First American Payment Systems
First American Payment systems is ruining my credit

I opened a very small business in a mall in Atlanta in May of and I signed a one year lease. A representative of First American Systems convinced me to accept credit cards through their company. I signed an agreement, thinking I was signing for one year only. I was given only a three page agreement. I closed the business when my lease expired, because I was exhausted after working 363 days, 11 hours a day.

I then discovered that First American had charged my business account about $150.00 for a new system they have with Discover. When I contacted them to protest the charge, they referred me to Discover, who told me that they had sent me a letter advising me of the charge some time in March. I never received this letter, nor would I have ever agreed to this charge, because I knew that my lease was for one year only, and was about to expire. When they refused to refund the money, I decided to close my bank account to keep First American from further unauthorised charges and I closed my merchant account with them. I was told that I had signed a three years contract and that there would be a termination fee. I asked for a copy of the agreement, and they faxed me several ilegible pages which were never given to me by the representative with whom I signed the agreement.

I then got a phone call from First American Systems demanding that I pay them $460.00 ($300.00 for early termination penalty, an additional $100.00 for early termination of wireless service, and $60.00 for the two returned items fee from my bank). When I tried to explain to the Collections Specialist Crystal Whitehill that I tought I had a one year contract, that I could not find anything in the agreement about an additional $100.00 (I did find a statement in the fine print about a $300.00 for early termination), she kept interrupting me and would not give me a chance to explain that I had to close my account because of the unauthorised fee related to Discover. I told her that I would only be willing to pay $300.00. Of course, I would first want a refund for the unauthorised $150.00 Discover fee. She would not let me finish and demanded $460.00 and threatened that if I did not pay, "things would only get worse from now on".

And apparently, they did! She called me again to settle with me for $330.00. I told her that I would, if she would sent me a letter that I would be paid in full, and look in to the Discover matter. At that point she stated that American Systems had reported me to the Credit Bureaus. I told her that I could not believe that she offered to settle AFTER they reported me, and that I would not pay anything until they removed the bad credit report; she refused. Things got even worse after that. Apparently, they ruined my perfect 40 years credit. American Express - which I paid faithfully on time for thirty seven (37) years - wrote me a letter advising me that they were suspending my "flexibility", and that I could no longer use their extented payment option. Another credit card wanted to raise my interest rate; I opted out, however, if I have any new charges on this card, the new rates would apply!

I just received a letter from Ms. Whitehill, stating that "First American Payment Systems will pursue this debt aggressively through third party for appropriate actions", that "all collections cost and Attorney's fees will be added to the balance of your account", and that "this debt has been reported directly to the Credit Bureaus"

I wish I had never heard of First American Payment Systems. This is a ruthless company that hides behind the fine print of their agreements, and that does not even provide it's customers with all the pages of the agreement when they sign up. They will ruin your credit without even trying to listen to you, and after they have messed you up really bad, they have the nerve to ask you to settle for what you had offered in the first place.

Thank you for your time and for any advice.

Company: First American Payment Systems
Country: USA
State: Texas
City: Fort Worth
Address: 100 Throckmorton Street Suite 1800
Phone: 8007012831

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