I heard a report on NPR today about 'Fee Harvesters' - credit companies that predatorally target people who, for whatever reason, have tarnished credit & offer to help them re-gain their good credit via their product. They give them low credit limits then, taking advantage of customers' vulnerability, garner thousands of dollars in fees.
I am currently preparing for arbitration with an attorney representing Midland Credit Management aka Harvest Credit Management, who bought my "bad debt" from Household Bank. I don't honestly expect to prevail, but I am not going to go down without a fight. I think it's interesting that this company's alias is "Harvest" Credit in light of the report on NPR.
In October of I had a credit card with Household Bank which I had had for about 5 years. I opened it because I was trying to re-build my credit after a bankruptcy following a divorce (my ex ran up several credit cards to the tune of $40K, of which I inherited half the debt).
My credit limit was $550. I charged & paid, charged & paid to develop a payment history. I was often charged a late fee, even when I paid on-time (so much for rebuilding my credit!). I didn't always complain because sometimes it was close to the due date & I gave them the benefit of the doubt. When I DID complain, Customer Service generally gave me the run-around although, I must admit, they sometimes retracted the late fee.
On October 8, I sent a payment, which was due on 10/12/03, by money order via Priority Mail, overnite with signature required. My balance was $540.27 & I paid $40.00 (minimum due was $28.00). I was trying really hard to pay my bills on time & wanted legal proof that I did in fact make the payment on time to avoid a late charge. I paid via money order instead of a check so they couldn't use the excuse of the check not clearing. I left for a 2 week trip shortly after.
When I returned from my trip, I found a notice from Household Bank stating that I had accrued a late fee, which put me over my limit & generated an over-limit fee as well.
I called Customer Service & explained that I made the payment 4 days before the due date & that I had a signed receipt proving that the payment had been received 3 days before the due date. The person I spoke with stated that the payment had not been credited to my account until 5 days after the due date. While that may be true, I conceded, payments are on-time when they are RECEIVED. The fact that they were behind on their data-entry was not the consumers responsibility.
We debated on this for about 20 minutes when, in utter frustration, I asked to speak with someone else—a supervisor. She, the "customer service rep.", said that she WAS the supervisor, that there was no one else to talk to, & that I had to pay the late & over-limit fees or my credit would suffer. I told her that I was willing to pay what I owed, but not these bogus fees. She was very agitated & rude & I wound up hanging up on her. I called back, hoping to get another person. I did, but they put me on hold for 15-20 minutes & I eventually hung up.
The collection calls started almost immediately. I would explain the situation to the rep., but they would not reverse the bogus fees & I would not agree to pay them. This went on for several months, then eventually stopped.
A few years went by & I heard nothing from them until July when I received a Summons from my county court stating the a local attorney representing Midland Credit (who bought my account from HB) was suing me in civil court for an amount of $1096.00 (Notice the amount? It's compounded late & overlimit fees charged by HB until they sold it to Midland).
I have responded to the court, contacted a credit attorney via AllExperts.com (unfortunately, he's in Texas & I'm in Oregon, but he's very helpful & has been advising me free of charge), and have filed a complaint with the court asking for the case to be dropped as the amount in question is appropriate for Small Claims Court, not Civil Court.
Oregon law mandates arbitration in these cases, which I'm contesting, but is scheduled to be heard on 12/10/07. As our so-called "Judicial System" is not really just, I expect to lose this case & be ordered to pay these charlatans upon penalty of a court judgment against me. It feels good to know, however, that I'm doing my part to expose these immoral organizations. I actually feel sorry for them: their Karmic consequences are going to be severe.
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