Consumer complaint received 2024-04-18 00:00:00
Product: Payday loan, title loan, personal loan, or advance loan — Installment loan
Issue: Charged fees or interest you didn't expect — 
Company: Sezzle Inc.
State: MD

Complaint narrative:
Here is a transcript of the chat with the two customer service agents ( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX XXXX Hi. I've been charged a late fee, but it must have been a glitch with the bank because the funds were available, the account info was correct and other payments made to Sezzle today went through without a problem. 
( XXXX ) Shopper Support Bot : Sezzle charges fees for the following reasons : - When more than one reschedule has been applied to an order ( rescheduling fees ) - When a payment attempt fails due to reasons such as insufficient funds, incorrect account details, or an expired payment method ( failed payment fees ) - When a payment is made after its due date or where applicable, any state-required grace period has expired ( late payment fees ) - When cards, including credit, debit, or prepaid benefits cards, are used for a scheduled payment ( convenience fees ) What would you like to know more about? 

RESCHEDULE FEES, FAILED PAYMENT FEES, LATE PAYMENT FEES, CONVENIENCE FEES, CAN YOU WAIVE MY FEE? 
( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX XXXX Can you waive my fee? 
( XXXX ) Shopper Support Bot : Once a Sezzle fee has been processed, it can not be waived. Though, if you see a convenience fee or late payment fee attached to a payment that has not yet processed, you may be able to avoid it before it is processed by : - connecting your bank account and setting as default for scheduled payments ( convenience fees ) - pay off any late payment ( s ) before the deadline as shown in your dashboard ( late payment fees ) ( Reschedule fees can not be waived ) ( XXXX ) Shopper Support Bot : 1. Why was I charged a convenience fee for using a debit or credit card? 
You may be charged a small convenience fee if you use a credit, debit, or prepaid card to pay off installments on an order View article : XXXX XXXX XXXX 2. What are " failed payment '' and " late payment '' fees? 
When a payment attempt fails for various reasons, including but not limited to insufficient funds, incorrect account details View article : XXXX XXXX XXXX  3. Why was I charged a fee for rescheduling my payment? 
Every Sezzle order comes with one free reschedule ( or two reschedules if you are a Premium or Anywhere subscriber ). 
This optio View article : XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) Shopper Support Bot : If you feel you've been charged a fee in error, we can connect you with agent to investigate. 
( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX Hi! Thanks for reaching out to Sezzle Shopper Support, this is XXXX and Im more than happy to assist you today! I see that youve chatted in and there may be a bit of an issue, I'd love to help smooth things over. Please allow me a few moments so that I can review your previous messages and XXXX jump into this! 
( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX Dear XXXX XXXX thank you for taking the time to let us know in regards to this matter. I truly apologize for the inconvenience and I'll be happy to help! Please allow me a couple of minutes so that I can review your account here. 
( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX Could you try to make the payment manually please? See below some steps : remove the app from your phone, and go to your webroser Go to Sezzle.com and log in to your account. 
Go to the Orders tab, then select Active orders. 
Click on the order you wish to make a payment on. 
Select the installment youd like to pay and scroll down to the Make payment option. 
( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX Did it work? 
( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX XXXX I already paid it. 
( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX Oh I'm glad it worked! 
( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX My deepest apologies for the inconvenience. Could I possibly assist you with anything else right now? 
( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX XXXX I'd like a refund for the {$5.00} fee ( XXXX ) XXXX : Dear XXXX XXXX We really do apologize for the limitations but we can't refund a fee already charged after having a failed payment and after the due date even if it only was a couple of hours late ( XXXX ) XXXX : I deeply apologize, but what youre asking is beyond the scope of what I can do. Could I possibly assist you with anything else right now? 
( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX XXXX But there was no reason for the payment to fail. Money was in the account and other payments due to Sezzle from the same account were made today. It must have been a glitch on Sezzle 's side. My bank said there were no problems with the account today. 
( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX XXXX I'm going to report this to the Consumer Protection Bureau . You can't just charge people a fee when the problem is on your end. 
( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX I'm still here for you, I just need 2 - 3 more minutes so that I can provide you with an accurate response. 
( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX XXXX Ok ( XXXX ) XXXX : Thank you for waiting, i would love to help at this time but once a fee is charged, the fee is paid with the shopper 's acknowledgment, also for the policies is not possible offer a refund of a fee already charged, the fee had to be requested to be waived before making the payment to find a way to help, But after charged is not possible XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX : I deeply apologize, but what youre asking is beyond the scope of what I can do. Could I possibly assist you with anything else right now? 
( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX XXXX There is nothing written on the site that explains that. I'm filing a complaint because that is ridiculous that I be charged a fee due to an issue on your end. 
( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX Yes, You could search on there XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX : I already pay a monthly charge for access to certain areas of the site ( whichI 'm not sure is legal ). And now you're charginme an additional {$5.00}? That's not okay. 
( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX Dear XXXX XXXX I would love to help but as I told you we cant do anything else for the policies and agreements at this time ( XXXX ) XXXX : Could I possibly assist you with anything else right now? 
( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX Hi, are you still with me? 
( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX Since we have not received a response from you, I will be stepping away from this conversation for now. But dont worry, you havent lost your place! You can always return to this conversation with more information and we will get back to you within XXXX business day and often sooner! Thank you, and have a great day. 

( XXXX ) Shopper Support Bot : When a payment attempt fails for various reasons, including but not limited to insufficient funds, incorrect account details, or an expired payment method, a failed payment fee may be applied to the account. No new purchases or other payment reschedules are authorized until the installment is paid in full. 

The failed payment 's new due date also can not be rescheduled. A late payment fee may also apply if the failed payment is not paid by its original due date or, where applicable, before any state-required grace period expires. 
( XXXX ) XXXX User XXXX : Just to be clear the previous agent said the payment to clear up the failed payment needed to be made the same day in order to get a refund for the fee... I made the payment the same day. 
( XXXX ) XXXX User XXXX : The payment was due to today and I paid it today. 
( XXXX ) XXXX  : Unfortunately, we are not able to waive failed or late payment fees. Unfortunately, the fees are nonrefundable. unfortunately, no sir per industry regulation fees are not refundable and they can not be waived, they get applied to your payment once it fails so in this case we are unable to assist with this request. 
( XXXX ) XXXX : In this case since this is a failed payment fee this will be automatically applied once the reflect of the payment fails ( XXXX ) Grace : in this case, the one that gets removed once you make the payment is the late payment fee but in this case, this was not applied due when you made the payment onthe same date. 
( XXXX ) XXXX User XXXX : But there was no reason for the payment to fail. Other payments due today to XXXX were made without a problem and the monies were available in the account the payments were made from. 
( XXXX ) XXXX User XXXX : And I'm not a sir. 
( XXXX ) XXXX User XXXX : The info pro ided by the shopper bot says a late payment fee XXXX apply if the payment is not made by the original payment date... today is the original payment date. 
( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX we really apologize for the inconnu ma'am unfortunately, in this case, we got a message from your bank that the funds were not available so in this case this is the reason the payment failed, in this case, this might mean that your bank did not approve the charge for further details we remind getting in contact with them directly. 
( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX We apologize there is nothing else we can do. Please let me know If you have any other question regarding a different topic. 
( XXXX ) XXXX User XXXX : I did and the bank said there was no issue on their end. 
( XXXX ) XXXX User XXXX : This has happened before and I wasn't charged a late fee. Why is this time different? 
( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX In this case we had an update and now there was a differnte fee charge in this case you were charged the failed payment fee that is {$5.00} and the late fee is when the payment failes and it passes the grace period and would be an other {$10.00} fee. 
( XXXX ) XXXX : in this case this is the reason why since the payment was unable to be recollected it automatically added you the failed payment fee. 
( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX we apologize for this inconvenience, Please let me know if there is anything else I can assist you with. 
( XXXX ) XXXX  : Hi, are you still with me? 
( XXXX ) XXXX User XXXX : There was no notification of this change in policy. 
( XXXX ) XXXX  : Unfortunately, this was an internal update so, in this case, we do not provide notifications on this ma'am. 
( XXXX ) XXXX User XXXX : That's not legal. As a lender you are required to notify consumers of changes in fee policies. 
( XXXX ) XXXX  : Unfortunately in this case we are unable to provide further details since this are internal requirement. 
( XXXX ) XXXX  : We totally understand your frustration and we really want to apologize for this inconvenience you are facing this time, unfortunatley I have already provided you the correct information we have and the correct procedure to work with this situation. If you don't have any other questions regarding a different topic, I will proceed to close the chat, thank you very much for contacting us today and we wish you a wonderful rest of your day.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief