Consumer complaint received 2018-05-16
Company: MARINER FINANCE, LLC
State: PA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: I do not know
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Told you not to respond to a lawsuit they filed against you

Complaint:
Please reference complaint XXXX for the underlying story. Since then the company has responded by stating that I signed a stipulation on XX/XX/XXXX. I was on a recorded three way conference call with Mariner finance branch manager, and the law firm representing them. The law firm has sent me no verification of debt at any point and moved to file a complaint in XX/XX/XXXX. Through failure to communicate with Mariner the outside law firm proceeded with the lawsuit not realizing that I had already been in the middle of a payment agreement with Mariner. Mariner has verified that the balance on my loan was for SIGNIFICANTLY less than the first stipulation that was sent to me ( again without  verification, notice of right to dispute, and of that ) so I asked the attorney in XX/XX/XXXX to draw up a new stipulation if he wanted me to sign it. He said not to act until he contacted me and all the while I was still actively paying Mariner for the loan on the terms i worked out directly with the Branch. A lack of communication between the lender and the outside firm led the outside firm to reinstate the complaint in XX/XX/XXXX. I had an answer and New Matter drawn up to file when I again contacted the branch manager and the outside firm on a recorded three way conference call where the lender admitted all of this was because of miscommunication and I in good faith had the manager verify with the firm that the amounts requested on these stipulations were incorrect. The law firm corrected the stipulation and emailed it to me with a revised balance. I signed it and forwarded it to them and they told me not to file an answer or do anything else with the courts on that same call because the stipulation would be filed. The stipulation i mailed was time stamped and they received it and never filed it in a timely manner with the courts and a status conference has been scheduled with the courts for XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX because of their incompetence and instead of being able to present my answer and new matter which was my initial intent i am now outside my window to respond and I am susceptible to a default judgement. While the firm has promised to " expedite the stipulation and XXXX XXXX it 2 day to the court '' I have lost my faith in them as i have been calling 5-6 times a day and emailing and not getting any responses confirming it was filed because they were using it to deceive me out of properly defending myself. All of this aside they also failed to every verify the debt at any point in this collection process even though i have requested in on a number of occasions, have advised me against responding to the complaint because of the stipulation they never filed ( emails can be provided for confirmation of timeline and that they received the signed stipulation from me same day in the fax and 2 days later via mail as it was a time stamped envelope that I sent it in. The bank now says they have no influence over the firm because it is a third party and neither Mariner or the Firm could confirm the best person to pay for the stipulation because of the pre existing communication issues. They advised me when I signed the stipulation that I should pay the firm directly so I remitted a payment to the firm with the stipulation before the due date and for more than the minimum amount due and in return they were supposed to file the stipulation with the courts. Now i have records of these transactions, they have my money, and I still have an active court proceeding against me that I lost my right to respond to because they told me not to as a " provision to the stipulation its not necessary. '' I have done nothing but make my payments to Mariner and now to their outside firm and they have nothing but deceive me. The complaint they filed, the first stipulation they sent me in XX/XX/XXXX, and the one I signed in XX/XX/XXXX all show different amounts. They could not verify this debt and they have violated my rights as a consumer and I would expect the CFPB to take this deception by the lender very seriously as it is downright predatory in nature at this point. I can provide the stipulations showing the different amounts, the bank statements showing different amounts, the complaint showing a different amount. Ask Mariner or their outside firm if they could provide one verification of debt or that they acted in an appropriate manner. In fact it was brought to my knowledge that Mariner is acknowledging they have communication issues with this outside firm and they held a conference call about it because I am not the consumer who was negatively impacted by their incompetence. I think a full investigation of this matter is necessary.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation