Complaint Review: Monterey Financial Services

In March of 2012 we purchased a membership through Resorts Anytime, Inc aka Hilton Head Anytime for $1500. Since we were unable to pay that balance in full, they provided Monterey Financial Services as our loan servicer. We were given an interest rate of 9.5% which wasn't ridiculous considering it was a frivilous loan and they didn't run our credit.

We made a few payments before I became pregnant which lead to complications and was therefore unable to work. Instead of working with us on our payments, which we tried to do several times, they placed our account in their in-house collections department. At that time, completely unaware to us, our balance jumped from $1400 to $2,280 and began accruing additional interest fees along with a $20 per month "collection fee". Never at any time were we made privy to these added fees. 

A woman by the name of Melanie was assigned our account. She called several times a day, harrassing both my husband and I. She demanded monthly payments of $100 (our original payments were around $53). When I advised her we simply could not do that she belittled us and very rudely demanded that we ask our family for the money to pay the balance of the account. We are both adults and our parents do not pay our bills, especially a frivilous one such as this. Not to mention they are not in the financial position to do so if we asked. These calls continued from November 2013 and still occur today. As of January 2013 we were able to resume payments of $100 per month on this account. We have currently paid over $1200 to this company and still hold a balance of over $1700.

Today (2/24/14) I called and asked to settle the account out. Another representative told me I could not settle out and had to pay $1700+ if I wanted to take care of it. I advised her I was obviously unable to do that, but still want to make good on my agreement to pay the account, thus the settlement offer. I offered $400-500 as a settlement because of the previous amounts we had paid along with knowing they would probably give me a higher number. I asked her to explain the charges on my account, which she attempted to do, but whenever I had a question she would cut me off. I then asked to speak to a supervisor, which she refused to transfer me to. I hung up on her.

I called back, spoke with a different CSR and am currently awaiting a return call from a supervisor. This is aboslutely ridiculous.