Consumer complaint received 2024-08-21
Product: Payday loan, title loan, personal loan, or advance loan — Installment loan
Issue: Problem with the payoff process at the end of the loan — 
Company: OneMain Finance Corporation (OH)

Due to the circumstances at the end of my divorce, my ex-wife and I were expecting some proceeds to be disbursed to us at the end of the sale of our home to complete the divorce process. I needed a personal loan to purchase appliances for a home I was moving into, as well as costs for moving expenses, before the check for my share of these sale proceeds would arrive. I applied online for a personal loan from OneMain Financial in the amount of {$6500.00} to cover these expenses as well as any ancillary short term costs during the move, with the foreknowledge I would have this check to pay the loan off in full within weeks once our lawyers completed paying off our shared marital debts. I was approved, and I went into the local branch at XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX Ohio XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX to sign the documents on XX/XX/year>. The terms were {$6500.00} for 60 months at 27.02 % APR for a total finance charge of {$5600.00}, with some additional costs for a protection product ( total financed {$6600.00} ), total pre-calculated loan balance of {$12000.00}, due in monthly installments, one payment of {$240.00}, XXXX at {$200.00}. Agreement includes no early-payoff penalties, and I confirmed this with XXXX, the branch representative while signing the paperwork. The first payment would be due on XX/XX/year>. I was called and told to pick the divorce settlement check up on XX/XX/year>. Knowing that the check would likely need to clear due to the amount, I called the XXXX branch, and again I talked to XXXX. I let him know that I have the funds pending deposit to pay off the loan, but they won't clear until after the payment is due. He said that the loan terms include a 15 day late-penalty grace period, so as long as it is within that period it would be fine to come in after the due date to pay the loan off. I picked the check up on XX/XX/year> and deposited it, and was informed it would not clear until XX/XX/year>. On XX/XX/year> I went into the XXXX OneMain Financial Branch at XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX Ohio XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX with {$7000.00} in my checking account ready to pay this loan off in full early and save massive interest. I speak with XXXX, again. I give him my account info and tell him I'm here to pay off the loan. He tells me the balance due is {$6900.00}. We try to make a debit payment, but their debit limit is below the total due. So we do an electronic check. Sends the payment, and he looks at his computer funny. I ask what's wrong, he hops up and runs back to the manager and asks her to access my account and review it. " Why is it like that? '' or some such he says. She says " Because you didn't pay it off ... '' and she points at something on the screen. He comes back over and says he misread the screen, the payoff was actually {$6900.00}, and I still owed a dollar. However they have a new billing system that won't allow people to make payments for less than {$1.00}. The manager says " So take a payment for {$1.00} and cut him a check for {$0.00} ''. He tries this with my debit card, it won't process because it would be an overpayment, and it requests a manager authorization. He cancels and asks if he can run it as an ECheck. Sure, go right ahead, lets just fix this. It asks again for an override because it would be an overpayment. Manager comes over, puts in her password. It doesn't accept it. She tries again, it again doesn't accept it. She shrugs, and walks back to her desk. XXXX then tells me that they have a department that audits accounts that " owe less than {$1.00} '', and that it would be cleared in 5-7 days. Because of this limitation, they know they can't take payments for balances below {$1.00} he says, so they have a department that closes accounts that owe less than that. I tried to call their central office today at XXXX to confirm this entire policy is all correct ( as at this point I feel like they knew their " billing system limitation '', and they purposefully took my payoff payment {$1.00} short so as to ensure I would need to continue to pay their interest off ). Central customer care office ( this is the first for me for any bank ) says that they can not manage or discuss accounts created at a branch office, and they refer me to XXXX XXXX from the XXXX branch, as he is the district manager. I have called, but have not spoken to anyone in XXXX 's office yet. At this point I feel like I need intervention/protection, as I believe they're doing this purposefully and predatorily on the off chance that I might not know any better and just continue to make them payments. I don't believe their audit process will catch my account, because while my " payoff '' might possibly be less than {$1.00}, my account shows a total balance owed of {$4900.00} as of XX/XX/year>.