Consumer complaint received 2017-04-24
Company: American Credit Financial
State: OH
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Payday loan debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action
Sub-issue: Threatened or suggested your credit would be damaged

Complaint:
After taking out a loan from  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX , they offered numerous times to let me make payments. But every time I tried to arrange them, they said their system was down. When the payment was due they charged the full amount to my account, causing NSF charges until I could n't even get my account balanced let alone pay the full loan amount. When I could n't pay, they sent the account to American Credit Financial who called threatening fraud charges if I did n't give them my bank information. I gave them the information and signed a contract saying I would make  4  payments. According to this contract they would provide me an official copy of the contract for my records and notifications before each payment was charged to my card. None of this was ever received -- they did n't even acknowledge that they 'd gotten the contract, but on  XXXX   XXXX  I was charged and received a receipt for the payment. On  XXXX   XXXX , I realized I would n't have the money for my next payment, so I called but no one was in. I called first thing Monday morning asking if I could make arrangements for it to come out on  XXXX   XXXX . They verified my card number again and told me it was set up. I also received an email that morning saying my payment could n't be processed ( which shows they were capable of contacting me even though they failed to do so most of the time ). The  XXXX  payment was never taken, nor did they contact me again, so I figured there was a delay on their end because the money was there. When the  XXXX  payment also failed to come out, I tried calling and only got voice mail again. So, I contacted a lawyer who instructed me to direct further contact through him. Since I could n't get anything except a voicemail box, I sent an email telling them that I had n't received any of their reminders and my la st two payme nts had n't been processed. I indicated that I had a lawyer who would discuss arrangements with them  ( si nce my contacting them directly obviously had n't helped ). I did n't hear anything else until  XXXX   XXXX  when they again left a voicemail threatening legal action due to my refusal to make payments. We called and they said I gave them an invalid card. Finally I gave them my card number again -- which they acknowledged was the same on file -- and he said he 'd run it right then to prove it was invalid. To his obvious surprise it came back valid. Yet he still tried to blame me for not making payments. Since I could n't get anywhere I told him he should talk to my lawyer, but he said I 'd I did n't pay the  'd fil e lawsuits that would cost more than I owed. I told him that I 'd pay it all off on  XXXX   XXXX  because I 'd have the full amount just to not deal with them again. But he continued with the runaround until I was too furious to see straight. Finally I was escalated to a supervisor who again tried to imply it was my fault until she pulled up my record and acknowledged that everything should have been done after my call on  XXXX   XXXX . She said she 'd tell  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  of my intent to pay in full on  XXXX   XXXX . But I insisted that she also include in that conversation that it was their fault the payments had not been taken out. She said it was n't her company 's fault, but it was  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  's fault the payment was n't processed. I do n't understand how that could be the case when it 's clearly her company 's name on the contract. I told her again that I would be making the payment and that afterward I would be taking action regarding their handling of my case. She insisted again that it was n't ther fault, but when I started reading from the contract, she finally agreed to take the payment and tell them that the missed payments were not my fault. I 'm not confident that any of this will happen, but that 's what I 'm left with right now.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation