Monterey Financial Services Ripoff - Dishonest, incompetent billing, fraudulent late charges Carlsbad California

If you ever have an option to be financed by this company, RUN LIKE H*LL!!! I have had the unfortunate pleasure of dealing with this company, for financing a land purchase from Nat'l REcreation Properties Inc. of Port Charlotte FL. Although the reps from NRPI has assured me that it is a reputable finance company, my experiences say otherwise. They are staffed by either the most incompetent bunch of idiots imaginable, or extremely clever manipulators because in the past 1 1/2 years they have been servicing my loan they continue to find ways of tacking on absurd late charges.

1. I had arranged for payment to be automatically deducted from my bank account. A few months later I moved and changed accounts, and was instructed to fill out a form with my new account number (VISA debit card) and signature. I mailed in my new card number, but the person that input the number I wrote on my form, typed it incorrectly, and I was slapped with a late charge because the payment didn't go through. Of course it didn't go through - they wrote down the wrong account number!!! I called to straighten it out, and they tried to say I wrote down the wrong number on my form. I insisted I didn't and demanded they send me a copy of the form that I incorrectly filled out. They claimed they couldn't find it, and therefore would have to send me a new form to fill out with the correct number. So I had to fill out a second form to correct their error.

2. A few months later I cancelled my debit card because of fraudulent charges being made against it by e-club (not affiliated with MFS or NRPI, but a DISH network scam...see my earlier ripoff report on them!) I contacted Monterey and they sent me out another form to fill out with the new debit card number. I sent it in right away. Another input error caused me to get a late charge. See last line in #1.

3. I had to get a new debit card due to a security compromise at my bank (hackers). I was not personally affected but the bank issued all new cards to all their customers as a precaution. I again contacted Monterey with my new info. I was surprised with another late charge, this time they claimed that when they received my form, the signature was torn off. I'd like to know how a tri-fold piece of paper in a #10 envelope could be perfectly intact except for the 2 inch line with a signature! By this time, for them to mail me another form and me fill it out and mail it back to them would've made me late on another payment (late fees are $34.44 each!), so I had to make a payment by phone, which they charge an additional $5 for!

4. I returned to graduate school fulltime and to ease my budget I tried to find a buyer for the land. I did let my account lapse due to limited funds, and also limited interest because I was totally fed up with their incompetence and stupidity. Not a mature approach on my part I admit, but they were the least important of my bills at the time. We made arrangements to defer some payments to the end of my loan, bringing my account current and up to date. I just included that bit to be totally honest here and admit when I am in the wrong so that I maintain credibility!

Here would be a good place to also mention that any time I try to contact them via telephone, I am placed on hold for about 10 minutes before a receptionist will even answer. Half the time I am disconnected before the receptionist even gets to me. If I do actually make it through to a receptionist, I am placed on hold for several more minutes before someone is able to assist me. Lacking faith in their data entry skills, I have been making payments by phone, in spite of the $5 "service charge" because correctly reading a piece of paper is obviously too much to ask. So is answering a phone however, and it generally takes me four attempts before I am able to get through and make a payment.

5. In January, I was surprised to receive a phone call that my December payment was never made. That was crap, because I phoned it in to a real person, and 3 days later the money was withdrawn from my account. It took three attempts (including a disconnect on the line) before they apologized and said they "found" the record of my payment and would reverse the late charge. While I had that person on the phone, I asked her if I could make my January payment to her, and she said of course I could. So I did. Then 2 weeks ago I got a phone call from Monterey that my January payment was never made and was past due plus late charge!! I flipped out. I have called NRPI numerous times to complain, and I have voiced my concerns to Monterey to anyone who I get on the phone. I spoke to a woman who claimed to be my rep, for about 30 minutes. She said she would send me a copy of my record and she would also look into the matter and help me get it straightened out. I received the record this week and it reads like a schematic of a NYC sewer system! As I said, I am in graduate school, therefore I am somewhat intelligent, however it is really hard to make heads or tails of this document. It says I have a past due balance of $1003, which is false because I am supposedly up to date and current. It also has about half a dozen late charges that are erroneous because those were cleared up when I deferred payments. I have put a call back in to them. I spoke to the same woman who I talked to 2 weeks ago, today she had no recollection of our conversation or my account information, and I am waiting to hear back from her by 5pm.

So like I said, either everyone who works there is incredibly stupid, or else it is run by a skilled ripoff artist who makes a good deal of money off of late charges (in addition to the high interest rate!) DO NOT FINANCE ANYTHING WITH THIS COMPANY!

MT
Massachusetts, Massachusetts
U.S.A.