Consumer complaint received 2023-01-06
Company: Universal Account Servicing, LLC
State: CA
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Installment loan
Issue: Problem with the payoff process at the end of the loan

Complaint:
This pertains to XXXXXXXX XXXX  XXXX, their XXXX XXXX XXXX, and XXXX  ( " the company '' ). Essentially, the company did not notify or communicate regarding my card being declined, and therefore not used for auto-pay, on the date that auto-pay was set to occur. They claim communications happened on their end. However, I did not receive any communications as described below. Moreover, after the card was declined, they then processed a payment for a lower amount. This, in turn, meant I did not pay off the loan in time for a promotional period that would have meant I did not have to pay interest, resulting in my having to pay all of that interest. I would like to resolve this matter by being made whole for the interest paid. Details are described below. 

I have made $ 150 monthly payments from XXXX 2022 to XX/XX/ 2022, with the goal of then providing the final payment in XXXX for the loan. This was in alignment with the original promotional that I was taking action pursuant to. Under the promotion, there was no interest until 12 months after the contract was signed, and when the promotional ended all of the accrued interest is due at 24.99 % APR if the loan had not been paid in full. As is evinced by my payment record, I was on track to complete the payment fo the loan within the promotional period and thereby pay off the loan with no interest. 

Originally, the final payment was scheduled for auto-pay, as usual, on XX/XX/XXXX. This would have been in the amount of {$290.00} to make the final payment within the promotional period of 12 months, ending on XX/XX/XXXX. The card was declined and I was not notified. However, the company then subsequently processed a payment on XX/XX/XXXX, but for a lower amount of {$96.00}. They did not notify me that the card was declined, or that this payment was made in the lower amount. The critical aspect is that this was insufficient to meet the amount I had originally set for the auto-pay payment, thereby making me fail to pay off the right amount of {$290.00}. This meant that I had, then, failed to pay off the amount within the promotional period, incurring the payment of the full interest accrued thus far for {$260.00}. Given that I had been making all payments using their auto-pay system, there was no reason I should suspect any issue for the final payment, and expected notification if it did not proceed as normal. 

The company had never before failed to notify of auto-pay or other matters. However, their communications went dark in XXXX, right at the moment when they should have notified me of the last auto-pay reminder, the card decline, or my monthly e-statement. The final auto-pay reminder I received was on XX/XX/XXXX. The last communication I received was on XX/XX/XXXX. I have not cleared my junk folder since XXXX, so there is no evidence that it went to the wrong folder and was deleted. 

Hence, there are two main failures of the company. First, they had notified me of all events prior to XXXX, but right at the moment when the final payment truly mattered, they did not communicate any problems. I relied on their prior notifications and communications that payments were successfully being made. Second, whether with intent or not, the card was declined and then, critically, it was subsequently still billed, albeit for the lower amount, whereby the interest would kick in. Put differently, the auto-pay amount I had scheduled was not upheld as I thought it would be for the correct amount. None of this, again, was communicated to me. Importantly, even if the card was originally declined, it still should have processed the amount I set up when it did ultimately process a payment for a lower amount ( disqualifying me from the promotion ). In essence, I relied on their timely communications as well as their auto-pay system and, negligently, the company failed to notify or utilize the auto-pay amount that I had properly set up. But for this failure by the company, I would have paid off the loan and avoided the interest. 

I do not know if this was intentional or malicious, but it was, at least, negligent. It was a breach of their duties. I would like to seek a refund of the interest balance of {$260.00}, which I have paid.

Company public response: Company believes complaint is the result of an isolated error
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation