The calls have started
Date: Thu, 08/30/2007 - 13:37
The calls have started
My husband has PDL with 4 different places two are affliates, he owes out every two weeks approximately 3,600.00. The checks have never made it through the bank because he walks in and pays the accounts. Of course any of you in this boat will understand that he borrows from one to pay the other. First off let me say that I think he has a problem, a huge problem. This to me os no different ( for HIM) thatn somone who has a gambling problem, drug problme, or an alcoholic. It is a problem. He knows it but can't admit it. I don't understand all of it either because he owes out more to them than our biweekly bills are. So the excuse that we needed the money to pay our bills doesn't fly wiht me.
A year and half ago all this came to light for me because so much was going on in our marriage at the time. I couldn't stand him and he couldn't stand me. he was working 40 hours regular each week and 40 hours. He was tired and I was always inquiring why we didn't have any money. I was totally in the dark. We didn;t have duplicate checks and since he didn't let the checks hit our account through the PDL I never saw that eh was doing it.
When i found out I got sick ( literally). No one every thinks that their spouse would lie to them or keep things hidden from them. I am not a high maintence person and I was very well aware that we only had left over each month after bills around 700.00 for groceries, gas, entertainment and we have 4 kids together. So I was not expecting nor did I ever to live high on the hog.
We almost divorced over it. At that time he was only borrowing from three places. I went and did something I never should have done, but I did to help us out. I borrowed on my life insurance policy of 900.00 that I had agreed to pay back. That was 1 year ago and nothing has been paid back to them. I didn's cash out the policy because my grandfather got the policy after I was born in 1975 and still checks on the policy.
So we sat down and talked and he agreed that i would take over the finances. One year later and I have no control over what his paychecks are, how much incoming is coming in and what he has paid and what needs to be paid. I do not work this was an agreement that we came to when i was pregnant 3 years ago. We were doing very well the first year his income was 5,200.00 after taxes each month. But all that changed in 2005, his employer used to pay overtime separate than regular hours and now he wasn;t making as much after combining both on one check. I believe this is when it started, he had come accustomed to a certain lifestyle and wanted to try and keep it that way. Even after that we would still have had enough money and extra for our monthly bills.
So I the other day i got my credit report and thank GOD my credit is not bad at all, his on the other hand isn;t great but not ugly. So I was thinking what is the problem here? Why can't we pay this debt off, I started asking him questions and he would just answer wiht. Don't worry I will take care of it.
So I finally find out yesterday he has 4 PDL out ( not due to paid until next week) and pays interst of 1,600.00 every two weeks in interest. Well son of a that is why we can't pay things off and we are always struggling to have money for neccesities every two weeks.
I have put my marriage on hold right now to try to figure out how to deal with these people so they don't come after me. I really don't care what happens to him right now because I am so angry. I feel like I have bailed him out once if I keep bailing him out he will continue doing this.
So I found out who all the PDL are through. I was surprised anyone gave me information seeing as my name is not on the checks and when they ahve called here in the past to remind him of his appointment they won't disclose any information to me.
I am in Ohio and he owes to Cashland, Checksmart, Advance Amercia, and one of their affiliates National Advance America. ALL STORE FRONTS.
So I got good news from the two AA & NAA. They will let him make payments to them. But Cashland & Checksmart had the suckiest plan for us. They told me to let the checks bounce and NOT pay the loan. Let it go to collections. When I asked why I should do that their answer was they cannot make payment arrangments in the office. So i called Corporate and explained the situation. Their answer was let the checks bounce as well and let it go to collections. I told them that was a stupid thing to do because I would be in more debt than I was now. I would incurr the bank fees, and I think my bank will not close an account until all outstanding checks come through the bank. NOt to mention that my bank charges fees per day that the account is overdrawn.
I talked to an attorney yesterday who does bankruptcy and she gave me the same advice and said we needed to file Chapter 7. I don't want to do this because as I said my credit is good and my husband's credit isn't great but it isn't ugly either.
I really need some advice here.....
Well the calls have started here to my house and to his work. I talked to each of them explaining that I intend to pay the debt but that I cannot pay them in full by the date they request. I explained that I just had to take on a new car payment because my engine blew up in my other car. I told them my budget that I ahve lanned out and that the first payment I coudl make would be the 6th of Sept in the ammount of 20.00. They explained that this wasn't good enough and that they needed 100.00 ( a piece on 5 PDL) every two weeks to secure a payment plan. That is 1,000.00 a month that I don't have. Not to mention that two places ahve run the checks through my bank more than twice trying to get their money and incurring me outrageous bank fees. They must have caught wind that I was going to stop payment on them and out them through before they were supposed to and screwed everything up.
So i call the bank and the bank tells me they ( PDL ) can run the check as many times as they want. I said okay how long does the account have to be overdrawn before you will close the account, they said 45 days ( which is almost here), but if their is activity on the account ( IE a check trying to come through) they will keep it open. So I am going to end up owning the bank more than I owe the PDL people. I am right now -1,000.00 in my account. And the bank says there is nothing they can do for me.
I hand wrote the letters due to be signed by my husband about the debt and acknowledging that he owes it and not to contact him at work or at home aboout it, and to only corespond through letters and that we would have to make payemts to them. I ahve not sent them out yet.
They call his work just as much as they call home and I am afraid he is going to get fired. Which would just be wonderful.
My mental status? I am stressed beyond belief and I hate my life and living like this.
My marital status? I am begining to hate my husband on a daily basis and have contemplated leaving him, the only thing that si holding me back is the fact that I am not employed and wouldn't want to put the burden of me and my three kids on my parents until I can file for divorce and find a job.
I ahve once again thought about bankruptcy, I can't see another way out of this. I don't know what to do. And it's hard for me becuase nothing wiht the PDL are in my name, the checking account isn't either. So trying to figure things is out is more frustrating than if I was on the checking account.
I need help.
I know this situation sucks, even more so since it wasn't you th
I know this situation sucks, even more so since it wasn't you that got into the mess. You just have to be the one to clean it up. But you can do it.
The bank will close the account after it's been negative for 45 days. They are not going to keep an account open for longer then that when it's in the red. They will freeze and close it soon enough. Then you can deal with them.
Have you contacted your state's DFI yet? Just call them up, tell them the situation, and see if they have any suggestions about how to deal with the storefronts. They are most likely operating legally, so there isn't much you can do without some help.
Hi redwolf. I'm sorry about your situation. It looks like you ar
Hi redwolf. I'm sorry about your situation. It looks like you are an innocent bystander who is having to jump in and do damage control. Whatever you decide to do, just know that there is a way out. Do as goudah says and contact your agencies to see if they can offer assistance. Have you contacted the storefront's home offices? They might be willing to do something more for you than the store itself. Good luck!
PDL
Have you contacted your state's DFI yet?
Not sure? I did contact another Ohio agency after seeing the number given to someone who lived in DC. I called that munber and they gave me Ohio's number. I did speak to someone and they told me that they couldn't really help me until the checks bounced and it went to collections.
Advanced America said they would help me out at first, but my 20.00 payment ( first time but higher ammount in Oct.) wasn't good enough. I said I understood but that was all i could pay the beginging of Sept.
Any information on agnecies I call. Or how to go about all this. I cannot even concentrate on anything, I find myself having phone conversations wiht freinds and not even remebering what we talked about. I can't remember who I talked to when I talked to them unless I write it down. My mind is so frazzled.
Regulator: Ohio Division of Financial Institutions Address: 77
Regulator: Ohio Division of Financial Institutions
Address: 77 South High Street, 21st Floor Columbus OH 43215
Phone: (614) 728-8400
Try them, if you haven't already. Just be honest, explain the situation, and see if they have any suggestions. If not, we can figure something else out. But that is a starting place . . . .
PDL
Yes Goudah they are the ones I called, they said I needed to call them back once the checks bounced and were in collections through the PDL. So I will give them a call tommorow.
Getting No fricking where
I am now ticked off! I called the DFI and got some helpful information about my bankking pratices which are crazy.
My husband called the bank this morning to ask them how to stop incurring all the fees and stop letting the checks go through which have been more than 3 times. The girl at the bank explained to him that the account cannot be closed until it reaches a zero balance. Totally contradictory to what a lady told me yesterday. I was told after 45 days the account is closed by the bank ( if there is no activity on the account) but that the PDL can put a check through 7, 8, 9 or ten times if they want.
The lady at DFI told me MOST banks will only put a check through twice and then punch a hole in the check and send it back.
I have a negative balnce of over 1,000.00 and don't have any money to put in the account to get it at a zero balance. Even if I did the bank is letting the checks go through which correct me if I am stupid here but will always leave me wiht a negative balance because the checks will keep bouncing.
Finally!
My checking account is charged off, and a hold has been put on anything coming through the account. So the fees have stopped piling up and even though I owe them over a thousand dollars it can't get any worse.
They informed me that he would have to be reported to check systems and I said that is fine, I just need the activity on the account to stop.
So I guess I got some relief today.
Umm they didn't say anything about helping me out wiht the bank
Umm they didn't say anything about helping me out wiht the bank fees. So I am assuming I ahve to pay all those charges, I tried getting this taken care of last month and they wouldn't help me.
Red..I am sorry to hear your bank has been so bad to you. And yo
Red..I am sorry to hear your bank has been so bad to you. And you may have tried this already but I hate to hear when members' banks treat them so badly. Are you working with the branch where you opened your account and are you talking to a manager? If not you may want to try, maybe you can tell them your story and try to get some of the charges reversed. Tell them you received conflicting informtion from their employees and if you can tell them the employee's names. I had an appointment with the bank president, luckily, I did not have to use it. I would not give up on this if there is anyway you can get help with the negative $$.
repy
red, I'll just tell you my experience. It might help you. When my bank "error'd", I had a cow. I spoke with the branch manager. I was still having a cow. I wrote a letter to the corporate office of my bank addressed to the bank president. I received a phone call regarding my complaint. They listened, I told the entire story, etc. I then emailed my branch manager and told her I contacted the corporate office and it was in their hands now. Within that week, all the pdl debits were reversed off. I wrote another letter to the corporate office thanking them for their help. I then emailed my branch manager again telling her of the assistance from the corporate office. Within the next week, all the bank fees were reversed off. I was back to zero and able to close it (again). I don't know if you want to try this approach, but I just thought I would suggest it. A letter to your corporate office of your bank might work for you, too.
Thank you
Really Cannr? I will try that, I mean geez I can't pay that much back to the bank.
Were the PDL storefront or internet for you cannr? I am just thinking that I won't be as lucky as you got. I mean I have three non PDL checks that bounced so I need to take care of those first. I have already contacted them and they know my situation, and they are willing to wait it out without seeking legal action against my husband.
But your advice is definitly worth a try the worst they can do is say no they can't reverse all those charges from the PDL places.
So I need to contact the corporate office and ask to speak to the bank president?
Redwolf, I am so sorry you are going through such hell with your
Redwolf, I am so sorry you are going through such hell with your bank. Some banks are just horrible, and I feel grateful that mine was so good about working things out with me. I had to switch banks anyway, but my old bank gave me no problems with regard to the PDLs.
I would do exactly what Cannr said to do. Hopefully, this will help get some (if not most) of those ridiculous fees reversed, so that if you do have to pay the bank anything, it won't be as much. May I ask if your bank was a local bank? It seems that the small local banks seem to be much harder to work with. Just curious...
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red, I'm being serious. Now, at the time, mine we all internet pdl debits. However, I don't believe that should be an issue with the bank - whether they were internet or store front. They were still debits on your account and caused NSF fees. Now, they might "argue" a bit on the actual store front checks that hit. You can always tell them that those checks should not have been turned in to the bank, as you are working with each individual company themselves. What I did was call the customer service telephone number & asked them for the corporate office address (my branch manager wouldn't give it to me! LOL!). I got their address, I wrote them a two page letter detailing everything, I addressed it to the President of the bank, and I wrote COMPLAINT underneath it. That caught their eye. I also wrote COMPLAINT on my letter at the top. The phone call I received was by one of the assistants of the president. I really didn't expect the president himself to speak to me, which is fine. But SOMEONE did! Which I was glad. Most banks want to resolve a complaint so you don't file complaint charges against them. Like I said, it's certianly worth a shot. It doesn't hurt to write a letter. You'll more than likely get a response. And, in my case, it worked out well. If you do get in contact with your bank corporate office, be sure to email your branch manager (be nice) and inform them you have contacted the corporate office regarding your account. Stay on the "good" side of the branch manager at your bank. The branch manager is the one who ultimately has the decision to remove the actual "bank fees".
I also had a bank that would not help me at all and I ended up w
I also had a bank that would not help me at all and I ended up with $1100. in nsf charges...I wrote letters to the corporate office which were never answered...the only response I got was from a seemingly very understanding woman in the loss prevention dept. She explained that the branch manager was the only one who could take my charges off. She suggested I make the payments I had worked out with her for about 4 months (to pay off actual charges where the bank allowed the 4 ipdls debits to go through before turning everything away but the nsf fee's)after that she suggested I contact the manager of the branch and see if I could get them to remove the charges. I haven't done that as yet...but I wrote that manager originally...the managers at 2 different branches I went to for help and never got replies from either of them. So do we think I should try that again or where else can I go to complain about the bank's practice???
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morningstarr, I personally would try again. But, that's just me. You know how I like to hound people to death! I would write the corporate office again, to the president, make sure you write COMPLAINT on there At the end of your letter, ask them to contact you and leave your telephone number. I gave them my telephone number and they called me. I think they may have "some" say in getting those authorized debits reversed off. They will tell you that it's ultimately up to the branch manager to get the bank fees reversed off. They first have to get the debits reversed off (this is where my corporate office complaint letter helped me). After they're reversed off, the branch manager can reverse off the bank charges. And there is no reason they can not do this. Try again. Send a letter to the corporate office, send a copy to the loss prevention department, and email your branch manager informing them that you are in contact with the corporate office (might wake them up a little bit). It's certainly worth a shot. And keep copies of everything. If this doesn't work, goudah had posted for me regarding filing a complaint against banks at the OCC. You can either search for OCC and the post should pop up, or I can look again and see if I can find it. Because I had to ask her "What's the OCC?" LOL!
I will try again Cannr...I was going to wait till I made a few p
I will try again Cannr...I was going to wait till I made a few payments first as the LP person suggested. After the first approx. $400. the rest are all nsf charges caused by the ipdls trying but not getting through...the first week they went ahead and paid the four that debited even though I had supposedly "closed" my account. That's what LP thought I should pay back because I would have gotten "credit" for those payments made...if she only knew!!! I will write everyone again...and then if I don't get an answer I will look up that info Goudah poasted for you. I really don't want to pay the whole $1100. if I don't have to...the only good thing was they promised as long as I was making payments on time they would not list me with Chexsystems...which I was happy about.
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Wait a minute! Out of $1,100.00 - only $400.00 of it is actually debits that they paid (when they shouldn't have)??? The rest of the amount is all bank NSF fees? And your account should have been closed?
Yes!!! That's what I have been saying...I called everyone I knew
Yes!!! That's what I have been saying...I called everyone I knew and wrote at least 2 sets of letters to both branches I visit, and the CEO of the bank and the Loss Prevention people. I got no..NO..response at all untill LP called and said I had to make payment arrangements immediately...they also refused of course to participate in my debt management program so I am sending them $122. a month...this will be the 2nd payment this next week.
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morning, I apparently did not catch the part about your account only having $400 as the actual debits. I think I was just "focused" on the $1,100.00 part. Now, let me ask you, when all this happened, was it like what happened to me? You closed your account - the pdl debits came through - your account was forced back open - and they put all those fees on? Then what? They blocked the account, but yet charged you NSF fees each time they attempted to hit? Explain this to me because something is seriously wrong here.
YUP.. that's eactly what happened only they refused to credit th
YUP.. that's eactly what happened only they refused to credit the debits or nsf charges...I went into the bank on May 13th and talked to a VP...explained my whole problem with the ipdls..etc..and asked to close my account. He stood right there and cut up my debit card and I wrote a check for the balance in my account and he closed it. I was at 0 until Thursday came...I had called all the ipdls and asked to delay payments because my account was going to close...all but 4 held off (out of 10)...and then bank paid them...I called immediately but the guy I had talked to was now on vacation and no one knew what I was talking about...I called the main branch and went round and round for 2 weeks...then the ipdls hit again...I was already in the negative so now they turned them back but charged me nsf...$34 each...I called again, and again...by then I had found dcc and started writing letters but I couldn't get the bank to do anything..so by the time THEY decided to close my account I was in the hole for $1100. Now the LP dept. called me and said they had my letter and I had to make payments yada yada...so that's where I am today!!!
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morning, my advice? Go back in person and speak with that VP that you spoke with back in May. This VP may not even be aware of what has been going on. You think I wouldn't march my butt back in there and talk to him? Oh man. He's the one who "worked with you" and closed the account. He's the one you need to go back and complain to. Give it a shot. When you have time (and I personally would MAKE time), go back and see him personally. Give him the low down on what's been going on. Surely to goodness he'll remember you. He cut up your card! You withdrew all your money! Please try that. And, if you do, let us know how it turns out. It might help! Lord knows, the VP should have SOME say in those bank fees!
Well I sent an email to the corporate office about all the bank
Well I sent an email to the corporate office about all the bank fees only to have them reply with a nice email stating they forwarded my email to the branch manager where I live. I have not gotten any response from her. That was on Friday night last week.
I don't think they are going to help me, and the crappy thing is my husband is always gone working form 7 am to 11pm Mon- Friday so I cannot just walk in and talk to them. I mean he did give them permission to discuss the account with me. But evcen with that they are reluctant to give me any information.
Any more advice for me?
Red..I would call and speak to them...baring that I would email
Red..I would call and speak to them...baring that I would email again, and again until I got a response.
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red, is the account only in your husbands name? You need to go in person and speak to the branch manager. Not email. If you have authorization regarding the bank account, there is no reason they shouldn't be able to help you. Although, if it is just in your husbands name, I can see their reluctance. BUT he did give you authorization on it. You need to go in person. No emails. The corporate office referred you to the branch manager. This is because the branch manager ultimately has the "last word" on reversing the bank fees. My corporate office got the ball going on getting my pdl debits reversed; however, they told me (so I knew) it came down to the branch manager regarding the actual bank fees being reversed. You need to go there, red. If they won't listen to you (and I know easier said than done) your husband needs to go.