First Community Credit Union commiting fraud

[barnhartred]

Our daughter wrecked my wife's reaffirmed car on November 17th. The car was declared a total loss on the 22nd of November'. geico contacted the lien holder first community credit union on the 26th for information regarding where to send the pay off.

fast forward to December 19th I receive a letter stating that my payment was past due so I decided to check Geico's web site to see what payments have been made. it shown that no payment had been made to the lien holder.

I gave geico a call and was told that FCCU had never faxes them the requested information. With my inquiry geico contacted FCCU again this time with in minutes the received the info. their check was issued on the 24th and received by them on the 29th. I had gap insurance on the loan which took 2 weeks for FCCU to receive the pay off.

last week I receive a letter from FCCU stating I owe them $314 and they could repo the vehicle (totaled vehicle that is) when I called them to ask about the reason I owe them $314 the told me I had 6 late payments and I missed a payment and the gap insurance co. doesn't pay missed payment and late fees . the 6 late payments @ $15 each added up to $90 and my payment was $302.

I have been out of school for a while but I don't think math has changed that much. I know we never missed a payment much less been late. she offered to tell the date we missed the payment and the dates of the late payments.

I told her I wanted physical proof of the charges she stated I owed a few days latter I received the info I requested. There was no proof of a missed payment like she said and every late pay was highlighted and low and behold everyone of the dates was with the grace period.

Now I wondering what are my options should I file a complaint with the BBB, should I wait and let them sue me and prove my case in court or can I take legal action against them for fraud?

[justbroke]

If there is a problem with the agreement (original installment agreement terms), then you'd need to show that the terms of that agreement were not met. This would just be a breech of the agreement, not necessarily fraud. The "grace" period may have been rescinded as part of the reaffirmation agreement -- which you would need to check. In other words, you need to read your installment agreement and see if there is a "real" grace period, or was your lender just being nice all the time you were paying late. Almost all agreements put you in breach if you pay late.

[barnhartred]

payment coupon had if paid after this date add $15 and we never went past that date. I have the statement they sent me there were months where I paid it in the same time frame and didn't get charged . but they also never showed me any proof of any missed payment.

[AngelinaCat]

barnhartred, I sympathize with your situation, but I must ask that you break your very long posts into paragraphs so that it is easier to read.

Bless JB's heart, he is much more patient with reading long posts than I am.

Thank you

[justbroke]

payment coupon had if paid after this date add $15 and we never went past that date. I have the statement they sent me there were months where I paid it in the same time frame and didn't get charged . but they also never showed me any proof of any missed payment.

It doesn't matter how it reads on the payment coupon. It matters what's in your installment agreement. Although it is just anecdotal, I have seen that with reaffirmations, banks and Credit Unions are much tougher of paying past the "due date" (not any grace period). Most creditors will, in fact, allow payments during the grace period and not charge you. It is really a matter of them either being nice or what's in your actual contract (installment agreement).

[barnhartred]

I have to look for it. but what about them claiming I missed a payment and not proving it when requested to..

[justbroke]

I have to look for it. but what about them claiming I missed a payment and not proving it when requested to..

Go into the branch and ask for a statement of your account. In these types of situations, the burden of proof is in your court as to whether you paid. If you can produce cancelled checks or receipts for all the alleged missing payments, then it's back in their court.

I know someone that had their landlord claim this missed a payment 2 years ago. I guess it finally caught the landlord's eye. In any event, the tenant had to prove they paid. They did so by researching and producing the copy of the money order they paid with. Funny thing, the money order was never cashed. So, in fact, the tenant did not pay. The tenant had to go through the issuer of the money order and get it reissued. Did the tenant in fact pay? Technically yes, but technically no. No one can prove where the money order was "lost". So the tenant and landlord were still on good terms once the money order was reissued by the issuer!

[barnhartred]

This happened on the loan for my truck and I called them and they stated the missed payment date. I went up to the local branch with bank statements for the year and proved them wrong. Then they proceeded to play pin the tail on the calendar and couldn't prove I missed a payment . Sorry I don't trust them any further than I can throw the bank and I want proof before I waste anymore of my time. They also charged a late pay in the grace period before I filed my BK.

[justbroke]

If you are always paying past the due date, it will always get hairy. Many credit unions get aggressive if you are consistently paying late (given that paying within the grace period, is still a late pay). Expect a credit union to not be your friend when you file bankruptcy and/or are what they call a "slow" payer. If you believe they are in error, go into a branch, have all the payment history printed out, have your bank statements printed out, and show them the error. Remember, many times the computers do all this work and it has nothing to do with a human being.

[bcohen]

You basically have three options: argue with the credit union to remove the penalty charges, ignore the debt and let it go to collections, or pay them the money to make 'em go away. Personally, I would try to reason with the credit union first, and if they won't budge, then I'd probably just ignore it and tell them to pound sand. They are not going to sue you for $314, and they're not going to attempt to repossess a totaled car which they have already accepted insurance money to pay for. Unless you are planning to buy a house in the near future, and therefore need spotless credit, I would NOT pay these charges!

[barnhartred]

I am not going to pay them. I see it as nothing more than a scam. If I was such a credit risk with all those so called late pays I don't think they would have financed my travel trailer last year. I already have a home that I didn't reaffirm and with every payment I make BoA keeps telling I'm eligible for a refi even though I use the grace period.