HFC/Beneficial ,HSBC Bank Unrequested Loans by mail - Preditory Lending Wilmington Delaware

When I was roughly 20 years old, living 18 hrs away from home as a broke college student, I randomly received a check in the mail in the amount of $6,000 from Beneficial Finance. Naturally, as a young broke college student, I immediately deposited the check into my bank account and subsequently opened myself a line of credit w/ Beneficial that would follow me for years. It's been nearly 10 years now and over those years I have made my payments faithfully totalling nearly $12K. I have paid back DOUBLE what was borrowed, however due to the SKY HIGH INTEREST RATE and my inability to pay much more then the minimum amount due ($150/mo), my balance is STILL $6,000.

I have tried several times to speak with reps from this company but each time I get a rude unit manager saying "You made the decision to cash the check, now you have to live with it." I would have NEVER made the decision to cash the check if this preditory company hadn't ran my name through apre-screening database that I never authorized then sent me a check that I never requested and wasn't mature enough to think of the consiquences.

Hindsite truly is 20/20 and I've learned a lesson for myself, but it's unacceptable that companies in this country can get away with marketing tactics like this. We all wonder why debt is such a growing epidemic in this country and aside from a lack of education and too much greed, the fact that companies are allowed to practice such habits as these is another contributing factor.

I would love to talk to a lawyer about this and somehow force this company and others like it to change their practices. We need a make over in American Corporations - - - they need to CARE for the consumer rather then rip them off!!! REDICULOUS!

Disappointed consumer
Pensacola, Florida
U.S.A.