Consumer complaint received 2019-07-19 00:00:00
Product: Debt collection — Credit card debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action — Sued you without properly notifying you of lawsuit
Company: Nelson and Kennard, LLP
State: TX

Complaint narrative:
Got sued by Nelson and Kennard over XXXX XXXX XXXX debt in California so I called them and worked out a settlement agreement which totaled {$4300.00}. Agreement over phone states 1st payment of {$1300.00} was made on XX/XX/XXXX and 10 additional payments of {$300.00} was to be paid off for the next 10 months. 1st {$300.00} payment was made on XX/XX/XXXX so final payment of {$300.00} was to be paid off in XX/XX/XXXX. 

I specifically asked if I could possibly pay this off even sooner before the deadline in only a few payments. For example, {$2100.00} for two months which would've completed our agreement of {$4300.00} total. Was informed that it absolutely made no difference as long as it's completely paid off on time. They stated besides our scheduled due date per month, I can call them anytime to provide payments of any amount as long as total is collected by deadline which is XX/XX/XXXX. Also mentions to me if there were any issues at all regarding payments, notify them to immediately with updates so no misunderstanding would ever occur. Makes sense and simple enough. 

I paid a total of {$3200.00} so far but a mistake caused by Nelson and Kennard had completely derailed my payment plan and they made it impossible for me to pay off debt on time. Towards end of year, I called and asked if my scheduled payment date could be postponed to a later date for a particular month. Notified them that my checking account did not receive funds on time so it was insufficient at the moment. They agreed and postponed the scheduled payment to a later date. Phone rep even provided me confirmation by verifying our new scheduled payment date to make certain everything was perfectly clear as agreed on both sides. No hassles at all and went perfectly well. 

Or so I thought. Turns out, they went and charged me on the SAME original date regardless anyways! The original date of collecting payment was supposed to be postponed as agreed because I specifically notified them of insufficient funds. Naturally, my checking account was now in the negative and I got hit with multiple overdraft fees. In utter disbelief, I called and inquired how could this have possibly occurred because we all took precautions to avoid this. A later date was already scheduled and noted by both parties so I was shocked and confused as to how this was handled. 

They provided no explanation whatsoever as to how the error occurred OR even offered an apology which was very suspicious. The only thing they casually offered was a refund of the early XXXX charge and to cover the overdraft fee. Requested I go online to my checking account and provide them proof that I was in fact charged. They wanted pictures as proof to document this timely investigation and informed me to fax or email evidence of early charge. 

Did exactly as they instructed and this whole ordeal took WEEKS to resolve! By the time they finished their investigation, I was hit with additional over draft fees by my bank. Monthly storage, XXXX   XXXX and other businesses were charging me and my balance was still in the negative! Each time they charged my negative balance puts me in a deeper hole. And when my refund check finally came in the mail, Nelson and Kennard wanted it right back! What is this!? 

Keep in mind with all those overdraft fees in my negative balance, my refund check basically went to cover that. Had they simply not charged me early as agreed, I wouldn't be in this financial loss. The refund money I got back or what's left of it was now insufficient to pay off Nelson and Kennard for the month. So take a wild guess what they conveniently did. Ready? 

They decided that I fell off my payment plan and canceled my agreement early when I still had time left. Remember my deadline was in XX/XX/XXXX to pay everything off? They canceled my agreement in XX/XX/XXXX ( a month early ) and denied me the entire duration of our agreement to pay everything off. Not to mention, the duration of our agreement was conveniently cut short due to the time consuming error of the early charge! Which opened an investigation and a refund process which not only delayed valuable time, it wasted my money to pay off overdraft fees issued by my bank! All this puts me in a bigger hole than before and systematically derailing my payment plan for the month. It's actually a pretty clever form of sabotage. 

Instead of charging me on the postponed date as agreed, they intentionally charged me on the original date which they KNEW was going to cause problems due to insufficient funds. By opening an investigation to resolve a matter they deliberately caused, valuable time to pay off my debt was sacrificed. Even more time atop of that was wasted for the entire refund process to be completed. And once I received the refund, they immediately wanted it right back. So the error they caused not only took precious time away, they wasted my money by creating a negative balance which I had to mandatory supplement with the refund. This critical mistake was maliciously planned to intentionally derail my success of paying off debt on time. It's a very deceptive practice and they falsely accuse me of being at fault. 

All the money I was paying them previously was confiscated and they transferred my full debt to another company for collection. Meaning, Nelson and Kennard are keeping my {$3200.00} for themselves and I must now pay an additional {$4700.00} to a new collection agency which have already sued me for the amount. How about that? 

I called Nelson and Kennard for a little detective work. Many of their agents agreed that mistakes were caused on their behalf which I have recorded with an app as evidence. One mistake being the early charge and another mistake is conveniently the early cancellation. Coincidence? Early charge AND early cancellation? Two identical mistakes executed in a similar fashion. Could they possibly make things any more obvious? 

The combination of these 2 errors back to back made it impossible for debt to be paid on time. They sabotaged me with a series of problems that consumed valuable time and unfairly used it against me with false claims. In conclusion, I was extremely mislead with deceptive practices and ripped off.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation