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That is exactly a balloon payment loan, commonly called things like "Smart Buy" by GM. The ones I've seen give you the option to either pay the lowered payment like a lease and then turn the car in, or pay the balloon payment at the end and keep the car.
While it sounds like you clearly didnt get what you had wanted, you're looking at the math incorrectly here: When you wanted to pay say $13k for the car, if you financed that over say 48 months on a normal car loan, of say 8%, that winds up being a payment of $317.37 for a total of $15,233.66. Now, being that this is GM, if you have decent credit you should qualify for 0% financing or whatever current promotion they have, and at the end of the day you're not going to pay much interest on a $13k car anyway, but you cannot look at the sum of the payments on a car and compare that to the price of the car. In this case, the deal clearly doesnt work out being anywhere near attractive. For some, the reduction in payment of roughly $100/mo is enough to overlook the fact that one would be paying a $7k balloon payment at the end, but anyone remotely wise in their finances would recognize that this is not a good deal.
That said, I would first call the dealer and talk to the GM, if that doesnt get you far enough, call Pontiac and/or GM corporate consumer affairs and file a formal complaint against one of their dealers and/or consult your state's attorney general. A firm letter from an attorney would likely end this situation if you have a friend who would be willing to write it.
I would first call and talk to the GM nicely, but firmly, and explain that it appears one of the sales or financing gentlemen did not take care of your purchase properly and ask what he's willing to do to make things right. You might wind up with the car even cheaper after the mistake.
Patrick
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