After my cat developed an abscessed tooth earlier this year and needed veterinary care, I took her in to see the vet. She required anesthesia and a tooth extraction. I applied for CareCredit to pay her $316.95 bill. This was not done lightly, I do not apply for credit willy-nilly and this is the ONLY credit I currently have. At the time I had a job but was not making very much. The vet bill was the only thing I have ever put on my CareCredit card.

The first time I was late on a payment I started receiving phone calls, at least 3 a day, sometimes as many as 8 per DAY. GEMB wants their money! My APR went up to 28.99% (no big surprise, I was forewarned) and I was put on a payment plan with automatic deductions from my checking account. The problem here is that paying the minimum payment amount takes care of the interest and finance charge ($9 per month) ONLY and the credit balance remains largely unchanged. After about 3 months the payment plan ceased and GEMB simply sent me bills in the mail for payment. To date I have paid $234.20 on my card.

Today I am unemployed, 60 days late on payment and receiving at least 3 calls a day from GEMB. I recently answered the phone and learned that my card balance is currently $466 due to interest and fees when the original purchase was $316 and AFTER making $234 in payments. I attempted to explain what was going on to the collections person on the phone; he told me all he could do was put me on an automatic payment plan to be deducted from my bank account. I told him I have $10 in checking, none in savings and no cash, so an automatic payment plan was not feasible. I explained that I am eating Ramen noodles and 99 cent bread. I told him I was unemployed. He persisted, telling me that he needed my checking account numbers. I hung up. He attempted to call back twice within 5 minutes so he could try to get me to approve the payments.

This company is simply out to make money by f**king it's customers in any way it can. I hope GEMB goes down with the rest of the corrupt financial institutions in the US.