First America Credit - Need help/advice
Date: Fri, 11/19/2010 - 11:08
I will try to make this as short as possible but it is a little long and complicated. Hopefully the experts on here can provide me with some advice on how to handle this situation.
To start off, I received a $500 loan from First America Credit earlier this year. So far I have paid back $130. I live New York, am a full time New York resident and am a self employed consultant.
I took out this loan from FAC because I needed to bridge a gap between payments from one of my customers. FAC required me to scan and email in my drivers license, bank debit card and bank statement. Since I'm self employed and don't issue myself a paystub they wanted to see that I made regular deposits to my bank account and that I haven't had any recent NSF's, so they required me to send them three months of statements which I did.
Once my first payment came due I logged into my FAC account and chose to pay the whole loan balance off including the small interest and cash advance fee that they charge. On the due date the money was withdrawn from my bank account and I was pleased with the service because it saved me from having take out an advance on one of my credit cards. Than the crap hit the fan. FAC emailed/texted/called me about a week later to tell me that my payment was returned for NSF, which it wasn't. I checked my bank account and the payment was never returned/reversed back into my account. I contacted my bank and they immediately put a tracer on the payment. I scanned and emailed FAC my bank statement showing the payment cleared and asked them to give me a few weeks for the bank to figure out where the money went. They said that wasn't a problem and that they would put my account on hold for a month. Great, or so I thought.
For the next month FAC attempted to withdraw from my account over 20 times, each time reulting in a $29 fee from my bank for NSF. I had a little over $200 in my account but that was quickly wiped out by the withdrawal attempts because they were attempting to withdraw the entire balance payment I had initiated. I immediately contacted them after I noticed the first NSF and they refused to stop. My bank wouldn't allow me to close my account until the issue with the missing payment was solved. I put a block on FAC from hitting my bank account but they simply just changed the amount they were trying to withdraw by a few dollars to bypass the block I had placed on them.
After a month my bank finally retrieved my money. Apparently it was held up in the system for some reason, not my fault at all. Unfortunately they put it back in my bank account and it was eaten by my negative balance from FAC's withdrawal attempts. My bank refused to forgive the NSF fees they charged me but they did let me close the account and open a new one with a new debit card once I brought my balance to zero.
I contacted FAC with the information from my bank and asked them if they would reimburse me for some of the NSF fees resulting from their incompetence and they obviously refused. Not only that, they also charged me a $30 NSF fee to my FAC account for each failed attempt. My FAC account balance was well over 1K for a $500 loan. FAC constantly was sending me texts on my cell and leaving nasty messages on my cell phone. Than one day they offered me a deal. If I brought my account balance current which would require paying the past due amount of $130, than they would credit my FAC account $200 which would cover some of the NSF fees from my bank. Not all of them, but atleast some. I wasn't ready to give them my new banking information/debit card number so I went and purchased a prepaid card to make the $130 payment.
What a surprise, after making the payment FAC refused to honor their deal and credit my FAC balance $200. They said the deal had expired and was only good for 24 hours which was never stated in their email/texts or phone call. I made the payment 3 days after the offer was made. Not only that, but they attempted to charge my prepaid card multiple times after I made the payment but there wasn't any money left on the card. With a Greendot prepaid card you can see all the declined transactions and they tried over 30 times to withdraw more money. Anyway, feeling deceived and cheated I have refused to pay them another dime. It is my belief that they have cost me enough through NSF fees from my bank and my one payment that I don't need to pay them anymore. Am I justified in feeling this way? I mean in total they have cost me over $750.
So a few months go by without hearing from them and than all of a sudden I get an email and voicemail from FAC telling me that I fraudulently filled out my application. They said that the employer I filled out on the application hasn't employed me since 2006. The crazy thing is they are correct, I did leave that job in 2006 but I sure as hell didn't fill out the application using that employer. As I stated above, I'm self-employed and that is what I put on the application which is why I had to send them 3 months of bank statements. Anyway, I go on to find out from my prior employers HR department that they sent them a wage assignment request and also provided them with a false paystub from this year! I was shocked. The HR department was suspicious and understandably but they just contacted me to let me know that someone may have stolen my identity. FAC created a false paystub with my informtion and than in turn said that is what I sent to them. I immediately contacted FAC to send me a copy of the paystub and of course they have no clue what I'm talking about.
This month they have been calling my house multiple times asking for me. They have even called asking for my parents and brother who is very young. They than called my neighbor looking for me. Isn't it against the law for them to contact your neighbor?
Well, sorry for the lengthing story but I wanted to make sure I got every little detail in. Is there anything I can do to get them to stop calling my parents house and neighbor? Are they legal to lend in New York? Are there any templates for an email I can send them to get them to stop harassing me? and do I have a leg to stand on legally not to pay them another dime?
Thanks for any help you can provide.
To start off, I received a $500 loan from First America Credit earlier this year. So far I have paid back $130. I live New York, am a full time New York resident and am a self employed consultant.
I took out this loan from FAC because I needed to bridge a gap between payments from one of my customers. FAC required me to scan and email in my drivers license, bank debit card and bank statement. Since I'm self employed and don't issue myself a paystub they wanted to see that I made regular deposits to my bank account and that I haven't had any recent NSF's, so they required me to send them three months of statements which I did.
Once my first payment came due I logged into my FAC account and chose to pay the whole loan balance off including the small interest and cash advance fee that they charge. On the due date the money was withdrawn from my bank account and I was pleased with the service because it saved me from having take out an advance on one of my credit cards. Than the crap hit the fan. FAC emailed/texted/called me about a week later to tell me that my payment was returned for NSF, which it wasn't. I checked my bank account and the payment was never returned/reversed back into my account. I contacted my bank and they immediately put a tracer on the payment. I scanned and emailed FAC my bank statement showing the payment cleared and asked them to give me a few weeks for the bank to figure out where the money went. They said that wasn't a problem and that they would put my account on hold for a month. Great, or so I thought.
For the next month FAC attempted to withdraw from my account over 20 times, each time reulting in a $29 fee from my bank for NSF. I had a little over $200 in my account but that was quickly wiped out by the withdrawal attempts because they were attempting to withdraw the entire balance payment I had initiated. I immediately contacted them after I noticed the first NSF and they refused to stop. My bank wouldn't allow me to close my account until the issue with the missing payment was solved. I put a block on FAC from hitting my bank account but they simply just changed the amount they were trying to withdraw by a few dollars to bypass the block I had placed on them.
After a month my bank finally retrieved my money. Apparently it was held up in the system for some reason, not my fault at all. Unfortunately they put it back in my bank account and it was eaten by my negative balance from FAC's withdrawal attempts. My bank refused to forgive the NSF fees they charged me but they did let me close the account and open a new one with a new debit card once I brought my balance to zero.
I contacted FAC with the information from my bank and asked them if they would reimburse me for some of the NSF fees resulting from their incompetence and they obviously refused. Not only that, they also charged me a $30 NSF fee to my FAC account for each failed attempt. My FAC account balance was well over 1K for a $500 loan. FAC constantly was sending me texts on my cell and leaving nasty messages on my cell phone. Than one day they offered me a deal. If I brought my account balance current which would require paying the past due amount of $130, than they would credit my FAC account $200 which would cover some of the NSF fees from my bank. Not all of them, but atleast some. I wasn't ready to give them my new banking information/debit card number so I went and purchased a prepaid card to make the $130 payment.
What a surprise, after making the payment FAC refused to honor their deal and credit my FAC balance $200. They said the deal had expired and was only good for 24 hours which was never stated in their email/texts or phone call. I made the payment 3 days after the offer was made. Not only that, but they attempted to charge my prepaid card multiple times after I made the payment but there wasn't any money left on the card. With a Greendot prepaid card you can see all the declined transactions and they tried over 30 times to withdraw more money. Anyway, feeling deceived and cheated I have refused to pay them another dime. It is my belief that they have cost me enough through NSF fees from my bank and my one payment that I don't need to pay them anymore. Am I justified in feeling this way? I mean in total they have cost me over $750.
So a few months go by without hearing from them and than all of a sudden I get an email and voicemail from FAC telling me that I fraudulently filled out my application. They said that the employer I filled out on the application hasn't employed me since 2006. The crazy thing is they are correct, I did leave that job in 2006 but I sure as hell didn't fill out the application using that employer. As I stated above, I'm self-employed and that is what I put on the application which is why I had to send them 3 months of bank statements. Anyway, I go on to find out from my prior employers HR department that they sent them a wage assignment request and also provided them with a false paystub from this year! I was shocked. The HR department was suspicious and understandably but they just contacted me to let me know that someone may have stolen my identity. FAC created a false paystub with my informtion and than in turn said that is what I sent to them. I immediately contacted FAC to send me a copy of the paystub and of course they have no clue what I'm talking about.
This month they have been calling my house multiple times asking for me. They have even called asking for my parents and brother who is very young. They than called my neighbor looking for me. Isn't it against the law for them to contact your neighbor?
Well, sorry for the lengthing story but I wanted to make sure I got every little detail in. Is there anything I can do to get them to stop calling my parents house and neighbor? Are they legal to lend in New York? Are there any templates for an email I can send them to get them to stop harassing me? and do I have a leg to stand on legally not to pay them another dime?
Thanks for any help you can provide.
They have illegally lent you the money in New York. Remember, al
They have illegally lent you the money in New York. Remember, all PDL lending are illegal in the state of New York. Have you filed complaints with the New York State Banking Department and your states' AG? You should do that as these are the 2 authorities who may help you to fight against this illegal PDL lender.
Go through the following link to get a letter template which you can send to the PDL lender and how to deal with them: http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/paydayloan/illegal-pdl-dealings.html.
Thanks for the response and link. In your opinion should I pay
Thanks for the response and link.
In your opinion should I pay them the difference between the $500 loan and the $130 I already paid them or do you think I should refuse further payment?
Also, isn't the way they are handling this illegal? Calling my neighbors and parents house when I never listed either as a reference on my application? I don't even talk to my neighbor.
They also state they aren't a PDL, they are an installment loan and perfectly legal. And what about the paystub they created, isn't that totally crazy?
I'm just curious if anyone out there has had the same things happen to them with FAC?
Thanks!
