Consumer complaint received 2019-12-23
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan — Installment loan
Issue: Charged fees or interest you didn't expect — 
Company: BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO (PR)

In XX/XX/XXXX I was approved for a personal loan by Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, which I started paying through direct debit from from my checking account on the XXXX of every month. Monthly payment was {$360.00}. I never had any issues with payments, always having the necessary funds available in my account on the payment due date. As you may or may not know, on XX/XX/XXXX Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico causing mayor damage to the islands infrastructure, including power and water. Throughout the chaos I heard that some banks were offering a 3 month grace period for loans and other credit payments, something I was not aware of. The bank did not notify me of this grace period, they did not ask me if I wanted to apply for the grace period, nor did they tell me that additional interests would be charged. Not having any of power for months, I was unable to verify my account on the internet, as I usually do. On XX/XX/XXXX I was able to contact the bank, to verify if the payment due on the XXXX of the aforementioned month had been applied. It was confirmed that said payment had not been debited. During the same call I asked the customer service rep to please debit my account for the amount due XXXX {$360.00} XXXX and to keep applying the following payments on the XXXX of every month, as usual, because I was not interested in the grace period offered. As the final payment month was reaching I notice there was a small difference for the final payment, it was supposed to be in XXXX and it seemed as if I still owed 2 additional months and an additional {$130.00}. I called the bank asking for an explanation as to why I still owed those 2 months plus the additional {$130.00} to which they replied that they had applied a 3 month grace period after the hurricane to ALL their clients, and that the additional amount was interests. I told the customer rep. about my call on XX/XX/XXXX asking NOT to be included in the grace period letting her know that the bank had debited the month of XXXX, making me believe that all had been resolved, to which she replied that they had given all their clients the grace period and that there was nothing she could do about it. In other words, due to the fact that I was unable to verify my account due to the power outage, and believing the grace period issue had been resolved, I was still forced to pay interests on something I had clearly declined. What, did she expect me to call in every month to reinstate my already approved direct debit? After the call, that solved absolutely nothing, I waited until XX/XX/XXXX to payoff the loan, including the interests for the grace period I had declined on XX/XX/XXXX. Sometime in XX/XX/XXXX I went to one of the XXXX branches where I was told they don't have any personal loan reps. at any of their branches, so I should call customer service. Already knowing that they were not going to help me I decided to get some help from a lawyer who deals with the bank on a constant basis. He recently told me he couldn't help me out, and so here I am. I am sure that there are many others who have been unjustly charged interests as I was. This must have made the bank millions of dollars, and it is unfair.