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Add another large lender to the list of companies that want nothing more to do with the firearms business. GE Capital, the financing arm of the conglomerate, has been providing loans to firearms buyers through local gun stores since 2006. According to wsj.com, that’s all about to stop. “This month, Glenn Duncan, owner of Duncan’s Outdoor Store in Bay City, Mich., said he received a letter from GE Capital Retail Bank in which the lender said it had made ‘the difficult decision’ to stop providing financing services to his store. Other gun dealers have received similar notices.” GE actually stopped adding new gun dealer finance customers back in 2008, but continued to work with local gun stores they’d already signed up for their services. Now, they’re getting out entirely . . .

The wsj.com article implies that the Newtown shooting was just too close to home. GE’s based in Fairfield, Connecticut, “and many of the GE’s employees live around Newtown, and several have children in the Sandy Hook elementary school.” It’s also where Adam Lanza’s father works.

As for their stated reason, all GE Capital’s putting out is the usual corporatese: “‘Industry changes, new legislation and tragic events’ led GE Capital to reexamine its policies on financing firearms, spokesman Russell Wilkerson said.”

Will another privately owned, deep pocketed firm that’s not beholden to skittish investors step up to fill the void? Stay tuned.

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59 COMMENTS

  1. Wait….so people Who were trying to talk me into paying interest on a firearm are gonna hit the road? Let me be the first to say “Go get hit by a F***ING bus, GE Capital”.

    I’ve paid cash for every firearm I’ve ever owned, and always will. People Who make their money talking people into debt-slavery moralizing? That’s rich.

    • “People Who make their money talking people into debt-slavery moralizing? That’s rich.”

      EXCELLENT, Mike! It’s exactly as if they never heard of irony.

  2. Perfect! This will further incentivize a move towards competing currencies against the dollar hopefully, or at a minimum drive business to smaller/regional banks.

    Funny though, GE has no issue making money off arms sold to despotic governments, engaging in far worse acts than any private individual may or has committed.

    • I think I should make this known to anyone here who is contemplating leaving a gun-hostile place: The Virginia Legislature has a plan moving forward for Virginia to adopt a second currency, because the Dollar has been taking down into utter ruination, by design.

      By “design”, I mean it’s a plan by the Criminal Banking Cartel to drive the dollar into oblivion, so that banksters can buy up EVERYTHING at scant pennies on the dollar. Yes, I mean they are working to OWN EVERYTHING.

      • william, it reminds me of what they did following the civil war with the implementation of the gold standard and demonetization of silver.

        it will be the largest land grab in history. unlike previous times in history, heads will roll and blood will color the streets.

  3. Actually, this all makes perfect sense, if you wear a tin hat. The major investment banks (including Chase, Bank of America and others) sold the country down the river with mortgage derivatives (and from what I’ve read, they are still doing it after the crash); if a depression hits, they will be to blame. All the more sense, then, for them to try to limit the arms market before the next collapse and the headhunting that follows. It’s insurance, if you will; disarm the dispossessed before it’s too late.

    • It’s a little more straightforward than that. First, the people who run big firms tend to be liberal. They don’t need much persuasion to stop supporting any position that liberals hate, or start supporting any position that liberals love. Second, big firms care a lot about PR because consumers’ perception affects their bottom line significantly.

      Taking these two things together, it’s easy to understand why GE Capital did what it did.

      Of course, they’re idiots. I’m just trying to shed a little light on what they would consider their justification.

      • “First, the people who run big firms tend to be liberal.”

        Yeah, all those hippie billionaire CEOs…

        In reality, the people who run big firms just tend to be risk-averse. GE Capital probably makes a pittance on this finance-a-gun business (do you know anyone who’s ever financed a firearm through them?), compared to the rest of their business. Why risk some activist getting all worked up and generating bad press for them over nickels and dimes? Or, worst case scenario: one of the guns they financed gets used by a spree killer. That’s a PR nightmare.

        • You just don’t know the facts. Are you not aware that the employees of Goldman Sachs contributed more to Obama in 2008 than any other employees of a single firm? Are you not aware that all the hedge funds and all of Wall Street backed Obama in 2008?

          You can equate billionaires with political conservatism if that tickles your fancy, but the reality is that a billionaire nowadays is much more likely to be liberal, especially in the financial world.

  4. My how the mighty have fallen. 35 odd years after making a gun so amazing they added a plane as an accessory to it, they seem to have too weak of a stomach for small arms for the populous that paid in to fund it’s goverment contracts.

    • Inoffensive version: GE’s just paying back the Administration and Senate for the stunningly large TARP funding they received. They accidentally became a finance company. Now they don’t dare live without the gov ‘backstop.’

  5. If this is financing offered to individual buyers then this is not very serious. However, if this is the commercial credit that the store owner needs to keep new merchandise coming in and payrolls going out then it is a very big deal. Hope all affected shops find local firearm-friendly financing soon.

  6. The worst part about this is if all the gun owners stopped doing buisness with these banks it wouldn’t do a damn thing the goof gov that’s all for the people would just steal more money from us to give them bailouts.

    • All the President’s Men in South Side Chicago pay $50 for their guns on the street. Don’t need no stinkin’ financing.

  7. GE has been offering 0% financing for many years. Seems like most small businesses that offer financing to customers do so through a partnership with GE Capital. The way it works is that you get a [typically] 12 month loan with 0% interest and 0 payments due. BUT… 12 month + 1 day later, if you haven’t paid the loan off in its entirety, you’re hit with a bill for ALL of the interest that accrued during the 12 month period. It’s only interest free if you pay it off in full. My guess is that the kinds of folks who buy guns are the kind of folks who pay off these loans properly, and get away with taking a year to pay for something at zero interest instead of forking out up front. I bet GE wasn’t making much off this program to this category of people anyway 😉

    • The retailer pays a discount fee to GE for the 12 months same as cash. While GE does run promotional financing rates, the standard discount is around 4-5% of the sales price. $1000 financed is $40-50 to GE off the top and heaven forbid the purchaser is a day late or does not pay the balance in full per the agreement, all the accrued interest is tagged onto the balance.

  8. I had a motorcycle loan through GE. Believe me, nobody is missing out if they stop loaning money for firearms. (I have a hard time grasping the concept of getting a loan for a <$1000 purchase, but that's another subject)

    I was on vacation once and was 2 days late mailing in a payment – the nasty phone calls started one day after the due date. They don't have any online payment system (for my loan anyways) so I'm forced to mail an actual check.

    Please, folks don't go in debt for a gun – save for a month or two, get a Hi-Point if you're really in fear of your life *right now* and don't have room on the Visa card.

    I'm just sayin'

    • Begging your pardon, but the article is about how G.E. is denying loans to gun stores, not consumer loans.

      • You may be right, but this quote from above makes it sound like consumer-level loans:

        “GE Capital, the financing arm of the conglomerate, has been providing loans to firearms buyers through local gun stores since 2006. “

  9. So who wants to start pooling money together to start a firearms financing company? Sounds like a good investment to me. If everyone else pulls out of a market for non business reasons lots of money is left on the table.

  10. I was an employee of GE for 30 years and supported the products and the company. Based on GE Capital’s decision to not provide credit to gun shops I will attempt to avoid purchasing or supporting any GE products in the future. Understand that GE Capital backs numerous branded credit cards so if you disagree with this decision you should check who provides the credit for your branded credit cards. If you find it’s GE you may want to stop using it.
    I will not be purchasing any GE products and will do whatever I can to convince others to do the same.

  11. GE capital folded shop (and it its tail) after the subprime mortgage blow out and moved to the land of hope and glory.

    Immelt is a douche.

  12. GE are the biggest crony capitalists out there. I’ve been actively avoiding their products on principle for years.

  13. Don’t forget that the head of GE is a good friend of our current President. So, it’s probably not a coincidence that they stopped signing new stores back in ’08 and are now finally able to terminate the pre-existing contracts. Just another way to squeeze out the firearms business.

  14. I didn’t even know you could finance a gun purchase. Ya, I’ll take that LWRC REPR over there. 50 year financing, please.

  15. Sounds like a stellar opportunity for the fine folks at TTAG to branch out into the firearms finance business. Set the interest rates for the loans based on actual costs directly associated with the enterprise and say ½ percent interest to cover unforeseen expenses and gradually expand the loan base.
    Initial funding could be as simple as merely providing the thousands of visitors to TTAG a place to send one or more IIA Bucks just to help get things rolling.
    Just let us know and count me in.
    ***
    As an aside, I recently encountered a man in Military uniform. Taking the opportunity as presented, I shook his hand and said “Thank you for your service.” He smiled and said, “Thank you for your support.”
    ****

    Conscience, Morality and Rights, my good friends, that’s what it’s really all about.
    Gw

  16. GE has deep pockets? Interesting, considering they are $400 billion in debt… No longer a AAA rated company (should be A+ in my opinion), and a crony capitalist corporation. Their lobbyists are sharks, I know, because I use to have to deal with them.

    Well as a long time stock owner, I may have to re-evaluate my portfolio. Sad, in a way, since one member of my extended family has always worked for GE over the last 90+ years or so.

  17. GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt is squarely in bed with Obama. This action was undoubtedly requested by the regime and, like a good little boot-licker, Immelt happily agreed.

    • This is quite possible. Unless for some reason they weren’t making money with the gun loans. I’m pretty sure that Buds used these guys. I remember there were certain guns they didn’t offer finance on. Some ARs I’m thinking?

      • I believe that GE Capital has more to do with floorplanning (funding inventory) than individual purchases. To deny a store owner the ability to stock their shelves or place a semi-annual bulk purchase is far more effective than simply limiting end-user consumer credit.

  18. I have been boycotting GE products and appliances for years the ass-clowns can’t make a refrigerator, electric stove or dishwasher to last if there lives depended on it…..and don’t get me started on Panasonic…

  19. I work with the guys from Platinum Payment Services (I currently manage client service for National Marketing, an affiliate) and I know they would love to have this business. You can contact them at 866-568-2862.

  20. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_central_banking_in_the_United_States
    Some Founding Fathers were strongly opposed to the formation of a central banking system; the fact that England tried to place the colonies under the monetary control of the Bank of England was seen by many as the ‘last straw’ of English oppression and that it led directly to the American Revolutionary War.

    http://www.xat.org/xat/moneyhistory.html
    http://www.xat.org/xat/usury.html
    ( Federal Reserve ) It is not Federal and it has doubtful reserves. The name is an open deception designed to give this private bank the appearance that it is operating in the public’s interest, when in fact it is run solely to gain private profit for its select stock holders.

    • “the fact that England tried to place the colonies under the monetary control of the Bank of England was seen by many as the ‘last straw’ of English oppression and that it led directly to the American Revolutionary War.”

      ^this paragraph should be read over and over again. Unsurprisingly, we didnt learn about it in public school.

      Yes, the revolution was fought to rid ourselves of the central banking interests in england.

      • And what DID we learn in public school history classes, apart from lefty propaganda?

        And economic knowledge of even the most basic sort is not taught, either.

  21. I just cancelled my Dick’s Sporting Goods MasterCard issued by GE Capital. I know… I should have cancelled it back in December, but this was the final straw. The only frustrating part was that I was able to cancel the card over the phone without ever talking to a human being and being able to tell them why I was closing the account.

  22. f^ck GE

    “In 1946 General Electric was fined by the US government owing to its nefarious wartime activities. In partnership with Krupp, a German manufacturing firm, General Electric deliberately and artificially raised the price of tungsten carbide, a material that was vital for machining metals necessary for the war effort. Though only fined $36,000 in total, General Electric made around $1.5 million out of this scam in 1936 alone, hampering the war effort and increasing the cost of defeating the Nazis. GE also bought shares in Siemens before war broke out, making them complicit in the use of slave labor to build the very same gas chambers where many of the stricken laborers met their end.”

  23. Were people under the impression that GE isn’t evil? I try to avoid GE at all costs, just look up their history. The lying, cheating, stealing, worthless pile of goo that started it should be enough for people to not have anything to do with them.

  24. I am libertarian enough to believe a company should not have to serve anyone they choose not to. If GE doesn’t want to have gun purchases as a customer field, so be it. But I do question why this moral superiority goes only one way….within the week I have read about a Washington state florist sued by the state and by the ACLU for refusing to provide service to a gay wedding. Where is the left’s applause and support for this small business person standing up for individual rights and religious freedom?
    Perhaps her campaign contributions weren’t as large as
    GE Capital?
    Perhaps that was the only florist in Washington state so the couple had no other alternatives?
    Perhaps individual freedom is only supported for those who agree with the left?

  25. The article is firewalled at the WSJ so I can’t read it. I’ve dealt with GE Capital in the past and the first thing that I thought about was that Gun Store owners would be using GE Capital to finance inventory, just like car dealers. Car dealers call it a “Floor Plan”.

    Inventory finance works like a revolving door. You use financing to buy inventory. They (GE) give you a grace period of say 90-days before you pay anything, interest accrues after the first 30-days. You sell some of the inventory and pay off some of the debt, not all of it, and only then, they (GE) start making money off interest.

    Everything is peachy and they lend you more to buy more inventory so the door keeps revolving. But what if you can’t get any more inventory? The revolving door stops, you can’t pay and they wont lend you anymore….

  26. I have an HH Gregg card I use every couple years or so to upgrade electronics (camera’s, TV’s, etc). I use it because of the 0% deal and I pay the balance off before I get hit with the interest charges.

    But in light of this I think I’ll cancel the card. I have BillMeLater which offers the same benefits (albeit with fewer merchants). Or I can just stay my impulses and save up the cash first which is what I probably should be doing anyway. Saving up for a new gun safe right now and resisting the MIGHTY urge to go charge it.

    Also most gun stores offer a layaway policy thats usually a 10% down 90 days to pay off arrangement.

  27. This from a government defense contracting company. Hmmm.
    I never liked GE Cap anyhow. Interest rates were too darn high. Service lousy.

  28. Hey everyone. First post here.

    Just to let everyone know, CareCredit is part of GE Capital. CareCredit, up until now, has been a good medical financing option for patients, and it’s offered at many dental and medical offices across America. Time to find an alternative, and talk to your dentist. I can’t speak for MD’s, but most dentists are on the right side of the political spectrum. They will probably be right there with you on boycotting CareCredit.

  29. What I hate about GE Credit is the constant ‘nickel-and-diming’ they do. I’ve paid out a debt with them and every month I still get a statement for 97 cents or 50 cents. It must cost them 5-10 times that to generate and post the statement. If a company constantly requests payments that won’t cover the costs of generating the invoice, investors should take their money elsewhere as the company isn’t very financially responsible. Penny wise but pound foolish.

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