Consumer complaint received 2023-06-07
Product: Debt collection — Other debt
Issue: False statements or representation — Attempted to collect wrong amount
Company: Meridian Financial Services, Inc. (UT)

I am writing to file a complaint against the collection agency, Meridian Financial Services, NMLS ID XXXX regarding their collection of fees incurred with a timeshare provider XXXX XXXX XXXX. As described in this complaint, XXXX XXXX XXXX engaged in unfair practices that made it impossible for a reasonable person to make a payment on their account, and Meridian Financial Services failed to ensure the debts they are collecting resulting from XXXX XXXX XXXX timeshares are fairly incurred. In addition, Meridian Financial Services failed to provide a sufficiently detailed itemization of fees that were assessed ( they provided a high-level summary that did not include dates and amount of each individual fee assessed ). They also failed to properly address a dispute I submitted related to the charges assessed. In addition, when I contacted Meridian Financial Services regarding questions, I was told to file a dispute even though Meridian Financial Services already had a dispute on file, and Meridian refused to consider Powder Ridge Villages unfair practices. 

Please note that I have paid the amount due, including the amount in dispute, but I did not pay it all because I agree the debt is due. I paid it because I am educated in the practices of credit reporting and collections after having spent a career in banking and financial services compliance for the last 20 years, I understand that I am banging my head against a brick wall trying to fight it. I have no power in this situation, and I have no recourse against XXXX XXXX XXXX for their unfair practices. Meridian Financial Services has not demonstrated any intention of verifying that XXXX XXXX XXXX wasnt engaged in unfair practices. I am just a consumer that has no voice with two businesses. However, it wouldnt feel good to not say anything to anyone because other consumers will be affected by similar circumstances. If this information could help prevent that in any way, I would want someone else to take the time to document it all as well. 

My dispute is based on the fact that XXXX XXXX XXXX referred my account to collections AFTER I made numerous attempts to pay the amount due via their new website and attempted to contact them by phone to make a payment. I repeatedly tried to make valid attempts to pay my account BEFORE it was referred to a third-party collector. A summary of the events has been provided below. 

I received an email from XXXX XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, providing notice that the online XXXX XXXX was getting an upgrade and credentials were going to be sent once the XXXX  XXXX was again live. I received an additional email from XXXX XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX providing my new XXXX XXXX credentials. Soon after, I logged into the XXXX XXXX and attempted to make a payment, using several valid payment methods, and each time I just received a Validation Error or other similar vague error. I also called XXXX XXXX XXXX at the phone number posted on their website. The phone repeatedly rang with no answer and there is not a voice mail on this phone line. I also looked for a posted billing contact, but no phone number has been published. I continued these attempts repeatedly over the next three months, and I am certain that XXXX XXXX XXXX could verify this through audit logs. I may have a bit of misplaced loyalty to XXXX XXXX XXXX given that I have been spending time there since I was a child, and I trusted that XXXX XXXX XXXX would resolve the error on their website or that I would eventually be able to connect with them by phone to make a payment. 

I was finally able to connect with a XXXX XXXX XXXX person in XXXX, and I requested to make a payment over the phone for the amount due reflected on XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX, {$11000.00}. Soon after making the payment, I received a call back from the same representative and was told that my payment had been rejected because my account had been referred to Meridian Financial Services. During this conversation, I was told by the representative that Validation Error is a known issue that is being actively worked. The following day, I received a letter from Meridian Financial Services stating that I owed a balance that was substantially greater than what had been reflected on the XXXX XXXX XXXX website. I immediately contacted Meridian Financial Services, and asked about the increase in balance due and informed them that XXXX XXXX XXXX had prevented me from making a payment online since XX/XX/XXXX. I also made a payment in the amount of {$1000.00} ( it was supposed to be {$1100.00} ; however, Meridian Financial Services made an error in processing the payment ). I sent a dispute letter to Meridian Financial Services ( along with a check for the remaining undisputed amount {$100.00} ) and retained verification that the dispute letter was received by Meridian Financial Services on XX/XX/XXXX. I still have not received a written acknowledgement of receipt of that dispute or any explanation for what to expect from Meridian Financial Services as a result of that dispute. 

Following this call, Meridian Financial Services and I connected several times by phone. Each time, I felt like I was talking to a brick wall explaining to Meridian Financial Services that XXXX XXXX XXXX had referred my account to them after a technical error on the XXXX  XXXX prevented me from being able to make a payment online. Since the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX provided conflicting information to the balance due by Meridian Financial, I requested an itemization of fees. I did receive the fee documentation from Meridian Financial Services by mail on XX/XX/XXXX ; however, it did not reconcile AT ALL to the fees and other information in the XXXX  XXXX, nor did it provided an actual itemization of fees that documented the amount and date of each fee charged and who charged the fee ( Meridian Financial Services or XXXX XXXX XXXX  ). It simply listed an aggregated amount of fees charged for late fees, an aggregated amount of fees for collections, and an itemization of the payments I made. 

Also, since being notified that Meridian Financial Services has my account, I have attempted to contact XXXX XXXX XXXX to get a copy of statements and other documents related to my account to determine if the fees that were assessed were valid. I have not been able to reach XXXX XXXX XXXX by phone or by email to request this information. 

I also want to point out that when I told Meridian Financial Services what I had experienced trying to make a payment with XXXX XXXX XXXX, I was asked how long I had my timeshare. I told him that it had been in the family for decades, and the response I received was, Right, so you should know how this works. The response was not only callous, but it implied that unfair practices are typical with timeshares and should be accepted. This is concerning for a collections agency that specializes in collecting time share-related debts. It appears that they wash their hands of any unfair practices that timeshares engage in, and they do not hold themselves as being responsible for helping to uphold consumer protections. 

Here 's the deal. It was my mistake that I did not make a payment for the maintenance fees by the due date, XX/XX/XXXX. I am human and life had gotten to me at that point, and I didnt recover from events that were going on until after the holidays. That is on me. It is also probably on me that I had some misplaced loyalty and trust in XXXX XXXX XXXX, and I expected that they would resolve the issue on the website or answer a phone call. I will accept responsibility for that. However, I would also like to see XXXX XXXX XXXX accept responsibility for referring an account to collections for which I was trying to make a payment and for their unfair practices making it very, VERY, VERY difficult for me to make a payment. I would also like to see Meridian Financial Services understand that they are working with timeshares, and they have a certain amount of responsibility to ensure that debts they are collecting are valid and that there werent any unfair practices affecting that debt. I am also notifying you that I expect that any reports made to the credit bureau and on my credit report be accurate, and not reflect any delinquency that extends into the time period during which I was prevented from making payments due to website issues, not answering the phone, and lack of communication regarding a referral to a collections agency.