Preferred Credit, Inc complaints

August 11, 2023 Our account # 02582126 Dear Business Consumer Alliance: Thank you for your correspondence of August 3, 2023, regarding Ms. Corazon Barrera's, concerns submitted by Angelito, her child. I have taken the opportunity to review this matter and ask that you include this statement of our position in your department's case files. Please note that Preferred Credit, Inc. ("PCI") is a regulated lender whose business is limited to the purchase of sales finance contracts and receivables from third-party independent sellers of various household products. As a regulated sales finance company, our financing operations are routinely examined for compliance with applicable state and federal law. We have therefore developed, implemented, and maintained appropriate policies, procedures, internal controls, training regimens and other compliance measures to help ensure we meet these requirements. Please also note, as an assignee lender, our business practices have been structured to ensure that any consumer for whom PCI provides financing understands the original sale, his/her underlying debt obligation as well as the financing relationship. This is accomplished through an industry-leading customer verification process that is designed, in part, to ensure we have the correct consumer information, to ensure we have the correct contract terms and to ensure we have a legally valid and binding agreement. Additionally, PCI's credit policy is to grant credit to all buyers who are qualified by virtue of creditworthiness. Creditworthiness is determined by income, credit history, stability of employment, assets, and liabilities. Factors such as gender, age, marital status, national origin, etc. are not taken into consideration by PCI. Despite all these efforts, we are saddened therefore by your characterization of PCI as we share your values and hold dear our duty of care for all applicants. As mentioned above, we have an industry-leading customer verification process. This process was conducted with Ms. Corazon Barrera personally, by phone, on June 25, 2023, at 1:19 am (CST) after Ms. Corazon Barrera requested her dealer to seek out financing by completing a credit application, which revealed established lines of credit for Ms. Corazon Barrera, and retail installment contract. Upon listening, Ms. Corazon Barrera understood the terms of the contract she signed with Neo Development, LLC of San Diego, California. Specifically, forty-eight (48) monthly installments of $116.69 starting on August 15, 2023. Moreover, upon review of this call by our Compliance Operations Associate, Kate Guzmán, there was no indication that Ms. Corazon Barrera did not understand what she was undertaking and had Ms. Corazon Barrera done so, we would have addressed those concerns with her and the original seller at that time. As we are sure Ms. Corazon Barrera can understand, as an assignee lender, our knowledge of the events and circumstances surrounding the matters identified, especially those which may have occurred between Ms. Corazon Barrera and the original seller, is necessarily limited. We are therefore unable to independently verify many of the assertions made in Ms. Corazon Barrera's correspondence. As we regret the circumstances which appear to have led to the filing of this dispute, we are unable to accommodate Ms. Corazon Barrera cancellation request. PCI hopes that Ms. Corazon Barrera can recognize that we (PCI) are not the seller, yet we are doing what we can to bring clarity to Ms. Corazon Barrera and her child's concerns. With that said, PCI recognizes Ms. Corazon Barrera as a valuable customer, and are happy to continue to work with Ms. Corazon Barrera on her account in the meantime. Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact one of our Customer Service Representatives at 800-972-0825. Sincerely, Compliance Department Preferred Credit, Inc.

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Please note that Preferred Credit, Inc. ("PCI") is a regulated sales finance company located in St. Cloud, Minnesota. As such, our business is limited to the purchase of retail installment contracts and other forms of indebtedness from independent sellers of various goods. As a regulated sales finance company, our financing operations are routinely examined for compliance with applicable state and federal law, and we have developed programs to meet these requirements. These programs extend to our account servicing operations. Our records indicate that PCI financed Craig Cianci and Kelly Morton's purchase of a Aerus home cleaning system from ASB Enterprises dba Aerus Electrolux of Brewer, Maine. A review of Mr. Cianci account file shows that he and Ms. Morton agreed to make monthly payments of $63.00 starting on June 3, 2020. Mr. Cianci and Ms. Morton set up automatic monthly payments to be drafted from Bangor Savings Bank checking account ending in 5601. On March 26, 2021, our office received Mr. Cianci and Ms. Morton's request for additional merchandise to be added to their account. A letter was mailed to Mr. Cianci and Ms. Morton on March 31, 2021 stating that due to their additional merchandise being added to their account, their new monthly payment would be in the amount of $262.82 and their automatic monthly payments they had set up would be adjusted to withdraw their new monthly payment amount. On July 16, 2021 Ms. Morton contacted our office and requested to have their automatic monthly payment of $262.82 be paid by splitting the payment into two payments of $131.41 that would be paid by Mr. Cianci with his Sabasticlok Credit Union checking account ending in 1043 and by her from a card ending in 5487. The arrangement was set up that day to begin starting in August 2021. On October 3, 2022 Ms. Morton's card was declined by her financial institution as being expired, even though the expiration date was August 2023. Upon review, it was discovered that Ms. Morton was issued a new card. Which we were unaware of, this caused her October payment to be declined by her financial institution. Due to the card being declined, Ms. Morton's entire automatic monthly payment option was removed from the account. We attempted to contact Mr. Cianci and Ms. Morton regarding the payment arrangement in an effort to get it set back up on their account. It was not until February 3, 2023 that we were able to get Ms. Morton's updated card information and reset her on automatic monthly payments starting that same day. During that conversation, Ms. Morton indicated she was not able to bring the account current by paying the collective amount due October 2022, November 2022, December 2022, and January 2023. In fact, Ms. Morton even made a comment stating that she knew there were more funds in her account than what should have been for those months. Since all payments due were not paid, Mr. Cianci and Ms. Morton's account continued to be delinquent due to only the partial payments being made for October 2022, November 2022, December 2022, and January 2023. As of today's date, including all previous payments and fees, Mr. Cianci and Ms. Morton have a balance of $5561.72, and their account is past due in the amount of $1117.85 with the next payment due on June 3, 2023. We sincerely apologize to Mr. Cianci for the confusion that happened on his account and for any inconvenience their original card being declined by their financial institute caused Mr. Cianci or Ms. Morton. While we are unable to accommodate Mr. Cianci's refund request, we have had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Cianci and have agreed to waive all the late fees that were incurred on Mr. Cianci's account in the amount of $66.57. In addition to waiving the late fees, we have also agreed to remove the negative marks with the credit reporting agencies for the months of March 2023, April 2023, and May 2023. Based upon the conversation our office had with Mr. Cianci we feel that his concerns have been resolved. PCI recognizes Mr. Cianci as a valuable customer and was happy to work with him on his account. Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact one of our Customer Service Representatives at 800-972-0825.

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Please see the second part of our original response. Additionally, a copy of our original response submitted to the BCA will be mailed to Mr. Cianci. During the review of the February 3, 2023 call Mr. Cianci requested, we found that Mr. Cianci’s automatic monthly payment scheduled from Sabasticlok Credit Union checking account ending in 1043 was cancelled. Regrettably, there appears to be some confusion that happened during that call that resulted in this cancellation. It is also unfortunate that Mr. Cianci did not notice that his payment was not being drafted from his financial institution right away so we could have addressed this situation before it affected the account. We now understand that Mr. Cianci and Ms. Morton intended their automatic monthly payment of $262.82 to be paid by splitting the payment into two payments of $131.41 that would then be paid by Mr. Cianci with his Sabasticlok Credit Union checking account ending in 1043 and by Ms. Morton from a card ending in 5487. Our records indicate that Mr. Cianci and Ms. Morton’s account at the time of the February 3, 2023 call, was already delinquent due to the four months of partial payment that were made on their accou

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