Lowe's review: corporate blunder 32

I just got my visa card and charged some items. Two months went by and no billing statement. I got a call today (8-15-07) from a private number saying that they were lowes visa and that I was late and a 40 $ late charge was added. Who in there right mind calls from a private number! All I know is that it could have been a scam.

We got the same letter a few months ago concerning the "upgrade", in which we had no choice in the matter. Then a month ago, we bought a new dish washer and asked the salesperson if we could use our new "Lowe's Consumer Credit card" (showed it to him) on the 12 month/0 interest, no payment promotion. Of course, he said yes... it's a Lowe's card, right? Wrong. We paid a little of the balance last month and then got a statement two days ago with a $15 service charge on the remaining balance. I called the credit company and they said that the VISA accounts are not included in the promotion. After carefully scrutinizing the coupon, every Lowe's account other than the original Lowe's card we used to have was excluded in the offer! We are going to pay it off (with the added charges) and then cancel the card. And start shopping at Home Depot (which I hate). I am very disappointed, because we have been so happy with Lowe's.

HEY, thanks for the heads up i almost bought my roof on that card assuming i would get 6 months no interest i will now go to home depot. I hate trickery!

I had same problem, was "upgraded" to Lowe's platinum visa-is extremely misleading-says it is Lowe's card, checks are still to be made out to "Lowe's", payments are mailed to "Lowe's". Attempted to buy a new washer with a promotional no interest deal and found out the Lowe's visa was not affiliated with Lowe's, and thus we were not eligible for the promotional discount! The Lowe's manager attempted to reissue our old Lowe's card so we would be eligible, but was told by their own representative that "Lowe's visa" had closed our account, and we would have to reapply for a new Lowe's card with a credit check and everything! Needless to say Lowe's lost our business, my husband was livid and now is wondering if our other credit cards are actually from their original company or someone else using their name! How can this GE money bank get away with using Lowe's name and cash checks made out to Lowe's if they are not affiliated with Lowe's at all?

We purchased $2000 worth of appliances believing we were receiving 12 months interest free. Now after my appliances are delivered and set-up, I received the bill that does not show the promotion. If Lowe's is aware of this,then why was I not told this in the store when I presented my
Lowe's Visa for payment.
The store's response: open up a regular Lowe's credit card, they will put a refund on the Lowe's Visa and charge the appliances to my new Lowe's card.
Opening another account raises the amount of our available credit and proably lowers our credit score. Or worse yet,we could get turned down and that would affect our credit.

I have several calls into the store, headquarters, the credit company and the local news...I will let you know what happens.

I totally agree. Please keep me informed, as I will support any action against this obvious "scam".

GOING THROUGH THE SAME THING HERE!

We gave in and got a regular Lowe's card. But the store refunded the interest we paid so far and gave us an additional $100 off our purchase.
It has been a week and we never heard from headquarter's. They are probably sick of hearing this same complaint.

I know that once this comes off the Lowe's Visa we will cancel the card and just keep the regular store card.

I just stood in LOWES for 45 minutes with extremely supportive, helpful customer service people and the store manager trying to understand why they could not take my money to pay on my LOWES VISA account.

I thought I asked a lot of questions when I "upgraded" to this account. I was assured that the new card would have all the benefits of the "old" card while offering the versatility of being a VISA, there by reducing the number of cards I needed to carry.

I will be paying this card off in full as quickly as possible and then will cancel.

I would be happy to be involved if there is a class action suit.

Me Too!

We spent 1hr-40 at Lowes tonight and got out just as they were closing.

We believed the "Upgrade" card had the same benefits but found out our washer/dryer purchase tonight wouldn't qualify. I'm livid!

We blindly accepted the "Upgrade" card under false notions that the card worked the same. I wouldn't have wasted this much time at Lowes if I had known the outcome. The CSRs had a bunch of trouble and delayed us so long.

Home Depot from now on!

No problems here, We did our research and read the information that came with our cards.

I open a Lowes consumer credit card in 2000 when I moved to a new home and needed some new appliances and other home improvment items. I paid off the balance in 2003. In 2005 I received the new upgrade Lowes Visa credit card and the letter stated the new Lowes Visa credit card is an upgrade to the old Lowes consumer credit card. I called accepting the upgrade card thinking the excellent credit rating I had established with my old card would be transferred over to the new upgrade card. I was NEVER told the old Lowes consumer credit card account would be closed out and that history from that card was NOT going to be transferred over to the new upgrade card. I wish I had known that because I would have never agreed to have my original Lowes consumer credit account closed. I had excellent credit history on the old Lowes consumer card card and that excellent history could have been used to caculate and boost my credit score. When I got the new upgrade card it was not owned by GE Money but owned by a different company (I believe it was Capital One Lowes Visa Credit upgrade). I made a purchase in Lowes using my new upgrade card and the first month I had to make a payment on the card I too went to the Lowes store to on the date the payment was due to make my payment as I had always done for 3 years in the past with the old Lowes consumer credit card. The Lowes clerk told me I could not make a payment on the account in the store and it was then I found out the new upgrade Lowes Visa card was NOT connected in any way with the Lowes store itself or with the Lowes credit department and that is why I could not make payments in the store any more. My payment was due that day so I called Lowes to explain the situation of not knowing I could not make payments in the store and asked if I could make a payment online and I was told that card with Capital One was the only card they have that did not have a set up for online payments at the time. I was told by the rep of Lowes Visa credit my options for making payments was only by mail or by Western Union Moneygram. When I asked if I could mail the payment with a one time waive of the the late fee because I did not know I could not make payments in the store the representitive rudely told me I should have read my contract and my bill which list payment options as either by mail or by Western Union Moneygram. She rudely told me if I wanted to avoid the$25 late fee she suggest I find a Western Union Moneygram and wire my paymnet so my payment would be ontime. Well I have always had excellent credit history with all my credit card accounts with no late payments and I did not want to have a blemish on my credit so I had to pay $10.95 fee to Western Union to wire in a $15 payment to Lowes Visa credit. I paid off the balance within the next two months and never used the card again because dealing with having to buy stamps and make sure I mail in payments each month was just NOT my thing but I chose not close the account because open accounts with good credit payments and a zero balance can be used to boost your credit score. One year later I received a letter that capital One will no longer own my Lowes Visa credit account and that the account is now owned by GE Money which does have access to making payments online . I did have to use the card for an unnexpected across country relocation which put about 5, 000 back on the card. I have $1,947 left to pay on the balance and as soon as I get that balance paid off I will NEVER EVER use that Lowes Visa card again because the APR is just too high and keeps climbing higher every month. When I try to tell them a person who has a very high credit score at all 3 bureaus as I do with an excellent credit report of no lates with all 3 credit bureaus and a low debt ratio to income as I do a person with that type of credit standing should not be receivng such a high APR. I have very low APR with all my credit cards and this GE Money just keeps raising their APR every month on this Lowes VIsa Credit card and all I hear is that it is not their fault it is the prime rate keep going up. I will transfer the balance of my Lowes Visa credit with GE Money to my Chase Visa credit card which has a much lower FIXED APR and I will NEVER charge on that Lowes Visa card again. But I will not close the account because closing an account which has excellent histroy on it can cause my credit score to drop.

Our Lowes Cards were originally owned by Capital One - We also got a letter stating that our card was sold. We thought "No big deal" until we got our statements and realized that they doubled our interest rate. We called and I was told that because it was an unsecured loan, they could do whatever they want. So, I though I would beat them at their own game and tried to transfer their balances. They denied it! Again, I was told that they can do whatever they want and would not allow balance transfers for at least a year. To top that off, they no longer honor the Lowes Promotions that I receive by email unless I APPLY for them. I am currently drafting up a letter to Lowes, GE Capital and Richard Blumenthal (Conn. A.G.). He usually loves these complaints and has worked wonders in the past w/ Class Action Suits.

Same thing happenend and I cancelled but not until the purchase went through. It was a special order so I was unable to cancel the order but I will never shop at Lowe's again.

There has to be more to the "upgrade" to benefit Lowe's that Lowe's will never admit. I would be interested in a class action.

Here is the mail I sent to lowes regarding their CrapTacular deal...

I recieved an offer to upgrade my lowes card to a visa... That within itself is fine, accept for the fine print.

It states that the interest is prime plus 23.99!
You have got to be kidding me! I am appolled that you would allow a bank to represent your name on a card that has such an astronomical interest rate... Furthermore since you have decided to associate yourself with such a craptacular deal I will be canceling my lowes card and only dealing with home depot... I closing I would like to point out that this is why people are losing thier houses to bankruptsy.
Innocents that dont read the fine print and start bad relationship with fiendish people.

Singed
Adrian Brassell

EVERYTIME I TRIED TO ACCESS MY LOWES VISA ACCOUNT, I NEVER CAN GET INTO IT. I CALL
LOWESD VISA AND ASKED THEM ABOUT IT AND ME BEING 74 Y EARS OLD TODAY NEVER CAN
UNDERSTAND THE FOREIGH PERSON I'M TALKING TO SO I JUST VHANG UP. AND THEN WHEN
I GET THEIR BILL AND THEY CHARGE IS TERRIBLE 23.99%. IF I COULD AFFORD TO PAY THEM
OFF, I'LL NEVER HAVE THAT CARD AGAIN. THESE PEOPLE DO WHATEVER THET WANT TO AND
GET BY WITH IT. THEY SURE TAKE ADVANTAGE OF PEOPLE WHICH IS NOT RIGHT.
YOU CAN COUNT ME IN ON A CLASS ACTION LAW SUITE. SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE
FOR RIPPING PEOPLE OFF.

DONALD BABSON

I am a bill collector from LOWES VISA and I knw u guys coming from. Actually I dont have any idea about how purchases made at LOWES using the visa account. Yes, GE Money Bank is now the owner of LOWES and no longer with the Capital One.

regarding the private number that calls you during weekdays(and even weekends and special holidays), dont blame and shout on bill collectors why our number is not showing on your caller ids because honestly we, collectors, are just doing our jobs and we really dont have any idea why our number is not showing up (which should be our callback number [protected]). im telling u its not a scam because we are really calling on behlaf of LOWES VISA just becuase our number is not showing up on ur caller id. we can prove that to you if you will ask some questions to us like when did u made your last paymnt for lowes etc. sometimes we even leave a message to a third party or a spouse whenever we did not hve the chance to speak with a cardholder. please be advised also that we dont really disclose the accoutn information to a third party, or even to a spouse (states of MA, GA, SC and i forgot those states sorry).

pls understand also that bill collectors calling for ur lowes visa are not all americans from canton ohio. some are from philippines (in south east asia) and its an outsourcing part of the business of GE Money bank.

An important note for you whene receving a collection call frm lowes visa: dont hang up on us while we are speaking with you, the call will comeback to u after 4-5 days even if u ask for a cease and desists calls because simply, u are behind payment..even just one bucket of payment. talk to us, whether we are from canton or manila, and coordinate with us because were not calling u just because to collect money, but we want to help you with other concerns that u have with lowes visa platinum.

regarding the conversion of private card to a visa card, whwnever u did not response to the letter that we sent u that we are converting it to a lowes visa platinum, it will ATUOMATICALLY be converted to a VISA, with or without your approval.

any questions, concerns, ..you can always call our customer service number at the back of your card. we are happy to serve you, but please know your responsiblities also that you have a debt and u cant hide from it.

peace out!

This credit card it the pits, especially if you pay online. The rules for online payment is rediculous. You have to project your payment out at least two days after you sign on--ie if you sign on on May 31, and your payment is due June 1, you can't make the payment on time--the earliest you can pay is June 2 (two days out). You can't pay buy once in 30 day, so if you happen to be late for one payment due to the rules, you can't pay the next one on time either. If you pay via the phone, there is a $10 charge. They also changed the due date on my statement from the 5th of the month to the 1st, so when I got online on the 1st to make the payment for the 5th, I was already late although I didn't notice the date change--had to call and pay the $10. The interest is also unbelieveably high as I have very good credit and found I was paying a rate that should quality as usuary. I just canceled my card. Don't get duped into this one.

Have an original Lowes credit card. Bought a dishwasher back in the fall. Cashier says "no interest, no payments for 12 months." I said sure, sounds good. A few months later I check my credit report...Guess what...closed account...late payments for 120 days...CREDIT SCORE DROPPED DRAMATICALLY. Am paying my bill... $539 immediately. Now I have to fix my credit and hope GE Money will be honest.

It's a real shame when people start blaming others for their own problems. We live in such a "it's not my fault" and "I'm going to sue" society...it's really just shameful.

Every single person rantnig and raving about how awful Lowe's and GE Money Bank is for "doing this" to them should have READ THEIR MAIL. Read your mail, read your terms of service, stop just blindly entering into agreements that you've not read the details of and then blaming others for your own laziness and incompetence.

To all,
We are sorry for your troubles regarding Lowes Card..in this day and age how is it possible for a credit card to become a thief in our society!..We too, are having great difficulty in dealing with customer service regarding our Lowes card and the incessant late fees when we are not and were not late...we paid a few small payments in between the billing cycle and then when our regular monthly payment was due they wouldn't accept the payment because they said you can only make a payment once a month...which is NOT in the agreement and they cannot answer me to tell me where I can get this information...they told me I would have to wait 10 days to make my payment into the next billing cycle and the day I was trying to make our payment was 5 days early..how convenient for Lowes that 10 days into the next billing cycle makes our payment late...they also added 2 late fees, which we were NOT late, and NOT our fault.. and now our monthly payment is almost double ..what company in their right mind wouldn't accept extra payments!...a great way to fraud consumers...so our advice is to get it on the news and let the country see it on TV and lets get them exploited...no bank wanting millions of consumers to have their card would want to be exploited for their fraudulent tactics all across the United States!
Nydia Han Consumer Reporter with channel 6 Action News, "call for action" [protected]...this is the number to the help desk and you can tell them your story...it doesn't matter where you live because once this gets reported on the news the associated press will pick it up and it will become countre-wide and Lowes and the bank will have to take some action because of this perpetrated fraud. They will also not appreciate their name on the top story of the news!
My Husband and I have used this re-course a few times now for different things and we got results!
God Bless and good luck to all!
Dee and Gregory Brock

I made the same damn blunder many consumer's of Lowes have made by buying into the "new" Lowes Visa card.

Seems we have absolutely no more protection from thevery than we do from government corruption. They are all in bed together and none of them care about the average person who is just trying to get through life doing the innocent, honest, lawabiding thing.

I'm going back to paying by cash. If I don't have it, I don't get it! That's the way I had it for years until others around me convinced me I need a "credit rating". For what? To be beat down further. No more for me. I was much further ahead when I was paying for what I could afford without charging to a card.

Besides, give thought to what runs the world - it's money and that's going to be taken by any means available so my advise is to be smarter and don't allow yourself to be pulled into believing you need credit cards to survive. Cut them up and keep them in a glass container to remind you how free you are without them. Don't cancel them because the corporate credit bureaus will ding you with a lower score. Again, you must be smarter than the average thief and always stay one step ahead them. Let them go broke. Why should we consumers become their bounty!

I got screwed too! Same story different day!

My complaint with my Lowes Visa Card is that the APR. is outrageous! I want it lowered. Right now its 24.99%. I pay my bill on time, never! missed a payment and always pay double if not more on it.
The way the economy is now i might have to start being late on it.
Robin

I had similar issues with making payments. I was so in over my head with the interest charges and they talked me into a "hardship program" and the only way I can pay is through the mail or if I want to pay a fee over the phone--I usually get my bill so close to the due date that it almost forces me to pay the fee unless I want it late. The two times I did mail it in, the payment didn't post for over two months. I was also told by a CSR that I could make a payment at the store--WOW how easy--NOT. The store told me that they were not associated with the Visa. I called and another CSR told me I could make a payment on-line and that she would send me a card, later to find out that was not possible. Then I found out that it wouldn't matter and that was after 5 people on one call! They said that because my account was closed that I wouldn't be able to access the account on-line and it was just too bad for me. Some of them I could barely understand because of their thick accent. What can we do about a company that doesn't care?

I want to know how many will join me in a class action law suit?

I get calls from them everyday every 30 minutes to an hour. They are a big rip off my advise to you is never get a LOWES VISA PLATINUM unless you want your credit score to drop dramatically. I ingnore them when they call because they call so much I wonder if they would like someone to call them thhat much everyday.
DON'T BOTHER WITH LOWES VISA PLATINUM because it goes through capital one which is now GE money and they are a BIG PAIN IN THE A----!

These jerks randomly changed my cycle to 28 days. Guess what? My auto-debit for it was every 30. I was two days late, and they raised my rate from 4.9 to 19.9 percent. I called and they said they don't negotiate APRs, and that there were "any number" of reasons that they would raise my rate. This wench got me so mad that I actually cussed her out. (I know - classy!)

Needless to say, I will be paying my balance down immediately and canceling that piece of junk card.

Count me in on this if you guys sue. Yes I got taken in by this scam as well and I failed to read the terms of the agreement but this practice IS INTENTIONALLY deceptive . Lowes sends you an upgraded card and cancels out the old consumer card.

Heres my story...I have had a Lowes visa card for about 4 1/2 years with a limit of $500.
I have been late only once paying due to being jobless for 5 months. I call today and find I
have a balance of $83.Fine and dandy except one little thing...I have no available credit
because the account has bee closed.I ask the CSR if they notify people when closing accounts
and she said I was sent a letter last month informing me of such action. I went thru all mail
going back 2 months and have no letter stating my account was being closed.The CSR informed
me that all accounts were being looked at and some of the more risky ones were being closed.
I didnt figure a $500 limit and only one late payment in 4 1/2 years is risky...I guess they can forget ever getting their $83 and I will try my best to convince everyone to botcott Capital One Lowes cards
and avoid Lowes stores in for having their name put on a card that is associated with a lowsy
CC company. So to all who care or even think its worth it...Cut up the Lowes card and avoid
shopping there. You have to believe there is power in numbers.
thanks for reading ...bart

I too have transferred my balance from the Lowe's card.. Was promised 5.99% and all of a sudden jumped to 9.99%. Billing cycle also sucks.