Collection calls

When my dad was ill, he missed a payment for his credit card. It had been paid off and the only charge on it was $10.00 for a pizza.

They refuse to waive the late payment and are continually calling him. He is more than happy to pay what he charged. They called six times today...for $78.00 (he just got a new late fee today).

What can I do to get this ridiculous situation taken care of? He is 85 and sometimes misses things but I would think that any decent place would just accept payment for his purchase. I work at a bank and we work with people all the time with fees, sometimes writing off hundreds of dollars if we think it would be the proper thing to do.

Don't even talk to me about banks/Credit cards they are like sharks!

This afternoon, on a Sat no less, i got a automated phone call saying i was late on my car loan Let me back track first......I noticed about 2 weeks that the bank had not debited my account since Feb.15/11 so i called THEM and asked *what is going* after 3-4 days a supervisor got back and wanted to debit my about for 3 back payments. I said *no* the bank is at fault, not me. I gave them the go ahead for 1 payment and that went through with no problems.

After i got the automated call i was livid,livid....i called up CS and asked to speak with a supervisor, i was told by the CS *it was not important enough to talk a supervisor* I said *this is not a request, put me through*

Once again i explained what happened and said if this ever happens again i will go to the press,media and tell them i'm being treated like poo when i have acted in good faith. The supervisor got mad and said *i will not put with any threats from you* Going to the press is a threat???
Ok then....
I repeated again *its the banks fault i have acted in good faith and i will go to the press* Then the supervisor hung up on me.

I can't believe that a customer gets treated like poo when its the bank fault, they have the nerve to talk back and demand $$$ all at the same time

I called another 800 and i filed a comiplant and i will follow up on Mon am, i plan on blasting them a new hole

Credit card companies and banks make all of their money on fees and interest, so some companies will do some underhanded things.

I remember I was always the one to pay rent from my account, and one time my roommate's check bounced, causing my check to bounce, and my bank charged me a late fee for every purchase over the limit. Well, the check was the LAST transaction posted by a number of days, yet it was the FIRST thing they counted, so all of my little $3 - $5 7-eleven purchases ended up getting a $35 penalty each. I called the bank, and they said it was their prerogative to determine which of the pending transactions to charge first. I had to get my mom to call them (she has been with her local branch of the bank for 20 years) and she threatened to move all business to their biggest competitor if they didnt take off the charges. It took a long-time customer threatening to leave the bank in order for them to take off a mere $175 in late fees (yes, that's a lot for fees to me or you, but to a bank? I don't care if their margins are only 1%, they can afford to not charge me out the wazoo).

Originally Posted by zohdee

When my dad was ill, he missed a payment for his credit card. It had been paid off and the only charge on it was $10.00 for a pizza.

They refuse to waive the late payment and are continually calling him. He is more than happy to pay what he charged. They called six times today...for $78.00 (he just got a new late fee today).

What can I do to get this ridiculous situation taken care of? He is 85 and sometimes misses things but I would think that any decent place would just accept payment for his purchase. I work at a bank and we work with people all the time with fees, sometimes writing off hundreds of dollars if we think it would be the proper thing to do.

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When you called, did you ask to speak to a supervisor. That is what I do and I have no problem.

Originally Posted by blueyedgirl5946

When you called, did you ask to speak to a supervisor. That is what I do and I have no problem.

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I agree. Have you just spoken to the people who are constantly calling? The people making those calls probably have no authority to make an override, and they probably have no idea what to even do other than call for the money.

I'd call during business hours on a weekday and ask for a supervisor.

Good Luck!

I'm sorry he is going through this!

Back in 2004 when I went off of work I started to be harassed by MBNA Mastercard. They would call dozens of times per day. One day I logged over 2 dozen phone calls to my home! And even on Sunday they would call me, and some calls came in as early as 6 am and as late as almost midnight!

I stopped answering my phone at some point and they left verbally abusive messages on my answering machine.

They would have male collection guys call and play games on my phone by pretending to know me and trying to make me guess who they were. And pretending to be all hurt when I asked them who they were. Completely stalkerish and completely bullying behaviour, especially when they are doing it to a woman who has in the past been stalked!

Some would phone and I would hang up and then pick up the phone to dial out wanting to call their company and report them, only to find them still on the other end of my phone refusing to hang up and tying up my phone line sometimes for hours!!! Literally hours!!!

I was on the verge of suicide (I actually started to think of ways to do it, something I've never done before when the thoughts crossed my mind in the past) when I finally declared bankruptcy because I just couldn't take their harassment anymore. I still get upset and shake when I think back to how they were abusing and harassing me!!

What I learned is that if you tell them to cease and desist, that by law they have to. Follow it up with a written letter to cease and desist and provide them with the name of your lawyer if you are feeling that the charges are unjust, and let them know that any future communication from them needs to be done through your attorney.

However, by the sounds of it if he has the funds to pay the late fee, then he may as well just pay it in order to save the harassment. I will tell you that if he missed a payment and the late charge fee is legitimate, the courts will rule that it be paid.

Oh! On a side note I want to tell you about my experience with Avon!

Some years back I decided to try selling Avon. By the way, it's not the money making venture that they make themselves out to be. It was costing me money every single month to sell the stuff. Never made a single dime!

Anyway, I had a bank account that I had set up to put my Avon payments into and I wrote a cheque for a past order to include with my current order, as is the policy.

Well it turns out one of my customers gave me a cheque that bounced, which caused my cheque to Avon to bounce. I found out quickly because the girl who's cheque bounced notified me before my bank did, with all kinds of apologies and cash. I called Avon and told them what happened (they had not received notification from their bank as yet), and I sent off another cheque for the amount again. All this was before I had even heard from my bank about an NSF cheque.

When the next shipment of Avon was due to arrive, my shipment didn't come in. I called to find out what happened and was told that I had an outstanding bill from my previous order and that they would not ship any further orders to me until I provided them with a certified cheque or money order, plus $15.00 processing fee. I told them that I had sent my cheque to them and that there was nothing wrong with my cheque that they have and to cash it. They kept insisting on a certified cheque or money order. Which I refused to send because it would have cost me money to buy those things at the bank or post office.

Anyway, they cashed my cheque but refused to ship my shipment because there was an outstanding $15.00 fee. In the end I just told them to cancel the order and that I was done with Avon, and that I wasn't going to pay them $15.00 because they never refunded me the price of a necklace and jewelery set that I had returned a month or so prior, which they claim to never have received despite them having received the payment that was sent with the shipment that also included the returned item.

For months I was getting calls and invoices about the $15.00. I dug my heels in. If they wanted their money, they better pay me the refund they owed me from the returned product.

About 2 years later I got a letter from a lawyer representing Avon demanding that I send $15.00. A lawyer!!!! And this letter also tacked on legal expenses etc. making the sum they wanted even higher.

I turned the tables on them.

I wrote a return letter to the lawyer, and I included an invoice of my own outlining my own expenses that I had incurred in this matter. I included:

1. Itemized listing of long distance phone charges to Avon;

2. Cost of Postage & Handling;

3. Charges for photocopies;

4. The cost of the refund that was owed to me for the returned jewelery;

5. My time being billed at $65.00 per hour which is what I charged for my time for doing bookkeeping and income tax as a home business.


The total sum of what I felt was owed to me came to something like $180.00.

I ended my letter with the following:

"Kindly forward your certified cheque or money order immediately for the sum of $180.00 and I will consider this matter closed."

Never heard from them again!