GE Capital Retail Bank has been ordered to pay $34.1 million to consumers who were enrolled in their allegedly deceptive CareCredit credit card program.
In December, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it ordered GE Capital Retail Bank and its subsidiary, CareCredit LLC, to refund potentially more than 1 million consumers who signed up for CareCredit credit cards under the belief the cards were interest free. In reality, the cards actually accrued interest that was applied if the balance was not paid in full at the end of a promotional period.
โMedical debt is already a big problem for many Americans. Poor credit card transparency should not be making the problem even worse,โ CFPB Director Richard Cordray said. โDeferred-interest products can be risky for consumers in the best of circumstances, and [this order] ensures that CareCredit will no longer profit from consumer confusion. The Bureau will not tolerate financial companies that take advantage of patients and their loved ones.โ
CareCredit provides personal lines of credit for health care services. It is offered by medical providers and office staff as a payment option for their patients. According to the CFPB, CareCredit is sold by more than 175,000 health care providers across the United States. The CFPB began an investigation into CareCredit after receiving complaints from hundreds of consumers.
The CFPB reportedly found that service providers used deceptive enrollment processes to entice consumers into signing up for the CareCredit credit card. Further, many consumers did not receive physical copies of the CareCredit agreements and depended entirely on the verbal explanations provided by the service provider. Many consumers reportedly believed that the cards were interest free and did not realize they agreed to a deferred-interest credit card with a whopping 26.99 percent interest rate.
The CFPB also found that many of the health care staff responsible for explaining the CareCredit terms to consumers were inadequately trained. Some even admitted to CFPB investigators that they were confused by the deferred-interest credit card agreement.
According to the CFPB, since January 2009, consumers who signed up for CareCredit often were given an inadequate explanation of the credit cardโs terms. These consumers reportedly incurred significant debt because they did not know how to avoid deferred interest, penalties and fees.
The CFPB has ordered CareCredit to provide $34.1 million in refunds to consumers who signed up for the credit cards without being properly informed about the terms of the CareCredit agreement. In addition, CareCredit must contact most consumers within 72 hours of the initial transaction to explain the product. Consumers making certain transactions of more than $1,000 must be enrolled by a CareCredit representative and not through a health care provider or office staff member.
More than 1 million consumers are potentially victims of deceptive CareCredit enrollment tactics. A copy of the CFPBโs order requiring GE Capital Retail Bank and CareCredit to refund consumers is available here.
GE Capital Retail Bank and CareCredit are not the first to be subjected to penalties by the CFPB.ย In April,ย Bank of America agreed to pay $772 millionย to settle CFPBโs accusations that it illegally charged consumers for a credit card and monitoring service that they didnโt receive.ย In September 2013,ย Chase was ordered to pay $309 millionย to more than 2 million consumers who were charged for fraud monitoring services they didnโt receive. And in 2012, Capital One and Discover were each ordered to pay at least $200 million in refunds to cardholders who purchased certain credit protection products over the phone, under the assumption the services were free.ย
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130 thoughts onGE Capital Retail Bank Ordered to Pay $34.1M in CareCredit Refunds
Does this include the โsecurity feeโ that Iโve been charged every month? Itโs over $600 that theyโve added to my bill and I have no recollection of signing up for it. Any help or advice would be much appreciated before interest kicks in!
Trying to get information on settlement! I had over 4800 dollars on interest added to my card at one time. I was mislead on the interest rate. Because I didnโt have the amount paid in full
I received a few rounds of paperwork regarding this, as I qualified, and filled them all out immediately and mailed them back. However, it has been several months now and I have not heard anything back at all and Iโm not even sure as to which firm it had come fromโฆ Anybody know anything? Has anyone actually received payments yet? Thanks.
I remember that they had until February 2015 to pay claims, so OF COURSE they are going to wait as long as possible. The claim Iโm following is for my daughter, but I also have a CC card but because of her situation I was aware of their interest tactics. How โconvenientโ they set up your Monthly payments to NOT pay the entire balance by the deadline date. I happened to โone upโ them and make over payments to avoid the ridiculous interest.
would like to find out more about lawsuit to add my name to the many others who where taken of by Care Credit
me too
I left a comment back in June still no response, I would like to know where to file a claim on this matter, does anyone know how I can file? please let me know as Iโm sure there is a deadline to file.
We have a CareCredit card through, what used to be, GE.
I too, was in shock to discover that what I thought was going to be a medical Godsend with such a reasonably affordable rate, quite quickly became worse than any of our other credit card rates.
I see all the information on the suit, but no information on how to investigate IF I am eligible or how to apply in the action.
Can you please provide me more information or a link to the application to do so.
Thank You.
I received a claim form in the mail for this lawsuit about three months ago. I filled it out immediately and yesterday I got a letter in the mail saying my Credit Care account would be removed from all three credit reports, which is great since Iโm trying to qualify for a mortgage. But so far no refund check. Maybe itโs on the way, too.
How do you get in on the lawsuit do I have to fill out somthing? And when will care credit start paying off this lawsuit?
I had multiple charges on my card, while I needed my wisdom teeth out, and root canals done. After I was told my minimum payment to pay it off before interest charges, I decided to pay more each month. Before I knew it, I got two 500 and some dollar interest charges, when I had 2/3 of the card paid off! They had me pay 780 dollar payment, to remove one 500 dollar interest charge! So absolutely ridiculous, I was told my payments are allocated between charges, instead of paying the oldest charge first. That would mean no matter what you did, youโd never pay the charges off before the 18 months is up, unless you paid the entire card off in 18 months of your first charge. Rip off, I canโt wait to pay my last 800 dollars and take my card out of my wallet.
I too was duped by my new dentist office into applying for the Care Credit account, back in 2010. I received a letter in April 2014 from GE Capital Retail Bank saying I was eligible to file a claim regardging the deferred interest, if I had signed up for Care Credit and completed a transaction between the dates of January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2012, which I did. They included a claim form to submit, and I did not read anywhere in the letter that you could submit a claim online, so Iโm not sure if thatโs possible. I also believe the deadline to join may have passed but I could not say for sure. I mailed my claim shortly after receiving the notice and 4 months later have not heard anything regarding the status.
I hope this helps!
My story is literally the SAME as your is. This month Aug 14th I went to make my monthly payment and it said my minimum balance was 0$ but said my account balance that I still owed was $810. I still made the payment anyway and then today I look in my email and they sent me an email saying that my care credit account balance was 0$ so they cancelled my payment. I was wondering if this has happened to you. Also im wondering if it has anything to do with the claims paper I filed. weird huh? Also I havenโt heard anything from the claims or from care credit and it wont let me access my statement online!
I was given only a short period of time to pay back over five thousand dollars with outrageous interest rate that kept going up.