Consumer complaint received 2021-10-11
Company: Eagle Financial Services, Inc.
State: OH
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Installment loan
Issue: Problem when making payments

Complaint:
I am writing to file a complaint about Eagle Loan Company located in XXXX XXXX, Ohio. I have a loan with this company with payments due on the XXXX of each month. Prior to my XX/XX/XXXX due date, I spoke with a representative at the local branch and requested that she not run the debit on the XXXX as the funds would not be there due to a financial emergency that my family has suffered. I was assured the debit would not be initiated and told her I would try and make the payment by the end of the month. I informed her that she was not to run my debit card and that I would call the payment in when I could. The funds were still not available on XX/XX/XXXX so I was unable to call and make the payment. Eagle did leave me two voicemail messages asking to return their call ; one voicemail stated that I could make an interest only payment which was still not possible for me at that time. 

This past Saturday, XX/XX/XXXX, I logged onto my XXXX XXXX mobile account and noticed that Eagle Loan had initiated a debit in the amount of {$250.00} from said account. I did not authorize this payment. This morning, XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted XXXX XXXX, the branch manager. After attempting to educate him on Regulation E as it pertains to unauthorized transfers, I asked him why they debited my account without my authorization. His response was that I didnt return their calls. He even went so far as to read the notes from my original call stating that my debit card was not to be run until I called in to make the payment at a later date, basically admitting that I revoked the authorization. Now I am not a lawyer, but I have researched my rights on this topic and it appears to me that not returning a phone call is most certainly not a valid reason for violating ones consumer protection rights and breaking the law by debiting someones account once authorization was revoked. Not at any time did I authorize Eagle Loan to debit my account on XX/XX/XXXX for {$250.00}, yet they did it anyway. What is even more interesting is that this is not the first time they have done this. The same thing happened a year or so ago and I spoke with the same manager that time. I informed him that he had broken the law and he refunded the payment immediately. Yet fast forward to today, and he did it again blatantly knowing that he had no right to do so! 

Was my payment late? Yes. However, that does NOT give anyone the right to take money from another party without any authorization whatsoever. Eagle Loan has several legal options that they can take. They can charge me a late fee. They can report me to the credit bureaus should I become 30 days late. They could attempt to collect the collateral that was used to approve the loan. They can send my account to collections or they could sue me. But what they CAN NOT do is take the liberty to go into my account and take whatever funds they want whenever they feel like it. This company should be reprimanded for these practices as I am certain that if they have done this to me twice, they most certainly do this to other consumers who are not as knowledgeable of their rights as I may be. 

Should you need any further information, please contact me. Thank you.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation