Consumer complaint received 2021-07-30
Company: OneMain Finance Corporation
State: GA
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Installment loan
Issue: Problem when making payments

Complaint:
In XXXX of XXXX, I obtained a loan for the amount of {$4300.00} from Onemain Financial an interest rate of XXXX percent per day. Around XXXX of XXXX, I defaulted on a payment. They attempted to pull the payment twice from my bank account but it did not go through. Around the beginning of XX/XX/XXXX, they attempted to pull the payment twice from my bank account again and each time not only did they incur NSF bank fees from my bank, Onemain added two additional returned check fees for the same XXXX payment ( one was an attempted try and the other was a retry ) even though attempting a third and fourth bank charge after two consecutive failures.

These actions were a violation of CFPB regulation on Prohibited Payment Transfer Attempts and not only were these attempts unauthorized but Onemain added an additional XXXX dollars in return check fees that was added to my principal balance which racked up additional interest charges. It was only after the fourth and last attempt in the year of XXXX to charge my bank account did Onemain stop charging my bank account for any future payments for that year : https : //www.consumerfinance.gov/rules-policy/regulations/1041/interp-8/ # : ~ : text=When % 20the % 20prohibition % 20in % 20 % C2 % A7 % 201041.8 % 20 % 28b % 29 % 20applies % 2C, the % 20lender % 20seeks % 20to % 20initiate % 20further % 20payment % 20transfers ) 5. 

I continued to struggle to make payments. The only relief or assistance to make those payments from Onemain Financial was to defer XX/XX/XXXX 's payment until XX/XX/XXXX 's due date with both XXXX and XXXX payments were due. This was not enough to assist me ( though this was due to my loss of income and would continue to be true with or without the deferral ) and help me get back on track and I did not make another payment until the end of XX/XX/XXXX. By this time, Onemain stated that I had a balance of about {$4200.00} and I continue to miss payments. It was almost 180 days of no payments before I reached out to Onemain Financial to settle the debt. 

According to federal law, a close end loan company is supposed to send accounts that are 120 days past due to collections. Indeed, when I called Onemain financial closer to the 180 days of nonpayment, which was around XXXX of XXXX, I was informed that the account was in collections. The amount that is sent for collections must have the entire amount listed as overdue, including any interest charges : ( https : //www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/rules/5000-1000.html ). 

At the end of XX/XX/XXXX, I received my divorce settlement and proceeded to contact creditors so that I could pay off my debt. Around the beginning of XXXX of XXXX, I contacted Onemain Financial to arrange a payment settlement. We reached an agreement of about {$2500.00}. I was informed that the debt was about {$4000.00} which I reported around XXXX and/or XXXX of XXXX and was confirmed by some copies of statements provided by Onemain that listed the amount of about {$4200.00} ( about and/or the same amount that was listed as due since XXXX of XXXX with minimum if any change ). 

I was informed that I would first have to bring the account out of collections and the amount I would have to pay would be about {$1200.00} and the rest of the settlement agreement that was again, settled for an agreed amount of about {$2500.00} would be made in six monthly payments. That payment was processed over the phone even though in a response to me made by Onemain Financial through the CFPB back in around XXXX of XXXX was that they had only spoken to me about my account about two times and the dates given that they spoke to me were about XXXX and XXXX of XXXX. However, my bank statement clearly shows a one time transaction by Onemain Financial on about the XXXX or XXXX of XXXX of XXXX and my emails prove that I did not sign up for an online account with Onemain Financial in XXXX until about XX/XX/XXXX. 

Indeed, it was during this time that I set up a XXXX month time period to pull payments from my bank account. This is an important fact because later of about XXXX of XXXX, in a representation of a statement provided by Onemain, they informed me they were going to continue to remove payments from my bank account even though the six month time period I had approved was due to expire in XXXX of XXXX and even after I verbally told them NOT to remove any money from my bank account in about XX/XX/XXXX after their agent yelled at me after a dispute of the account, insisting that the amounts owed were due to late fees and I told her that until they provided me with all requested documents of the account, they could not take anymore money from my account. She responded by hanging up on me. 

In about XXXX of XXXX, Onemain does admit through a CFPB response to me that I requested information on that date and that they did not send the requested documentation and explanations but was silent over the fact that I had told them not to take any more payments from my account. They did not send any paperwork to confirm my verbal notification to not pull any more money from my bank account and Onemain Financial continued to pull my money out of my bank account in the months of XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX of XXXX without my permission. They attempted twice to pull out payments from my account in XXXX of XXXX while for the month of XXXX they did not pull payments but instead sent me notification that they would continue to pull payments from my bank account even though they did not have written permission to pull from my bank account which should have ended in XXXX even if I had not told them to stop pulling money from my account in about XX/XX/XXXX. Yet, Onemain decided that they could and would pull unauthorized payments from my bank account and continue to pull money from my account in XXXX of XXXX after three failed attempts to pull money from my account ( twice in XXXX and once in XXXX of XXXX and this does not include the two attempted failures to pull money from my account back in XXXX of XXXX ). As the unauthorized attempts to pull money from my bank account continued, so did the returned check fees from Onemain ( which were added to my principle and accrued additional interest fees ) and the NSF charges from my bank.

The dispute over the account began after my principal balance had not come down. I believed at first that Onemain just needed some time to adjust the balance and that they would honor their payment settlement they established with me. I had trusted them to do the right thing and send me the paper work on the payment settlement and to adjust the balance according to the amounts I had paid to them. If the exact amount was
{$2500.00}, then the {$1200.00} should have brought down the balance to about {$1200.00}. Instead, the balance was at about {$3800.00} even though the balance given to me by Onemain Financial was about {$4000.00}. Even if a {$2500.00} payment settlement had not been made ( which it had been made ), my balance should have been about {$2900.00}, if the balance was indeed about {$4200.00} as reported on my credit report and likely as reported when it went to collections ( Onemain Financial refused to provide all documents they had on my account even after multiple requests but they still have not provided all the documents on my account ). For my balance to only have been brought down to about {$3800.00}, this would mean
that Onemain Financial considered my actual balance to be about {$5000.00}. This is almost or about a XXXX dollars more than the reported amount Onemain ( with all the additional interests that comes with such an amount ) stated I owed. None of my statements listed that I specifically owed that amount and the only possible way that it could have been that high had to be due to interests but Onemain consistently refused provide me with documents for the total amount of my balance. Instead, they provide a math calculation for interest and leave the consumer to work out the interest they may owe on their own. In fact, it took months for me to work it out due to having to guess which late fees they decided to add, with all the returned check fees they added to the principal. I spent more time attempting to figure out my balance with Onemain while prepping for a lawsuit from the debt buyer that Onemain sold the debt to as opposed to having time to search federal and state finance laws as a defense of that lawsuit.

Had Onemain been open and honest with me back in XXXX of XXXX, this debt would have been resolved because there was no way I wanted additional years of payments and high interest rates that came with that loan. Onemain should have been honest and provided the entire balance that I owed on the day that I called to make a settlement payment with them. If they were not willing to settle then they could have at least helped me bring my balance to where it should have been in XXXX of XXXX so that I would not continue to accrue high interest charges with about an additional year of payments that were not part of the original contract.

Had Onemain provided the information in XXXX of XXXX with at least an apology and legal and legitimate reason why they could not honor the {$2500.00} settlement agreement, then I would have paid the entire balance then when I had the money to pay the balance. Instead, I was yelled at and the agent hung up on me. Onemain chose not to send me the requested documents and they chose to take unauthorized payments from my accounts while charging me returned check fees from unauthorized payment attempts from my account. I lost that bank account ( though USAA does still provide me archive records of the account ) due to all the returned payments on that account, some that happened because Onemain decided they could make unauthorized charges to my bank account. Their continued actions against my bank account felt malicious and spiteful. None of this was in my best interests as a consumer.

Instead, it was in their best interests not to inform me of the entire balance I owed back in XXXX of XXXX when I first called them. It was in their best interests for me to continue to pay high interest fees on extended payments for almost a year and a half as if I had started the loan in XXXX of XXXX as opposed to XXXX of XXXX. Not only were their actions not in my best interest but their actions have caused grievous financial, emotional, and mental harm. 

Onemain has had since XXXX to make things right on my account. I requested true and accurate records of my account and balance, specifically what I was charged in interest. These documents have still not been provided. I have fought with them to correct my credit reports. They did not do as such until XXXX of XXXX when they only removed the information they had against me. They did not go back and correct any amounts that was not due to them. They made no attempts to right the most severe incidents of harm they committed against me. Instead, after XXXX of XXXX, XXXX XXXX, Onemain Financial 's buyer of my account went forward with a lawsuit against me. Instead, Onemain gave a perception that I had simply went online to catch up payments and I had no questions about my account other than a payoff quote. Then I just apparently went delinquent sometime after asking for paperwork and statements of my interest and other charges on my account before they had to send it to collections. My documentation proves that I had been in contact with Onemain before they said I contacted them from the payment of about {$1200.00} that was made before I established an online account, as does their own representation of XX/XX/XXXX 's billing statement that stated I had only set up online payments for six months, as does my email confirmations of enrolling in online payments on or about XX/XX/XXXX. They seem to have also forgotten that most of their withdrawal of payments from my banking account was unauthorized. 5 I suffer from a Major Depressive Disorder and anxiety. It is part of my VA XXXX rating which is about XXXX percent of my rating for VA XXXX pay. Prior to the lawsuit that was based on wrong information provided by Onemain Financial to XXXX XXXX, I already had been engaged in a custody fight with my ex-husband which could determine if I become homeless or not. This in on top of the stress I have in completing my classes for college. The lawsuit drained me and triggered severe XXXX and migraines that left me in bed for two days. I missed my court hearing even though a judgement from a lawsuit could destroy my attempts to obtain housing should I lose possession of the home I reside. XXXX XXXX won the lawsuit upon default but had Onemain Financial addressed the issues with the account as they were mandated by federal law to address then my account never would have gone to XXXX XXXX and I would not be facing homelessness or needing treatment for increased suicidal ideations. 

I did take out the loan with Onemain Financial. I did default on the loan with Onemain Financial. In XXXX, they did attempt to work with me to help me catch up on my payments ( even though they did make unauthorized charges to my bank account and added their own fees to the loan amount ). The default and serious delinquency on my account was and is entirely my fault. However, once I had the money to pay Onemain Financial, I did reach out to them and I did make good on my word to pay that initial payment of about {$1200.00} as proof that I was serious about paying off the debt. I did my best to make things right with Onemain Financial. I had trusted them to return the courtesy and help me settle the debt so I did not continue in a long term, high interest rate payment that dragged on for years. That was never my intent when I took out the loan. My intent had always been to pay off the loan once I obtained my divorce settlement. 

What I did not expect was for Onemain Financial to take unauthorized payments from my account after they refused to send me requested documentation of my account which was after they reached a settlement agreement with me only to renege upon that agreement and behave as though that settlement agreement never happened ( even though according to their own representation of their billing statement of XX/XX/XXXX, they do inadvertently admit to the six month online payments I established in XXXX of XXXX ). I did not expect for them to yell at me or hang up on me. I did not expect them to handle the issue according only to their best interests even though they already knew I had trouble making payments on that loan. 

Then they reported inaccurate statements on my credit reports that was allowed to remain for years even after I challenged them and only pulled them off after I complained to the CFPB. Then the lawsuit followed that was won against me - was only initiated based on the lack of correct information that Onemain refused to provide and I am left feeling powerless and insignificant because I do not have the resources or power that Onemain Financial has - especially the power to have a significant adverse effect on my life. Even though Onemain has been provided with years to make accurate updates to my account ( which would have brought the balance down closer to XXXX  if not XXXX dollars ). 

These behaviors are illegal, dishonest, and are nothing more than exploitation. It is long overdue for Onemain Financial to make this situation right.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation