Consumer complaint received 2023-02-21
Company: MARINER FINANCE, LLC
State: GA
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Installment loan
Issue: Problem when making payments

Complaint:
This complaint in a follow up to my attempt to submit a new complaint on Saturday, XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX at approx. XXXXXXXX XXXX. I never rec 'd a confirmation message, so I'm thinking that the system may have timed me out. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, I logged into my Mariner Finance account to make a payment. I had not had the funds until then to make my payment, which had become due on XX/XX/XXXX. When I attempted to make a payment, I received a pop-up message stating that my account was on restricted payments and it directed me to contact the branch. 
This is the same problem that initiated my decision to file a complaint with CFPB in XX/XX/XXXX. As I stated then, and still assert, Mariner Finance engages in customer intimidation tactics. What could be an acceptable reason for a business to not allow a customer to make a payment to their account other than them trying to force my account into a 30 day late status to negatively impact my credit standing. My plan was to make the payment on XX/XX/XXXX and make another payment on XX/XX/XXXX to bring the account fully current. After trying several times to make an online payment with no success, I called XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX Manager for Mariner Finance. I knew that it was highly unlikely that she would not be in the office at that time, but wanted to immediately inform her of the challenge that I was facing with making my payment. I then also called XXXX, which was the number that XXXX XXXX had on her voice greeting to contact the customer relations team. Although that number directs callers to press 1 to make a payment, when I did it just left me on hold for several minutes before first stating that the office was closed and that I could leave a message. So, on Sunday, XX/XX/XXXX, I physically took a payment, via money order to the Mariner Finance location at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, GA XXXX and dropped in in the drop slot in the door. 
When CFPB inquired about my XX/XX/XXXX complaint, Mariner 's representative who responded failed to address the bullying and intimidate tactics and unacceptable behavior of their XXXX manager, XXXX XXXX, that I referenced in my complaint. Also, in spite of the screen shots that I provided with my complaint, when I did speak with a representative on the phone after they learned of my complaint, they told me that they did not see why I had been unable to make a payment because they had reviewed my online account setup and found everything to be in tact. In fact, he had me to log into my account at that time. Now, I am not crazy, I know what I experienced, and even provided screen shots, but it figured I'd save my energy for more worthwhile matters that going back and forth about that since the evidence that I had did not lie. I can only imagine what more vulnerable customers who don't know their rights, and are not aware of resources to help them, experience at the hands of Mariner Finance and its representatives.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation