Consumer complaint received 2017-10-18
Company: HFS Financial 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:
I have no choice but to question the business practices of HFS Financial Services ( HFS ) and  veracity of some employees with the company. On the night of Monday, XX/XX/XXXX, I discovered and read several emails from XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) and XXXX requesting a payment of {$1900.00} for pool financing / processing agreement. The email also had an unfamiliar attached XXXX document with mine and my wife 's actual handwritten signatures, with a date of XXXX. I immediately forwarded the message to the loan processor, XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ), requesting an explanation ; however, I received an out of office reply and she never respond. 

On Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX, at XXXX, XXXX ( unknown last name ) contacted me by telephone ( XXXX ) and I conveyed my concerns to him about the surprising processing fee and the fact that at the beginning I believed HFS were the lender. He maintained that he did disclose the fee to me, which I continued to dispute and informed him that if he mentioned a processed fee to me that I would not have followed through with the loan and would have sought another lender. I further explained to XXXX that I was completely caught off guard and thought the emails were SPAM mail because this was never mentioned to me at the onset of the process and I have never seen the attached XXXX  document before, nor do I have a copy of it with the other papers. Finally, after failing to convince me that he did disclose the fee, XXXX told me to contact XXXX XXXX. 

On Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX, at XXXX, I contacted XXXX XXXX by telephone ( XXXX ) and several times during the conversation he maintained that he has been in this business for 27 years and have never encountered a situation such as mine complaint that at the onset, I was not informed by XXXX about the processing fee and that I was led to believe that HFS was the actual lender. I further explained to him that I was completely caught off guard and thought the emails were SPAM mail because this was never mentioned to me at the onset of the process and I have never seen the attached XXXX document before, nor do I have a copy of it with the other papers. In addition, XXXX XXXX further explained that he has done hundreds of these loan processing and have never dealt with an issue such as mine. XXXX XXXX later repeated himself and changed the numbers to thousands. I later conducted my research on the company through the Better Business Bureau ( BBB ), which resulted in me discovering one complaint about its business practices. Although it is only XXXX complaint, it is remarkable how the complainant 's situation [ INFRA ] is exactly similar to my matter. The lady went as far as to mention XXXX XXXX name in her complaint, which he submitted a response to. I was and am even more positive that XXXX did not disclose to me about the processing fee or that HFS was not the lender. In addition, as I stated to XXXX XXXX during the telephone conversation, I believe that this is a scam and we did not sign the document provided in the email. Furthermore, the fact that XXXX XXXX offered to reduce the fee by {$300.00} after I mentioned filing a complaint with the BBB and the Federal Trade Commission ( FTC ) was indicative of his knowledge that there was a strong possibility that there was no informed consent concerning the processing fee between us and HFS to include the possibility that the XXXX document was forged. Further I have proof, which led me to believe that an employee with the actual lender, United States XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) provided the signature that was affixed to the fake XXXX document. Finally it is worth mentioning that the signatures do not match our correct XXXX signatures. 

Please see BBB link below. 
XXXX : XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Problems with Product / Service Complaint I was sent an email after my loan closed demanding nearly {$1800.00} that I never was told I needed to pay. 
I was sent an email by an HFS employee on XX/XX/XXXX. The email stated that I owed {$1700.00} to satisfy a processing fee. The attached document showed my and my husband 's signature, and it was dated XX/XX/XXXX. I thought it was a scam at first because I had never seen the document before. I contacted XXXX with HFS to confirm that the fee being demanded was an error. I was instead informed that the fee was something I had agreed to. I was confused and upset because I knew that I had not sent any paperwork via XXXX ( the program that was used for the document HFS says I signed ) I sent all of my paperwork to HFS on or around XX/XX/XXXX. I explained this fact to XXXX and XXXX at HFS via email. However, they continue to insist that I signed the document agreeing to payment of the above mentioned " processing fee. '' I did no such thing. I read all of my paperwork thoroughly, and at no time was I sent nor did I or my husband sign a document agreeing to pay a " processing fee. '' HFS is either forging my and my husband 's signatures or they are employing some other shady tactic to get me to pay them money I never agreed to pay. I have received several calls in the days since the first email on XX/XX/XXXX demanding payment, and just today I received an email threatening that HFS would begin charging me {$50.00} daily for every day that I do not pay the money. I feel horribly harassed, and I do not understand why HFS is allowed to conduct business this way. My husband and I were never told that we would need to pay a processing fee to obtain our loan. We did not even know that HFS was not our lender! They made it seem that they were our lender the entire time! I had no idea they were a broker, and there were no reviews anywhere that allowed me to get an idea about who they were as a company. I even inquired about the lack of reviews. I felt it was a bit strange that no one had left a review. Ever. The lady said she would get back to me about it, but of course that never happened. I want answers as to why I am being harassed for money. I want to know how they have my and my husband 's signatures on a document that was signed a full two weeks before I ever sent them any documents, and finally, I want them to stop harassing and threatening me with further penalties if I do not pay them money that I and my husband never knew about or agreed to pay in the first place. ( Show Less of Complaint ) Desired Settlement I want HFS to rescind their demand for {$1700.00}. I never agreed to it. The fee was never disclosed to my husband and me. The document they forwarded has got to be forged or doctored in some way as I had not yet sent any documents to HFS on XX/XX/XXXX. It was not until XX/XX/XXXX that I ever sent any documents to HFS regarding my loan, and when I sent those documents it was via fax and email. The only documents that I signed via XXXX were towards the end of XXXX into XXXX, and none of those documents went to XXXX XXXX, or XXXX ( the loan processor ). ( Show Less of Desired Settlement ) Consumer Business Dialog Business Response Please be advised that this consumer applied to HFS Financial Services on XX/XX/XXXX. 
We then electronically sent the consumer a XXXX agreement which is our letter of engagement for HFS Financial Services to begin the process to find the consumer the best financing options that exist in the country. 
The XXXX was signed electronically by a mobile phone ( we have included the XXXX record of tracking ) Once we received this back from the consumer, we started our process to obtain them the financing though a national federal credit union. 
We have included all of the documents that show that this consumer was introduced to this credit union by HFS Financial Services. 
All of the attached documents from the membership application to the loan application, borrower certification and authorization clearly shows that this consumer signed all of the required documents to have the loan process completed. 
The consumer has received their monies and are installing their project. 
We would ask that you dismiss this complaint. 
Thank you XXXX XXXX XXXX Financial Services Consumer Response ( The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business. ) HFS is outright lying. I actually received an email on XX/XX/XXXX from XXXX ( the loan processor ) thanking me for paying their processing fee. I did not pay them one red cent because I did not owe them anything. However, if HFS wants to attempt to keep whatever reputation they may have by pretending that I paid them, it is fine by me. So long as they stop harassing me and my husband for payment of their fraudulent " processing fee, '' and they do not ever in the future claim that we owe them again, I am fine with closing this case. I have attached a screenshot of the email I received from XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation