Complaint Review: MBF Leasing LLC Northern Leasing Systems Inc Universal Merchant Services Leasing Finance Group

I was also victimized by a Merchant Services (UMS / Universal Merchant Services) (http://www.merchantsvcs.com) representative that was working also as an ISO (Independent Sales Organization) for MBF Leasing LLC, (AKA Northern Leasing Systems Inc.) in much the same was as described by almost all the other victims speaking out here as well as on other public channels.

Essentially the ISO rep called up my business manager and spoke of very attractive savings on merchant service fees, exclaiming that a fortune could be saved if we switched to their POS (Point Of Sale) service. My business manager scheduled for me to meet with the rep. at a restaurant where I very closely read over many pages of fine print regarding the "merchant services" portion of the "money saving offer". The ISO rep. became very edgy and somewhat impatient, as we got closer to closing the deal. When I was presented the "Equipment Finance Lease" page, I questioned its purpose and meaning since I did not require any POS equipment. Hastily, the rep explained to me that in order to get the benefit of having same day batches to my bank by way of "bypassing the middle man", I would need to use their equipment. Being somewhat technical savvy myself, this did not make a lot of sense to me so I questioned further. Finally he said that I could not save hundreds of dollars per month unless I used their equipment. Surely, the savings and fast excellent service would cover the cost of the equipment lease and then some, he assured me. So in 2005 I signed the mostly blank page for a lease term of 48 months at $99 per month. On closing the deal I had asked for my copies of all the papers I had signed, but he jokingly said "I don't have a copy machine with me". He offered to "bring copies tomorrow" to my shop. As in everyone else's case, this did not happen.

After a couple of months I checked to see whether I was actually realizing any savings. Behold, I was paying hundreds more per month in service (and other) fees, in addition to the monthly lease payment! Also, the batches were taking the same amount of time (36 - 60 hours) to process into my bank account. American Express and Discover were still charging me directly as well. Unhappy with the overall situation, I called to notify them (MBF and UMS) of my intention to switch back to my own banks service and equipment. UMS had a process and an avenue for canceling. MBF Leasing however, informed me that I could not cancel under any circumstances, and if I wanted out, I had to pay over $4000. They then faxed me a nearly illegible micro print copy of the lease contract with 3 additional pages that were never presented to me and are absent of my initials or signature. As I continued to research this situation I became aware that the equipment being leased to me was only worth about $350 new.

In Aug 2007, I closed my bank account to prevent further withdrawals since no letters or calls to MBF were getting to any compromise. Of course this resulted in their usual bombardment of rude and threatening phone calls and letters (further detailed on my website).

I sold my business and transferred the UMS account to the new owner in Mar 2007. UMS continued to charge me a "service fee" of about $75 per month for several months after the account transfer to the new business owner. Once I realized this was happening I called them to find out why I was being charged. They said I owed nearly $500 in cancellation and various other fees, and that they had no evidence or information that I had transferred or otherwise canceled service with them. I then verified with the new business owner that they did in fact sign with UMS per our agreement with my sale of the business to him. I then called UMS back to inform them of everyone correspondence had taken place with and that I could not be liable for their claims and charges against me. I then received several threatening letters warning me of collections activity if I do not pay. I sent certified letters and continued to call until finally they agreed to waive the cancellation and ACH denied fees. They still wanted to charge me another $75 service fee however. It seemed very crooked that they still wanted the service fee when they already admitted that they knew the UMS contract was transferred to the new business owner. The UMS representative (Suzanne Dowe) finally decided (after much debate, writing and faxing etc ) to divert the final service fee to her "corporate office" instead of to me. She did however, refuse to reimburse me for the $75 times 5 months of service fees (about $375), which I will be suing for once I am finished with this MBF problem.

I have filed a lawsuit and contacted various authorities including the BBB, my state AG, the FTC, and various others regarding MBF Leasing LLC. Information regarding the lawsuit is being updated on my website.

My website is: http://www.mbfleasing.org

I wish you all the best of luck.

Jason
Fremont, California
U.S.A.