Consumer complaint received 2022-02-18
Company: MARINER FINANCE, LLC
State: OH
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Installment loan
Issue: Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem
Sub-issue: Their investigation did not fix an error on your report

Complaint:
I have sent numerous emails and have made several phone calls to the Vic President of Mariner Finance about my situation. It started at the end of XXXX. Due to being unemployed I reached out to Mariner Finance about any payment relief options. Their only option was to come in person to the branch and make a half payment in cash and that was the only thing they could do. I was scheduled to come in on XX/XX/XXXX ( the payment was due XX/XX/XXXX ). I decided to make my best attempt to pay my monthly payment with a late fee on the XXXX. On the XXXX i made several attempts to go into the online system and make the payment but I was receiving an error message stating a payment could only be submitted that day which was what I was trying to do. So I ended up finally being able to make my payment at XXXX on XX/XX/2022. On XX/XX/XXXX I was alerted that my payment was marked 30 days late. I couldn't understand what was going on. I reached out to customer service and WAS TOLD that since I BROKE MY PROMISE TO COME IN TO MAKE MY PAYMENT, THEY HAD TO MARK ME 30 DAYS LATE. This makes 0 sense to me. I required a manager to reach out to me to escalate the issue further. I was able to talk to a district manager and this is what happened when I spoke to him : Good evening. I have left a couple messages and have spoken to a customer service representative asking for a higher up manager contact me about my account. I spoke to XXXX who is a District Manager, and it had to be one of the rudest experiences I have ever gone through. The way he spoke to me was disrespectful and uncalled for and no one at your company seems to care. I lost my job a few months ago and have been unemployed. For my XXXX payment I was going to go into a branch and do a 1 time 50 % off payment on the XXXX, however I decided to just make my regular monthly payment on the XXXX online. Well when I went to make the payment, I received a message stating payments can only be scheduled that day which was what I was trying to do. I tried several times. Finally after XXXX  which was now XX/XX/XXXX I was able to make the payment. I was marked 30 days late on my credit. This makes 0 sense for several reasons. According to XXXX if I made the payment in the branch I wouldn't have been marked late but because I decided to make it myself I would be considered late. How is that fair? If I decided to just make my regular payment why would I be penalized? No one ever communicated that to me which XXXX claims they are not required to do that. But XXXX stated that there is nothing he can do for the 30 day late because that is the law and they are reporting correctly. So how is that fair? Isn't that deceptive? When discussing my account with XXXX he stated that there was nothing he could do to help me because he read the notes on my file and I never answer phone calls from Mariner and I am a poor customer because I've made a lot of late payments on my account. First of all, I was affected by COVID-19 last year and made several late payments because of this which I communicated to the branch. Second of all, even if I make my payments late, I am paying you a late fee on the account. I am never calling and asking for fees to be waived or complaining. Why does that make me a lesser customer? So after XXXX telling me what a crappy customer I am, I told him my situation and how I am having a hard time finding employment in my field. XXXX told me I was a LIAR and that everywhere is hiring because he is hiring and HE PROCEEDED TO OFFER ME A JOB AT A BRANCH THAT IS ALMOST 45 MINUTES PLUS FROM MY HOME. This was beyond unprofessional. I was stunned and told him that that was too far away then he asked me to give him a branch that was closer to my home and he would give me a job and it would solve my problems. Um, how do you know what my problems are, what kind of job I am looking for, salary, work accommodations, etc? After this part of the conversation he proceeded to tell me that he could help me BY REFINANCING MY LOAN, GIVING ME CASH BACK AND A LOWER PAYMENT. If I am unemployed, how is this solving the XXXX payment issue? This solution made 0 sense to me. And if I am such a crappy customer, why would you offer me another loan? It just was mind boggling the circles he was talking in. He then stated it seems like you don't like either solution. I told him the issue is the payment being marked 30 days late. He again stated by law there was nothing he could do ( which is not true, I can literally look up the credit laws and go on any credit website and read this is not true ). He was like you broke your promise to come into the branch, and I said yes because I decided to make a full payment and went online and was unable to make the payment and received the error message and he was like well because our website had technical difficulties. I asked well how is it my fault if your website wasn't working and he said because you waited to make the payment at the last minute. Everything he stated was a total contradiction and not a solution. He was condescending and rude and I can not believe he is a manager in charge of employees and customer escalations. I can only imagine how he has spoken to other customers. 

I still want a higher up manager to contact me about this and speak to them over the phone to discuss this matter further. If I do not get a follow up email, with an outline for a follow up phone call I will be speaking with an attorney because this is getting ridiculous and I am not sure what to do at this point. 

Thank you for your time and I hope to ( finally ) hear back from someone. 

I reached back out again on XX/XX/XXXX to have a higher up manager reach out to me. I missed his call and he has NOT returned my calls since. He has sent me a text message stating he will reach out to me by phone but fails to do so. I talked to a CFPB associate earlier who advised me to file the complaint because 30 day later can not be given " for breaking a promise ''. This is ridiculous. I want the late removed from my credit report.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation