I received a letter from a local lawyer stating they were trying to collect a debt of over $4,000. Not having a clue what this was about, I called them and was informed that it was a debt with Direct Merchants Bank. I had a credit card with them in the late 1990's when I lost my job and went thru a divorce all at once. The mental anguish I went thru with that situation was enough, much less having to deal with Direct Merchants harrassing, rude, arrogant, disrespectful employees.
I went online a few minutes ago and did a search of "Direct Merchants Bank." I immediately see there are nothing but complaints about them. And then I just read one persons story which mirros mine. As soon as I missed a couple of payments or was late, the finance charges, penalties and late fees started adding up, along with the interest rate.
I contacted DMB many times on my own to try to resolve the situation and most of the time they didn't want to hear anything but when I could pay them off. When I explained that all of the charges were just adding up more & more and I wasn't able to meet what they wanted, I was told that it wasn't their problem. This continued for many months.
They wanted $130 a month in payments and then charged me $150 in penalties & fees. I gave them $150 and they charged me $175 in fees. Every time I called I was never able to talk to the person I had spoken to the previous time. They always said that person worked in another department now, and that the computer didnt show any kind of record that I spoken with anyone with that name, etc. Etc. And this new person was usually nastier than the one before.
When I finally got someone on phone to listen to me, that at present rate they were never going to collect from me, then came the line of the "Re-Aging Program." How by making required payments for 3 months in a row they would freeze the account and stop the charges. After 3 months I was still being charged late fees, penalties, etc. They told me that the previous person wasn't authorized to make that kind of deal and no longer worked for DMB. They said they did have a Re-Aging program, but I had to prove to them that I was worth it! I couldn't believe my ears! I was always contacting THEM to try to clear things up. So the deal was that I would make 3 monthly payments of $158 and if I did this then I would be considered for lower interest rates and a freeze on penalties, etc.
Here's where it gets better. I sent them the 3 monthly payments and kept getting higher penalties. When I contacted them again, I was told I hadn't met the criteria. They said they had received the first payment in June, a payment on July 6 and a payment on July 28 and never received a payment for August. I told them obviously the payment they received on the 28th was for August. They said no, nothing posted in August so the system wouldn't accept it and there wasn't anything they could do. They told me I should have waited until August to send the check. When I said if I had waited til August, then it wouldn't make the DUE BY date, they basically said, TOUGH.
I called the next day and still wasn't able to talk to the same person, but this person agreed to set me up for payments for $177 a month. But when I asked for them to send me paperwork stating the terms, she said they dont send paperwork out like that, that it's all logged into their computer system. After a couple of minutes she said she was going to transfer me to another lady who would confirm all of the information. When she transferred me, the new person said that the $177 was not correct and it had to be $225 within the next day and she wanted my bank account info. When I asked to speak to her boss she said that the bosses dont have time to speak to the likes of you! Quote, unquote.
I told her very graphically what she could do to herself and that DMB was not to call me again, that at this time they had forced me into bankruptcy and they could try to get their money from the bankruptcy court.
I had started out with a $1650 credit limit with a balance of $1500 when I lost my job and then at that time a year later I now owed them $2500, an increase of almost a $1000, all in interest/finance charges & penalties, and that was after almost a year of monthly payments of $150! And now they want $4000?!
Before they get one more cent, they are going to have to prove in writing to me and the courts where every cent of the $4000 came from.
Allen
Providence, Rhode Island
U.S.A.
0 comments