Arcadia ripoff This is long, but please read! Completely destroyed credit! Charlotte North Carolina

The following is a letter I recently emailed to Arcadia/Transouth in Charlotte. I have withheld the names of those I sent it to. Some of the personal information has been deleted.

My name is (my full name). I am the wife of (my husbands full name), a customer of Arcadia/Transouth. We have an auto loan through the company you represent. The account number we have assigned is: ********. I wish to say first and formost, that it is not you personally I am upset with, it is the company.

My husband is in the U.S. Marine Corps. He left February 18, 2004 to go serve in Afghanistan. I was given power of attorney to take care of all affairs while he was gone. A copy of this was faxed to Arcadia/Transouth so that I could access the account.

I decided in March it would be easier if the account was paid each month through allotment. My husband requested this when he initally got the loan, but was told it "could not be done." I called and spoke with Ms. Frazier and she and I worked together on getting this arranged. Please understand, and send out a memo to ALL customer service, auditing, collections, and whoever else needs to know, that the Marine Corps (and possible other branches of the military) NO LONGER HAS PAYROLL OFFICERS WHO SET UP ALLOTMENTS. This is done by the individual online through a military secured website called "myPay."

With Ms. Frazier on the phone I accessed Don's pay account and we proceeded to set up the allotment. The following information is asked for when setting up allotments through "myPay": Account number (10 digits at least), routing number (to which bank), check the box, is the account a checking or savings account (for payment on loans it is usually savings) and then amount to be paid.

So, I asked for the account number. I was given: ****. I then asked for the routing number. Ms. Frazier then informed me there was no routing number. I explained to her the changes that had taken place and that four digit numbers where used in the past, however that they required more information now. She placed me on hold to go ask another person.

When she returned I was given a full account number (*******) and the routing number (********). I choose for it to go to the "savings" account, put in the amount and entered the information. The allotment went through, giving me the name of the bank, Harris Trust and Savings Bank, 311 West Monroe Street, Chicago, IL 60603. I verified this with Ms. Frazier. The allotment was then set into motion. At that time, I expressed concern to Ms. Frazier that the money for the loan would begin coming out the very next month (which would be the month of April, half on the first, half on the fifteenth) and then paid on the first of the month in May. Sometimes however it can take up to two months for allotments to go through.

My biggest concern was that money would be coming automatically out of our pay, but I would still be responsible for making the monthly payment until the allotment paid. It was decided that a deferment on the loan would be benefical so that I wasn't having to come up with over $700 for two months. I was granted a deferment for the months of April and May so that I wouldn't be having to do this.

In April I noticed the money being taken out of our pay and it looked as if everything was moving along. In May, again the money was taken out of the account and the loan was to be paid on June first. This would have put us ahead of schedule, as our payments are not due until the twenty-second of each month.

In May, I got a notice that two loan payments where due. I immediately called Ms. Frazier, she assured me not to worry, that everything was fine and that that amount was not due.

In July, my husband re-enlisted in the Marine Corps in Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan. He is a career Marine with over twelve years active duty time served and four more on this current contract.

I was called sometime during the first part of July by Ms. Frazier. She told me the loan had not been paid on. I immediately went to the myPay website and was able to pull up the allotment page that showed the money being sent to the account that she gave me the account numbers for, that I entered in March. Since my husband was overseas, and I couldn't exactly call him. I asked her to give me a couple of days to make contact with him to see if he may know of any reason why this could have happened. She agreed and I immediately emailed my husband and request he call me ASAP.

The very next day he called and said that he had no clue what could be causing it. I pulled up myPay again, and the allotment was gone. Our money had been taken out to make the payments, but where was it? I hung up with him as he went to seek advice from "S-1" (administration of the unit), meanwhile I called Ms. Frazier and told her the allotment was no longer showing up on the website. I then agreed to FIND (I say find, because I literally had to do that) the money to make a loan payment. That payment was made somewhere between July 14-18th to cover the June payment.

I also made arrangements to make a payment August 15th to cover July's payment. At the same time I reset the allotment and confirmed that all account numbers were correct with Ms. Frazier. The allotment should make it's first payment on September 1st.

My husband called me back later that day and told me a possible glitch in the system when he re-enlisted may have caused a "hiccup" in his allotments and to keep track of them closely. We have other loans that are paid this way satisfactorily. (FYI: When a person re-enlists in the military they have to be honorably discharged and then resign contract. When he was discharged for the whole two minutes, that was when the S-1 office felt there may have been a bump.) The S-1 office informed my husband that this allotment problem was documented in their diaries and would be investigated.

On August 1st, it appeared that we received back some of the money that had been paid out to the allotment during April and May. This money was used to pay the bills that went deliquent due to my making a payment, with late charges no doubt, in July.

My husband came home from Afghanistan on September 18th, a month later than expected. We got home at around 8:00 pm. The first person to call us that night was my sister. The next person to call was Arcadia/Transouth. My husband answered the phone in his home for the first time in seven months to be informed that he owed a loan payment. He handed the phone to me and what I found out made me furious.

A payment had not been made and one was due immediately for the month of August. I asked to speak to Ms. Frazier. The person on the line asked if I was dening a payment. I explained I just wanted to speak to Ms. Frazier and to please look at the notes made to the account, that we had been having some problems. Again, I was asked, with MUCH ATTITUDE if I was dening a payment. I politely told the person I would call Ms. Frazier. I hung up with them, and called her.

My husband has just come home, from a war... and I have to deal with this. He has to deal with this.

I pull up the myPay website, and again, the allotment is gone. We did not restart the allotment and again made arrangements to make a payment. Meanwhile, money is coming out of our pay every payday. Ms. Frazier then put us in contact with her supervisor Ms. Straight. I explained this whole thing to her and she is as puzzled as we are. She told us it was a problem on our end and for us to go talk to the payroll officer in Don's unit. Only, there isn't one anymore. We explained this to Ms. Straight, and she still insisted that the problem was on our side. I confirmed the account numbers with her. I told her I felt that someone from Arcadia/Transouth needed to call Harris Trust and Savings and ask about the account the money was being sent to. I was told that no one had that number. I was floored, I was sending money to a bank that NO ONE had the phone number to??? So I took it upon myself to find the number and call them, which I as the customer should have never had to do.

This is where I start getting very, very angry. Please understand I am no longer upset or frustrated. I am angry. I call the number with the address that matches the bank I have been sending our money to REPEATEDLY over the past 4-5 months, I give them the account number and the routing number given to me by ARCADIA/TRANSOUTH and they have NO RECORD OF ANY ACCOUNT WITH THOSE NUMBERS.

To make matters worse, the address that I was given, 311 West Monroe, was the address of one of their BANK MACHINES. Also, Harris Trust and Savings didn't do business with Arcadia/Transouth.

I had a complete panic attack, literally. I could not breath, I could not speak. I just hung up the phone. I explain this to my husband, who has been home now for maybe 2 days, and he completely looses his mind. I begged him to let me handle this, because I knew if he called Ms. Straight it would not be a polite phone call and it was not her fault personally.

I tell Ms. Straight about the call to the bank and at that time made arrangements again for a payment to be made to cover the previous month. ALL THE WHILE... OUR CREDIT IS BEING DESTROYED. The entire time this is happening I am being told that Arcadia/Transouth was not at fault and that payments had to be made or the vehicle would be picked up.

*I worked in the automotive industry for Ford, Jeep-Eagle, and Saturn doing F & I. I know how contracts work, I've used yours. I have negoitated deals with your company. So I am not a moroon when it comes to auto loans, and personally I don't like Arcadia/Transouth, and I didn't like doing business with them, but my husband bought this truck before we were married.*

I asked to speak to her supervisior. I was then put on the phone with Mr. L. Fuller. He continually interupted me and would not allow me to explain to him from my end what was happening. I was told over and over that this was not Arcadia/Transouth's fault and that whatever we had to do to pay the loan was what we needed to do. I finally TOLD him to stop talking and to please listen to what I had to say. As I went back from the beginning I constantly had the feeling he was holding the phone away from his face and just saying "yes" to get through the call. He then asked us to fax him copies of my husband's Leave and Earning Statements for the months of March-September. He stated that after he received them, he would investigate the problem and get back to us. I have heard nothing.

In October when I called to make yet, another payment, I found out that in July, Arcadia/Transouth stopped doing business with Harris Trust and Savings Bank. That when I set up the allotment they were doing business, but by July, were not anymore. Yet, no one notified me to this change so that I could change the allotment information. It wasn't my husbands re-enlistment, it was Arcadia/Transouth.

I WAS GIVEN FALSE ACCOUNT NUMBERS BY ARCADIA/TRANSOUTH.

Now because of this entire snafu, not only has our credit been destroyed, but we are always a month behind. The money we paid out for the allotment over the course of the months was eventually all recovered and was used to try and catch up all other bills that went deliquent. So NOT ONLY DID OUR VEHICLE LOAN REFLECT BAD ON OUR CREDIT REPORT, BUT SO DID ABOUT 3 OTHER THING BECAUSE OF IT.

I cringe everytime the phone rings. I try my hardest when we get called EVERYDAY by Arcadia/Transouth to be as polite as possible to those just doing their job. However when I ask them to please look at the "shared notes" on the account, so that I don't have to repeat everything over and over I am given nothing but attitude and sarcasim. I am not talking about maybe one or two occasions. Just about everyday I deal with this.

Not once has anyone even apologized for the inconveince. I requested a deferment to allow us to get caught back up and get back on schedule and was told no. Why? Because I got 2 deferments in the Spring.

Our payments were on time before all of this. I wasn't given those deferments because I "needed" them, it was merely for convienence. Now that I actually need the assistance of Arcadia/Transouth, due to THEIR ERROR, I was told, and very flatly I might add, no. Just no. There is nothing we can do. No. No. No.

Now it is Christmas, my husband is gone, yet again for the month, and I get called everyday, as usual.

This has caused me an incredible amount of stress, to the point of a stomach ulcer. I am pregnant with a stomach ulcer. We have 10 year old daughter who is in remission for brain cancer. It has caused stress on my marriage. We are so far behind in our bills now there is no light. The people we rent our home from have decided to sell the house. We would like to buy it. That probably will not happen, because our credit is so bad now that we can't even refinace the auto loan we have through Arcadia/Transouth. The rental agreement is up in May 2005, my husband is slated to leave for Iraq in February 2005 and if we cannot get a loan to purchase this home, I will have to move at 8 months pregnant.

I can't even laugh at this anymore it makes me so sick. Our November payment will be 30 days past due as of December 22nd, but it will have to be paid on January 1st. We have tried and tried to get this under control but no one at Arcadia/Transouth has offered any help other than to say, make the payment.

I want to be shown where any of this is our fault. I want something done. Find something to do and do it. I will continue to send this email on up the chain until something gets done. I will also be sending all the information provided in this letter the North Carolina Better Business Bureau and the State Attorney General's Office. From speaking with other customer service representives on occasion from Arcadia/Transouth, this is not the first time this has happened, a false account number being given.

When my husband gets home from his training operation, we will be taking this letter along with the Leave and Earning Statements proving our intent to pay this loan through allotment to the JAG office. Arcadia/Transouth is being investigated by Headquarters Marine Corps already and it is our understanding they are working to get Arcadia/Transouth "black listed" in the Marine Corps making it illegal for any Marine to do business with your company.

We should not have to lift a finger or dial a phone to dispute any of this... we did nothing wrong. Whether this mistake was unintentional or not, it still was not our mistake. We tried to ensure that Arcadia/Transouth was paid every month, the same amount, on time, and because of the bad account numbers we were given, we are being held responsible.

Thank you.

Amy
Newport, North Carolina
U.S.A.

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