Complaint Review: Monterey County Bank

My experience with MCB as a client has been nothing but honest, direct and above board.  They are a business and conduct themselves in a very business like manner.  Their policies have been consistent with good business practice and they have been much more personal than any bank I have ever delt with.  Their senior staff has demonstrated that they treat customers like people and not numbers, which is the usual bank experience.  I definitely appreciate the banking relationship that I receive from MCB when conpared to any other bank I have ever dealt with.  

All credit complaints must go through two channels: The three Credit Bureaus if they affect a credit report (Trans Union, Equifax or Experian), or to the Federal Trade Commission. Unfair credit pratices reported to the FTC must fall under one of the Federal Acts, such as the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA).

The last time I dealt with both, they ignored me completely, so I wish you better luck.

It's so great to live in the greatest country in the world and watch the Federal Government simply sleep on our time and our dime to do nothing about the illegal activities that these credit card merchants are allowed to continue.

No wonder Federal organizations get our private information stolen from others all the time....they sleep all the time!

On 10/5/2006, I called to find out what my outstanding balance was and to make arrangements to pay on past due account. After discussing account arrangements weren't reached, but I called back on 10/6/2006 and made arrangements with a person named Kyle who stated he was a supervisor to pay the entire amount of $559.32 The payment was made via Money gram the same evening of 10/6/06 (I have receipt that confirms this) and I called on Saturday 10/7/06 to provide the confirmation number. I called on 10/10/06 to confirm receipt and to see why there was no available balance, to which I was informed that there was a 5 day hold on my account along with a $10.00 late fee.

This representative told me that the late fee was added on the 10/6 and I asked her why they didn't inform me when I spoke with them so that it could have been included in payment. After getting nowhere in this situation, I waited for 5 day hold to clear. On 10/16, I called and spoke with male representative who stated that hold would be removed at midnight that evening. I called to confirm hold was removed on 10/17 and it wasn't so I spoke to a representative named Lisa. She stated that she had removed hold and as a courtesy removed the late fee. I tried to use the card for a transaction, and the hold was still in place.

I called back to find out why it was still there and the male representative who informed me that the account now had a 14 day hold on the credit card. I then asked for a supervisor named Corri who proceeded to tell me that there was a T2 code placed on the account (by Head Office) because of the fact that it looked suspicious to the computer since I hadn't paid the bill for sometime and then paid the entire bill. She also stated that the code had something to do with it being a 'account opened in error' or a 'fraudulent account'. I called 5 times to obtain the telephone number to the 'head office', and in two instances they gave me the customer service number. The others informed me that there was no 'head office' just a fax number to send my inquiries to. This account was originally owned by Capital One who then sold it to MCB.

I find it hard to understand how a payment made via Money gram with cash can be held for this duration of time. While I hadn't made a payment in quite sometime, I paid it in full and there seems to be a lack of consistency and/or knowledge in the policies and procedures of this organization. In all of the conversations that I've had with its representatives since 10/5/06, none of the information passed to me has been accurate or correct.

The ONLY reason I am holding on to the card at this point is to see what the FDIC does with my complaint.

it looks like you want to pay off your loan ASAP.

'No interest' is another 'something for nothing' deal, and most businesses do not want to give you something for nothing. Usually they want to give you nothing for something......

I had an account also with Capital One. It was a "no interest" transfer from a loan I owed and a company called "Midland Credit Management" bought the loan. They agreed that if I opened the Capital One credit card account, they would transfer the balance to an interest free Capital One credit card and I would only have to pay at least 3% of the balance each month. The trick to the whole thing is, if you use the credit card for ANY purchase, those purchases IMMEDIATELY incur interest charges and any payment made is automatically 75% toward the original balance and only 25% goes towards new charges. This means if you charge $100 on the card, you have to pay them $400 in one month to pay $300 on the balance and pay off the $100 charges. Otherwise, interest charges add up until the new charges are VERY SLOWLY paid off.

As if that was bad enough, now a bank known as "Monterey County Bank" has bought this Capital One account, Capital One has cancelled my card, I am stuck with a credit card that everyone laughs at, and on top of everything else, they don't even accept electronic payments from Bank of America!!! (Wow, this must be a real BIG bank!!! NOT!!!) They are so small-time, Bank of America has to MAIL a check to them!!! On my first payment that I made a day early, Monterey County Bank says that the check Bank of America sent them was received two working days later and one day late!!!

My question is, are we the first two to discover this potential ripoff? What lies next for all of us?

I have a feeling this will be the next First Premier Bank ripoff!!!