Not A Home Loan Problem-HFC Personal Loan Problem

[Joel Fraser]

In 2003 I was involved in a serious accident which killed my spouse and left me pretty messed up physically. Unfortunately my spouse was the major bread winner and resultant to the accident I became permanently disabled. In april 2004, I went to Household Finance Company "HFC" and took a personal loan in the amount of 5999.99 thinking of paying off all our credit cards and having one small payment. I opted for a closed loan i.e. not a revolving credit line. The terms were that I was to pay 162.35 for a total of 60 months and that if I paid only that min of 162.35 it would pay off the loan in the 60 months. I have never defualted, never been late and besides the min payment that is debitted automatically from my checking account, after the monthly billing cycle passes I send a seperate check usually anywhere from 12. to 50.. Presuming I sent only 12. and the min payment, I have so far sent them 8891.50. The apr is 21%. As of this date, the amount still owed according to HFC is 3700 and some odd change. I have argued with them that they are violating the contract that they made with me that paying the min amount will pay off the loan in 60 months. When ever I call them to complain, I get a lot of double talk to the effect of Bush changed the credit laws a couple of years ago thereby giving creditors the rights to change min payments up to threefold and ability to charge any amount of interest with no cap. Of course, HFC never ever sent me any notifications of changes in terms. At this rate the way things are going, certainly this loan will not be paid off in 60 months (5yrs) cuz it has already been 51 months and I still owe over 3700. The way I see it now, my only way out is bankruptcy....I have called my local banking commission whom regulates in my state of RI and have gotten no where with them, they seem to support the business and not the consumer. So is HFC unethical? YES! Is there anything I can do about it besides bankruptcy?