Monogram Credit Card Bank Of Georgia
Credit scam to collect bogus interest and late fees And Dayton

The Scam:

Monogram Bank's scam works as follows: Appliance purchasers accept 12 month interest-free financing and a credit card promoted with a purchase. After a several-month interval, [1] the bank starts sending statements which misstate the due date to a shorter, eccentric period like 10 months and 13 days. The bank hopes the purchaser will [2] pay the loan almost 12 months after purchase ; [3] be intimidated by the pile of statements with consistent, but phony due-dates; [4] fear for their credit histories; and [5] pay high finance charges and late fees to preserve their credit ratings. Monogram Bank [6] collects a near-usurious, 24 % return on many loans.

My experience
I purchased a $500 TV at Mannys TV and Appliances in Hadley MA, Feb. 17. I agreed to a heavily promoted financing offer in the store: 12 months interest free. I signed a Deferred Interest / No Monthly Payment Optional Finance Plans document on GECAF letterhead, signing on the line described as 12 Months Deferred Interest / No Monthly Payment.

Upon receipt of my first statement from Monogram in early I verified the purchase amount and the purchase date and pre-arranged to have the bill paid in full in plenty of time for payment to arrive well before the twelve-month anniversary of the purchase. [Nearly a year later, payment was, indeed, credited seven days before the Feb. 17 anniversary.]

For the duration of I received statements which I occasionally opened and scanned to verify that the purchase amount and purchase date were correct and that my bank was scheduled to pay in good time, but I did not save any 2002 statements.

I happened to check the Jan. 2003 statement and noticed a $108.80 finance charge, but when I verified the purchase date was correctly listed as 02/17, I assumed the charge was a bank error that would be corrected when my payment was received before Feb. 17.

The Feb. 2003 statement, mailed seven days before the true due date, credited timely receipt of the full purchase price, but alleged a finance charge of almost $120, an additional 24% of the purchase price. When this had not been corrected on the next statement, I called to question and was told that the due date had been set ten months and thirteen days from the purchase date, and that, hence, I owed cumulative finance charges and compounding late fees. Of course, I did not agree.

Monogram has since initiated frequent calls to my home, wherein their generally polite representatives assert that the 2002 statements showed an earlier due date, and, if I didnt notice it and formally protest, I must have owed the full debt on that date. I countered, asking, If the bank that holds my 20-year mortgage decides, one day, that the mortgage will, instead, be an 18-year-and-4-month mortgage, and starts printing that date in statements, but I dont notice and just make my monthly payments on time; can the bank take my house a year and eight months before I fully pay it off? I havent received a consistent answer.

Subsequent letters from Monogram and some of their phone reps have threatened to damage my credit, but I have refused to pay charges or fees.

The Remedy

I expect Monogram will forgive both the bogus charges and fees if I send them a copy of the Deferred Interest / No Monthly Payment Optional Finance Plans document I signed. [In fact, one phone rep already offered to forgive the bogus fees.]

However, I am concerned that Monogram may have many other victims, in Massachusetts and other states, who may be less certain about what they really owe, and who may be more easily intimidated. If the Bank can collect excessive fees by intimidating many borrowers and appease a few others like me just by forgiving fees and living up to their original terms, they have no motivation to stop the scam.

Hence, I have asked the MA Attorney Generals Office to pursue this case to recover fraudulent charges and fees for other borrowers and to collect punitive damages to cover its expenses in investigating the case and for the general welfare of its citizens.

CMG
Northampton, Massachusetts
U.S.A.

Company: Monogram Credit Card Bank Of Georgia
Country: USA
State: Ohio
City: Kettering
Address: 950 Forrer Blvd
Phone: 8773175599

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