Here is a letter I just emailed to my lawyer regarding this horrific incompetent group of people who deliberately hold your check to induce a late charge. Dear Nick, SUBJECT: LATE FEE DISPUTE WITH FAIRBANKS CAPITAL CORP.
I am hoping you may be able to advise me as to what my legal rights are concerning this matter and how I may rectify the current and future situations with these people at Fairbanks Capital Corp. I will try to explain the situation from the beginning. While the bankruptcy was in progress, I had lost my job (December 12) and was employed 3 days later but couldn't start until January 3 as the office was closed for the holiday. I contacted my mortgage company who was Equicredit Corporation at the time, to request a deferment of my January payment. They told me I was to send a signed letter stating my case, which I did and they refused me. There was no other way to make payment arrangements. So I mailed them $400.00 which is half of my monthly mortgage payment. After that payment, I continued to pay my regular $800.00 per month on time as usual. Equicredit had to discontinue my direct withdrawl because of the bankruptcy so I paid them through my on-line banking account with First Union (now Wachovia). I stopped receiving payment statements from Equicredit right after that $400.00 payment. Equicredit sold my mortgage to Fairbanks Capital Corp.in April when I received a letter from Equicredit stating the details. This was the last paper contact I had received from either of the mortgage companies regarding my account information. Sometime in late June I received a delinquency notice from Fairbanks stating that I owed a late fee of $78.44 plus a monthly payment of $798.58. The total amount on the delinquency notice was $ 877.02 Due on July 1st 2002. My payments have all been on time so I called them to find out that this was about the $400.00 I still owed. I never realized they were putting my monthly payment in escrow and I was never notified by any letter whatsoever. So my $400.00 debt doubled with late fee charges, interest and other fees. They couldn't find any record of the $400.00 payment. To make a very long story short, I faxed them photocopies of the dates and times and amounts in question and I requested an itemized bill of all money I owed them. I received a 5 page report which I still don't understand. I continued to receive delinquency notices with the amount owed increased. I have a notice with a due date of 9/01/02 for $956.00. So after endless phone calls with incompetent people I finally found one who got it straight. I ended up paying $365.63 in total late charges and fees. Which is not much but my concern is how they are further destroying whatever credit rating I have left by their incompetence and their lack of communication with me for over 4 months regarding this issue. I still never received a receipt of payment of those fees and charges. I am recently receiving delinquent notices regarding monthly payments that have been paid on time but not posted to my account on time. November's charge was waived because they realized the payment was received on time. I am in a current dispute with them about December's payment. I have been on the phone the last 4 days with representatives that were outright rude. One of them insisted that I should pay by phone for a $15.00 fee. I told him I already have an on-line banking fee which pays for all my electronic payments. He continued insisting that this was the better way to get the payment in on time. I told him my payment WAS on time. He totally infuriated me and I hung up on him after I told him I was contacting my bank to have them call with me to verify this payment. I had a 3 way conversation with my bank representative and one from Fairbanks who cut us off when the bank representative suggested tracking the check in question. (The due date was Dec. 1st, the bank processed my check on the 4th and Fairbanks allegedly had not received it until the 16th. It was posted to my account on the 18th. The next day I spoke to a supervisor to request a waive of the late fee charges since my payment was not late and also requested a monthly paper statement. He refused me. He told me I had to send a signed letter requesting the paper statement because of my bankruptcy and that it was illegal for them to send me a monthly statement and totally refused to waive the late fee charge for December's payment. After arguing with him I suggested another 3 way conversation he said "I don't want to talk to your bank!". I told him the check might have gotten hung up in the mail and that I wasn't responsible for a late charge fee. He said "that's not MY problem". He spoke very loudly, kept telling me to listen and wouldn't listen to me. The argument got heated and he hung up on me. Nick, I've researched Fairbanks Capital Corp. On the internet out of disbelief of how they were treating me. I found endless pages of complaints and outright fraudulence regarding late fee charges and foreclosure proceedings. Some people are a lot worse off than me. I am afraid this might get out of hand and I may become one of their victims also. I found lawsuits against them regarding late fee charges and many other foreclosure situations. I am behind on my property taxes which should soon be paid off but I fear they might use this to their advantage. I am terrified they will try to find a way to suck me into their little game. It was suggested to send my future payments via registered receipt mail. Should I pay this late fee? This is just not fair, it really bothers me to pay something I don't owe especially after being rudely treated. I don't know what to do at this point, any advice would be greatly appreciated. P. S If it is illegal to send a monthly statement to a bankrupt client, then why is in NOT illegal to send inappropriate delinquency notices, or even appropriate delinquency notices with incorrect amounts and be hassled and misinformed about my account status? It's absurd! Note to readers: I was totally in disbelief when I found this site. Many of you have worse situations than I but I strongly feel this is not the end. This company will face the music and hopefully some of you will be returned what you have lost. Go to the Federal Trade Commission site and find out if we can file a report as I also will. I encourage everyone to research our legal rights and how to properly use them in our defense. There is undoubtedly something fraudulant going on here and I refuse to be a victim. My best to all of you. LauraEffort, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.
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