Mary

Jul 30, 2020

Thieves

I tried to pay my monthly payment for my Career Step loan several times. I was very confused as to why the loan payment would not process. I had a similar problem last month. I finally called and spoke with an agent at Monterey Financial yesterday morning because my frustration with the unprocessed payments surpassed my reluctance to interact with an agent. I have had very negative experiences with agents at Monterey Financial. Yesterday morning the agent and I went over my payment method, the payment amount, and everything checked out fine. I checked my online banking and had no fraud alerts. I obtained the extension number of the agent, hung-up and called my bank. I discovered that the amount of money I authorized Monterey Financial to take from my account was not being honored and Monterey Financial was trying to take more. I called the agent back and told her that the amount that Monterey Financial was trying to take was ten dollars more than what I had authorized. The agent was surprised and relieved to discover what was happening. She explained that there was a ten-dollar processing fee on each payment made through the website. The problem is that this ten-dollar processing fee does not appear on my emailed receipt and I did not check a box acknowledging to pay a higher total than my agreed payment amount. When I did my banking, I only had in the bank account the near exact amount I authorized Monterey Financial to take from the account. This practice is the very definition of hidden fee. While the agent tried to read me the company’s legal ability to take more money than I was aware of, I interrupted her because the simple truth is that the practice is unethical. I have now been robbed in the form of excess fees/fines that have accumulated over a ten-dollar processing fee. A fee that has never been spoken of by any agent that I have spoken to in the last two months. It is amazing after all the trouble banks have gotten into over the last several years for unethical and absurd behavior, financial institutions still participate in such bad practices. It needs to be clearer, the amount of money that will be taken from one’s bank account. I truly believe it is intentionally unclear, as to provide the opportunity to steal money.