Consumer complaint received 2021-02-24
Product: Debt collection — Other debt
Issue: False statements or representation — Attempted to collect wrong amount
Company: C/C Financial (IN)

Merchant 's Preferred / Preferred Lease is a company I leased a mattress through to earn credit 3 years ago. I made my payments on time under an automatic payment method. After my last payment, I was still being charged. I called and was told my last payment was late ( for the interest free period in the contract ) and that I owed them over {$3000.00} of interest. This was almost a month after the last payment would've submitted, and I had never been contacted about the late payment. I believed them at this point, without asking for proof, and agreed to either pay the late fee or to turn in the property to resolve or absorb any debt ( an option stated in my contract ) as I was not paying over {$3000.00} worth of interest on a {$2000.00} mattress, a mattress that was still sealed and wrapped as it was a gift not yet opened. After speaking with their supervisor about my situation, they agreed to take a final payment covering the late charges and not to charge me interest nor repossess the mattress. I paid over the phone. Months later, it comes up on my credit report that I have an open account of over {$3000.00} with them. I called, challenged this, and was told they would contact the credit union and to expect a change in 30 days. 30 days came with no correction. I called again, challenged this, and was told it can be 30-90 days. I requested proof showing I completed all my payments and had no outstanding debt with them. They emailed me a completion letter poorly stating this, not including a payment history nor the full amount they collected from me ( including taxes ). 30-90 days later there was still no correction on my credit report. I called again and this time was told that the open account was reporting correctly, that I had agreed to a " settlement '' with their repo department and that the left over interest was now in collections, reporting on my credit, and that I had agreed to this. I asked for proof that I ever agreed to such a thing with any repo department, specifically the phone call ( they record all calls they say ) that entails the entire conversation I had that day with the agent to prove I agreed to this, ever. I also asked for proof of my payment history with them. The first time I was told these things would be emailed to me, ending the call. Nothing ever was. The second time I was told the same by another agent 's supervisor, and was given an email and phone number in case it never came after a week or so. It never did, and I never received a reply after contacting her to follow up. The phone number she gave was one of the the company 's standard customer service lines too, not the agent 's direct line. The third time I called and requested this information I was treated exactly the same. The agent gave me her name, email, and phone number. She, too, never sent me the information and never responded to any of my attempts to contact her after weeks. I then filed a dispute with XXXX. The results concluded a " charge-off '', with no history of any payments I made but one. This affected my credit even worse. I called one last time requesting proof of my payment history and proof that I ever agreed to a " settlement '' ( by the definition they later gave me ) and that I would not get off the line until it was sent. I was told, literally, that they were currently having problems and couldn't access this data, including my payment history, due to a migration of data under a new partnership ... and that the company would not release the recorded phone calls either as they were the company 's property, not mine. I contacted XXXX XXXX dispute specialists and was told that no information was shared with them during the dispute either ; they were given no proof of payment history nor proof that I agreed to the " settlement ''. The conclusion of a " charge-off '' was based solely on the leaser 's word that what was being reported was accurate. XXXX told me that I could file a fraudulent dispute next, in which Merchants Preferred/ Preferred Lease would be asked to provide the information proving their account of my history with them was accurate. That is where I am now, waiting another 30 days. If you find my situation hard to believe, please look up reviews of Merchants Preferred, or Preferred Lease ( they have many names listed on their documents and sites, separate entities under a larger umbrella which I believe is Merchants Preferred Lease-Purchase Services ). You can also check out the comment sections under their XXXX posts to see the extent of their fraud and abuse, as well as XXXX XXXX reviews.