Consumer complaint received 2020-06-09
Company: ACIMA CREDIT, LLC
State: FL
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Installment loan
Issue: Charged fees or interest you didn't expect

Complaint:
Dear Sir or Madam, On XX/XX/XXXX, I purchased a Scuba regulator set including yoke, first stage, octopus and dive computer from XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX   XXXX, FL. I have had a relationship with this shop for about 3 years. A few days before I asked a staff member for any short term credit options that were zero interest or same as cash and I was provided with information for Acima Credit. I filled out an online application for Acima was approved and a few days later went to the shop to pick up my gear. 

The staff member on site was unable to work the register for the Acima credit sale or provide me with a receipt or invoice before I left and due to our long standing relationship I was comfortable with working out the details with them later. Later that evening his colleague called me and sent me a link for me to sign the agreement with Acima and finalize the sale. The link took me to a webpage where I was asked to sign electronically and payment information was given. The payment information gave the dollar amount and a biweekly payment frequency and information about the total cost if I did not pay off the loan during the 90 day period. The link did not provide access to a draft of the full agreement. 

Acima is terming this transaction a lease even though it is clearly a point of sale financing as neither myself nor XXXX XXXX XXXX had any understanding that I would return the equipment to them at the end of a certain period. I image this is to avoid certain regulatory requirements if this transaction was correctly described as a financing for a purchase of goods. 

I was then asked to pay {$26.00} to complete the transaction. I assumed this was a downpayment and the webpage did not indicate otherwise. Only after paying this amount did I receive an email with a link from which I could download a copy of the agreement. They inserted my electronic signature into the document even though I had not seen it before this time. I was busy and did not access the website at the time. 

Yesterday, in scheduling my payment online for the credit card I used to pay this bill I discovered that Acima had initiated a cash advance and not a purchase charge for which XXXX XXXX  had charged me an additional {$10.00} fee. To their credit, they reversed this charge, moved the {$26.00} from a cash advance to a purchase and removed the interest accrued since the charge. 

At this point I logged into the Acima website and discovered that the payoff amount that they had listed was {$1300.00}. The actual purchase was only {$1100.00} inclusive of {$70.00} Florida sales tax. Acima grossed up the sales price to {$1200.00} without giving any notice of why they were doing so or what other fees that they had rolled into the cost of the merchandise. They then charged me a {$25.00} prepayment penalty and tax of {$80.00} despite the fact that sales tax was already included in the original purchase. In total I paid {$170.00} in undisclosed fees on top of my original purchase amount of {$1100.00}. 

I spoke with an XXXX at Acima yesterday attempting to get this sorted out. His only response was that I had signed the document and everything was disclosed in it. As I have stated above the document was not available to be viewed until after I had already signed electronically and paid what I thought was a downpayment. 

This company is operating with deceptive business practices. They are not disclosing fees upfront as they are required to do by TILA or CCPA. They are also guilty of misrepresentation. I entered into this agreement because I believed it to be a 90 day same as cash financing offer Had the exorbitant fees been disclosed there is no way that I would have entered into any agreement with this company. 

I doubt that I am the only consumer that has been taken advantage of by their deceptive practices. Acima failed to fully and accurately disclose to me the terms related to the transaction, were misleading in the documentation process, hid critical terms, and deceptively added excessive additional charges in order to enhance profit. Clearly, Acima is engaged in fraudulent and misleading trade practices. Please investigate Acimas business procedures and take whatever punitive action that you deem appropriate. Also, please order them to return the {$170.00} in undisclosed fees to me as soon as possible. 

Attached for your convenience are the invoice from XXXX XXXX XXXX, the Acima agreement received after the fact, and the Acima receipt for payment in full. 

Let me know if I can provide any further help in your investigation.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation