Homeq Aka The Money Store rip-off! They're always calling about payments that aren't late. Charlotte North Carolina

I also have a loan through homeq. The phone calls were nuts. Obviously the person who responded to this report doesn't live in the real world or never has had money problems. I have never known a company that calls so much during the grace period. You tell them when the payment will be made and you still get calls until they get the payment. You basically waisted your time telling them anything.

I had this stopped by sending a letter to them stating they are not allowed to call me anywhere. They could only communicate with me by mail. By law. They MUST do this. I wrote the letter and never received a call again.

I wish someone would investigate this company. They are crooks and need to be stopped. Check out my situation from Fort Wayne, IN. Good luck.

I worked for them over 10 years and in their collections department for 3 years.

With any company (mortgage, auto, etc.), the grace period is NOT your due date. They ALL have the right to call you the day after your payment is due. If it's not, you ARE late, BUT they do not charge you a late charge until a specific number of days after that. Most companies do not call you until after the grace period. The grace period is NOT there for you to mail your payment during that time. It's to allow for your payment to get there should something happen that's beyond your control (inclimte weather--ice storms, snow storms, 9/11, etc.) that when you mail your payment on time (7-10 days prior to your due date) that causes it not to get there.

When you signed your contract, you agreed to have your payment in on or before your due date. So if your due date falls on a weekend or holdiay, it needs to be there the business day BEFORE. Sometimes they work old files (ones that have not been updated, because the data hasn't been transfered yet). Generally this is only affects you Monday through Friday. Anything that's worked the weekends has been updated as long as it's been received and posted by 6 pm eastern time. When this is done, they often have to manually dial, so they can check and see if payment has been posted. But it's not always the case and they can't always catch that a payment has been made or is pending prior to it dialing or reaching you.

And they often set the dialer up to call you based on WHEN you've answered. So if you've answered in the mornings, then they'll focus their calling on morning. Or if it's evenings, then they'll focus it on the evenings. It doesn't matter if it's been you or someone else. If they're had a live body answer, they'll try to catch you at those times.

And under the FDCPA, they can call you on Sundays, because they own the accounts. Third party collection agencies (those that do not own the accounts outright and are working for the original creditor) can not. However, they cannot call you if they KNOW that it is an inappropriate time. For example, if you advise them that you work nights and sleep during the day. They MUST document this and have their dialer not call you when you will be sleeping. But you entertaining guests, was inappropriate timing for you, but under the law, they were within their rights to call you. They can call Sunday through Saturday 8 AM to 9 PM, in your time zone.

Many folks try to block the numbers, but they use trunk lines and change the numbers often (these are numbers that don't get answered, but belong to the company). And there is a way to get around the numbers being blocked.

Get your payment there on or before your due date and you won't hear from them. OR you can call customer service to have them change your due date. Then you can mail when you are now and still get there early.