UsuryFree Creatives vs Home Depot

By Tom J. Kennedy

The self-imposed mssion of this author was to find out whether or not Home Depot is a Greedy Coropration Engaged in the Immoral and Evil Action of Exacting and Collecting Exhorbitant Amounts of Usury from Unsuspecting Consumers who sign up for Home Depot’s “interest-free” credit card???

What follows is a detailed report about how a couple of usuryfree creatives won a victory by resisting to pay the exhorbitant amount of usury exacted on their “interest-free” Home Depot credit card. One suspects that too many consumers are being taken advantage of by Home Depot because they do not read the fine print on Home Depot’s “interest-free” credit card nor are they consistent when they resist paying unnecessary “usury” being exacted on their credit card account.

Others are asking: "Is Home Depot credit card a scam?"

Usury, the ultimate destroyer of human potential is the greatest scam in history ever perpetrated upon an unsuspecting public. Everyone knows someone who is a victim of the evil and immoral design flaw of usury. Every year more and more farmers, fishermen, forestry workers, factory workers, miners as well as professionals are runied financially either directly or indirectly due to the evil and immoral function of usury as it is exacted within our orthodox, economic system of debt-money.

Within the above-listed groups of people who are harmed financially by the exacting of usury are those countless numbers of consumers who were persuaded to complete a “Consumer Credit Card Application” for Home Depot Credit Services. By using a catchy phrase “Get Instant Credit Now” with “No Payments, No Interest & No Fees for 6 Months” many consumers were cajoled into requesting a Home Depot Credit Card.

In the Summer of 2008, I learned about a couple who were preparing to embark on a major basement renovation. At that time, they were persuaded by Home Depot staff to complete a “Consumer Credit Card Application” as they were planning to spend a considerable amount of money for building materials. Some of their payments were deferred for six months, others for tweleve months and some for fourteen months.

Since the most important element of a credit card is the rate of zero interest (usury) they anticipated that the Home Depot credit card would be the optimal credit card to use when we were shopping at Home Depot. However, they have learned that Home Depot’s enticing benefits are trumped by their greedy 28.8% interest (usury) fees that are exacted when any monthly payment is one day late! How deceptive and deceitful the fine print can be!!

On the “Consumer Credit Card Application” it is written:

“Convenient for large and small projects alike, The Home Depot® Consumer credit card is an ideal addition to any toolbox. Apply today and make no payments (including zero interest) for six months on purchases of $299 or more (after taxes)*. Interest may accrue.**

On the “Consumer Credit Card Application” it is also written in ‘fine print’:

“Interest accrues from the purchase transaction date and will be waived if the purchase amount is paid in full by the plan expiration date. If not, interest will be charged at an Interest Rate of 28.8% per annum in accordance with the Cardholder Agreement.”

One must go back and read the fine print of the Cardholder Agreement to get the full story about the 28.8% fee of interest (usury) being exacted on the Home Depot credit card. One can only assume that thousands of unsuspecting Home Depot consumers are unknowingly trapped into the 28.8% fee of interest (usury) because they were one day late with a monthly payment on their “No Payments, No Interest & No Fees for 6 Months” Home Depot credit card.

From August 2008 until August 2009 this couple made the monthly due payments in full. Somehow on August 2, 2008 they got charged $69.76 (interest which ought to be correctly called usury) on their bill. They immediately telephoned the toll free number for Home Depot Credit Services and after reviewing their file and verifying that indeed they had made all monthly payments in full, this $69.76 usury fee was reversed. One commendable action by the “Big Orange.”

From August 2009 until June 24, 2010 they again made every monthly payment in full. On June 28th they had to go out of town on family matters and they did not return to Ottawa until the evening of July 6th, 2010. On July 7th, 2010, they went to Home Depot and paid $1306.26 which was a couple of days overdue.

On Friday, July 9, 2010 they received the Account Statement from Home Depot Credit Services which had a charge of $440.25 (interest or usury) charges. They were stunned at the exhorbitant (interest or usury) fees which were added to their Account Statement for July 2010.

They went to the Home Depot where they had purchased the merchandise to ask for an explanation of the exhorbitant usury fees. A cordial staff member there there telephoned the toll free number (1.800.747.3787) for Home Depot Credit Services. They waited 20 minutes on the phone to talk with a staff member named ‘Cozana’ with ID No. 4V0. His direct telephone line is: 1.519.642.9629.

Cozana repeatedly explained that the $440.25 was the amount of ‘accrued’ usury charges that were levied on the total amount of $1613.41 for the previous fourteen month period simply because when they were out of town for part of the last week of June and the first week of July 2010. Apparently, being one day late with a payment is reason enough for Home Depot’s rigid ‘creditor’ bureaucracy to inflict severe economic pain on its credit card debtors.

They explained to Cozana that they had been very good customers of Home Depot for more than two years and that they had spend a considerable amount of money on building materials and that they expected Home Depot to earn profits from selling merchandise. They added that they were absolutely opposed to paying interest or usury to Home Depot and that it was grossly unfair for such exhorbitant usury fees to be added to their bill since they had a good reason to be a couple of days late for the payments due on June 30th and July 2nd, 2010.

Cozana responded with a comment indicating that Home Depot Credit Services has the intention of making money by charging usury. Then they added, that hearsay has it that many of the giant, retail, transnational corporations are making more money from charging consumers “usury” than they are by selling merchandise.

At the end of the conversation they asked Cozana to waive the usury charges of $440.25. Cozana responded that Home Depot would only waive 50% of the usury charges. They then told him that they would like to talk with one of the managers at the Home Depot where they had purchased all of their building materials because they still want 100% of the usury fees waived - otherwise they will never shop at Home Depot again.

Additionally, they explained that they will contact some media sources for a follow up story and of course they said that they would be encouraging all of their family, friends and neighbours as well as their many friends in cyberspace NOT to shop at any Home Depot store in the future.

Before they left the Home Depot store on Friday, June 9th, they paid off the balance owing for merchandise that they purchased in the amount of $1401.22. They did not pay the $440.25 in usury fees. On Tuesday, July 13, 2010 they planned to hand deliver a letter with accompanying documents to one of the managers at the Home Depot with the hope of experiencing financial justice from the Home Depot corporation.

It is critical for all consumers to become re-educated about the design flaw of usury and how it wreaks havoc on debtors. Retail corporations (including Home Depot) that own the credit cards are scamming debtors for multiple millions of dollars by exacting the ridiculous amount of 28.8% usury fees on accumulated credit card debt.

According to Susan White: “The average credit card debt accumulated by a single person in 2010 is $7735. - as displayed at this website: http://www.kaycircle.com/What-is-the-average-Credit-Card-Debt-in-2010

Just imagine the amout of usury being exacted each month on the unpaid credit card balances of consumers. It is both immoral and criminal!!

Readers are invited to spend some time reading the articles posted at the blog titled “The UsuryFree Eye Opener” to fully understand why the design flaw of usury must be exposed for the evil, immoral and killer machine that it really is.

And readers are invited to watch the video titled “Money As Debt” at google video at this url:
 http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=5352106773770802849#

To read the letters sent to Home Depot re: usury resistance by these informed usuryfree creatives click here.