Consumer complaint received 2024-11-21
Product: Payday loan, title loan, personal loan, or advance loan — Installment loan
Issue: Problem when making payments — 
Company: Rosebud Economic Development Corporation (WY)

I am writing to file a formal complaint against Three Sticks Lending for their unfair lending practices and refusal to revoke a pending payment. Below are the details of my experience : Company Name : Three Sticks Lending Loan Amount : {$1000.00} APR : XXXX XXXX  ( Significantly higher than the legal limit in XXXX  ) State : XXXX XXXX : I took out a loan with this tribal lending company, but upon reviewing the terms, I discovered that the APR is far higher than what is legally allowed in my state ( XXXX  ). When I raised this issue, the company argued that tribal sovereignty exempted them from my state 's interest rate laws. I informed them that various court cases have ruled against tribal lenders for charging exorbitant rates. They softened, said they could " help me '' but not as low as I asked. They insisted that they could not lower the APR to XXXX XXXX the legal limit for XXXX. 

Pending Payment Dispute : On XX/XX/year>, I authorized an early payment of {$280.00} for this loan. However, later I attempted to revoke this pending payment as I felt I was being misled by the company 's policies and it was required to change my APR.

I was told that I could not revoke the pending payment, and that the payment had to clear before they could make any changes to the loan terms or APR.

I requested that they cancel the pending payment. Initially, I was informed by multiple employees that they could not revoke a pending payment. When asking what sort of system did not allow for cancelling pending payments, they would not give me a lucid reason. Multiple people said " the computer won't let it '' or " the system won't allow it. '' They would not tell me what sort of software prevented them from cancelling the pending payment, and Eventually, someone helped me remove ACH access. However, I later found out that revoking a pending payment is not only possible but legally required under certain conditions. 

I was transferred to a supervisor, who continued to insist that it was " not possible '' to revoke a payment while it was pending, and that I had " authorized it '' despite my insistence and legal understanding of the matter ; and the insistence that I was revoking said authorization, since the payment was still pending. This supervisor, named XXXX told me that they could post a refund form, but protested to me asking if it would " probably '' go through. I am concerned they will make no attempt to refund me either, once the payment goes through. Near the end of the phone call, she began making ad hominem attacks about how it was " on me '' that I had a loan, and that I was " looking for loopholes '' and " expecting them to drop everything to fix it. '' She told me that the kind of system they were using to make the payments was " not relevant '' when I asked her, which makes it clear to me that they could revoke the pending payment. A woman later said it was " the rules '' and that she couldn't cancel my pending payment. 

It says this on the loan agreement ; " if your scheduled payment has already been submitted to your financial institution at the time of revocation, it may be necessary for us to wait until that payment posts before we can refund you that payment amount. However, when possible, at the time of revocation, we will void any pending payments. You understand that revoking your authorization does not relieve you of the responsibility of timely paying all amounts due in full that are owed by you under the Agreement. '' It seems to me that they made no good faith attempt to stop the payment, insisting it was impossible.

As of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act ; " Regulation E ( 12 CFR 1005.10 ( b ) ) : ( b ) ( 2 ) : If a scheduled preauthorized transfer has already been submitted for processing, the financial institution is not required to stop the transfer, but it must make reasonable efforts to do so
. '' The APR charged by the company is predatory and violates state laws. I do not believe they operate in good faith, and I believe they were dishonest to me.

I believe the company has misled me regarding their ability to revoke a pending payment, potentially violating legal requirements for consumers to have the ability to revoke authorization for a pending payment. The company 's refusal to change the APR or revoke a pending payment is a violation of consumer rights and possibly indicative of poor business practices or lack of knowledge on how to use their payment system.