo the terms I had accepted, and the fact that this is my only balance transfer, I knew the that this is not the terms I agreed to. I would never have paid a $60 fee to transfer a balance in which the APR was only for 6 months! When I told Mr. Biswas that this was wrong, and requested that he provide me with documentation in which I agreed to, he was unable to do so. He told me to write a letter of dispute to HSBC, 1441 Schilling Place, Salnias.ca 93901, and that they will investigate and correct this error. On January 29, I wrote to the address he provided along with my supporting documentation.
More than a month went by without any repply from Household Bank. So, on March 19, I called Household Bank customer service again and reiterated my issue with the service representative. He was unable to help me and transferred me to a supervisor. Her name is Joanne, ID: HCS11D. She told me that the offer was only for 6 months. I told her that this was not what I agreed to and told her of the terms that I was offered. She told me that I have to prove to her by faxing her a page which outlined the balance transfer offer. I told her that all I have is my documentation which I noted the transfer offer. I did not have a printout from a website from a year ago! She did not listen when I told her that this is definitely not what I agreed to and that it was preposterous for her to ask me to prove it by sending me a printout. I didn't know I even had to print that page out at the time! When I asked her to provide me with a printout of the terms of the balance transfer offer I agreed to, she told me she could not! I asked her how she could ask me to provide one if she couldn't even provide the terms, and she became silent and would not deal with me.
I am angry that these people are allowed to completely change the terms of the balance transfer. This is illegal! They cannot change the terms after the offer has been acepted. They can't even provide me with anything that states the terms I agreed to, because I sure didn't agree to the terms they are saying they offered me. I refuse to pay these wrongful finance charges Household Bank is levying on my account. I am keeping track of every one of my statements and correspondence regarding this situation. I am sure that there are many others to whom this has happened. If we can all get together and file a class action lawsuit against Household Bank, they have to stop this illegal activity. Something has to be done about this. They cannot rip people off like this.
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