Direct Merchants Bank - can they do this?
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Posted by nd
(68.159.253.15) on July 16, 2003 at 20:49:58:
We've had a DMB card for several years now and always kept it in good standing. A few months ago hubby and I got our wires crossed and used the wrong card (this one)to make a purchase; actually I was surprised the charge even went through since it put us slightly over limit. I made a payment online that night to cover it and thought everything was ok. Two weeks later when the new bills came out, they had charged us TWO overlimit fees - one the night we made the purchase and another at billing time. Between the time they sent out the bill and the time it arrived here, their collection department had called twice. When I asked why they would let a charge go through in the first place knowing it would put us overlimit, I was informed that it's their prerogative to do so. When I asked why we weren't notified, the woman said we were notified (yeah, two weeks after the fact, when they'd already charged a second $39 fee.) When I asked why the first overlimit fee never showed up on the online account, she said the online information is just a guideline for our convenience. Of course, in the end there was nothing we could do but pay up, however much it seemed like blatant robbery. We scraped up the extra money and got the balance back under our limit. This month their finance charge put us $5 over. The online account clearly shows that, but still has no overlimit fee posted. The collection department has already called, insisting we have to pay at least $450 to bring our account current (more than twice the true amount needed, by the way.) Since the agent barely spoke english there was no way to actually discuss this. I finally told her that 1) she was demanding an incorrect amount, 2) we would not be paying that much, and 3) our bill would be paid at the usual time, in an amount sufficient to bring our account current. That call was last Friday, the bill came yesterday (Tuesday), and today they called my husband at work. I admit this year has been a struggle for us financially, but we pay what we owe every month - on time, and usually at least a little more than the minimum payment. The few times we've been late or overlimit with anyone over the years can be counted on one hand. Yet these folks are on us like a pack of hyenas for being $5 overlimit. It scares me to think what they'd do if we actually missed a payment. Having them call my husband at work was the last straw. There is just no excuse for it, since I am always at home, my name is on the account, and I am the one who pays the bills; they have been told all this. They are never going to reach my husband at work because he's always on the road, and if they did he'd just tell them to call me anyway. They left a message for him and we haven't returned the call yet. The blasted bill will be paid next week, but I'm afraid if we don't call them back they will continue to harrass my husband at work. I'm usually very careful not to make mistakes with our bills and I'm hoping this will never happen again, but I'm wondering if this is typical behavior for credit card companies now. How do you deal with people like this? If we tell them not to call his work place are they obligated to comply? nd
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