Consumer complaint received 2020-10-06
Company: Conn's, Inc.
State: IL
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Installment loan
Issue: Charged fees or interest you didn't expect

Complaint:
In XXXX of XXXX I purchased furniture from Conn 's Credit Corporation. The total amount of purchased furniture was {$3200.00}, they added ( required ) insurance even though I had renter 's insurance and was told that I had to purchase this, and they financed the sales tax XXXX. The total amount became {$3900.00}, then they added $ XXXX an admin fee. Interest accrues on all of this. They contract states 36 payments at {$170.00} would settle the balance. That is a total of {$6100.00}. The day the first payment was due was XX/XX/XXXX and the original balance was {$4000.00}. 
I began making payments, but incurred late fees because they have some policy that states they will not send statements or emails when bills are due. They instead will only notify me if I missed the due date and incurred a fee. I am bombarded with texts and emails requesting different amounts on different days to keep or bring my status to good standing. I have attached an example of this deceitful practice where they sent me 2 emails within 24 hours with varying due amounts that do not coincide with the due date, so there is no justification for the different amounts other than it is made to look like they are " helping me '', then they emailed again 2 days later, different amount warning I was 30 days past due ( I had just paid them on the 10th ). A week later I get an email that I am 60 days past due. While I question the legality of this practice, that is not necessarily my issue. 
In XXXX I noticed that my balance had not gone down in the over 2 years that I was making my monthly payments. I called several times and was connected and transferred in an endless cycle. On one call, an agent said they saw that on XX/XX/XXXX an adjustment was made adding {$1200.00} to the balance. The agent said they would research and get back to me, no one ever did. I called again and was transferred again, while the agent was speaking to another agent to transfer I overheard them discussing that my account had been flagged with a " hot ticket '' and there was a concession to settle my account for {$3400.00}. The agent made no such concession when talking to me. When pressed on why my account balance was increased outside the parameters of the contract, I was advised that it was because the first year was " interest free '' promotion. I advised that was never on that program, never offered that, and was being penalized for not paying the balance off in the first year per the terms of a promotion I never had. This was a simple interest installment loan that clearly laid out the rate, interest, penalties, and payment structure. I have abided by this, but clearly Conn 's in committing fraudulent acts and invalidating the contract. I have my original contract, I have the loan ledger as reflected in their system. It clearly shows what I am saying, they have changed the terms and total of my furniture loan by thousands of dollars without reason or cause. They acknowledge they changed it, but instead of fixing it, they expect me to just keep paying them.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation