Complaint Review: Aqua Finance - Chicago Illinois

Hello,

I am working with another gentleman to find as many people as possible who have been involved with any of these companies and wish to join us in filing a class action lawsuit. Please contact me and let me know your experiences with them and I will pass along the information. We need as many people as possible to join together so we can get our money back, peace of mind and shut them down indefinitely! I have been a victim as well and let's go Erin Brockovich on these people!!!

A man came to my house last year in 08084 and told my wife and I about the rain soft system. After a long time he offered it to us for $5K. He also said we would get free laundry detergent, hand and body soap, shampoo/conditioner, and cleaning spray whenever we wanted. He also said the warranty covered every expense for the life of the system. We agreed on monthly payments of $140/month with a 10%. When the system came, the contract stated that the price was $7K!! With an interest of 18%. Any we would only get a small amount of soap once a year. And we had to pay $250/yr for maintenance! We paid on-time for 18 months paying off only $10/month on the principal! Then, with my home in foreclosure and going through a divorce which left me penniless, I received deportation papers informing me I was being sent back to Santa Domingo. I explained this to Aqua Finance. They said the only thing they can do is lower my payments from $140 to $110. It's funny how every company (even credit card companies) are working with their consumers except for Aqua. This is a problem for them because, in this economy, you will surely collapse if you don't work with people. It's always better to get a little money instead of none at all. I have contacted a lawyer and he believes, because the representative originally was being totally dishonest, I may have a case against them. I also taped phone calls of Aqua Reps telling me they could take my car and take my home (which is foreclosed anyway). My lawyer said they can not take anyone's home or car. Am I wrong about that?? This is a rip off scam company!!!! Beware!!!!

A man came to my house in 08084 last year and told my wife and I about the rain soft system. After a long time he offered it to us for $5K. He also said we would get free laundy detergent, hand and body soap, shampoo/condintioner, and cleaning spray whenever we wanted. He also said the warranty covered every exspence for the life of the system. We agreed on monthly payments of $140/month with a 10%. When the system came, the contract stated that the price was $7K!! With an interest of 18%. Any we would only get a small amount of soap once a year. And we had to pay $250/yr for maintenance! We paid on-time for 18 months paying off only $10/month on the principal! Then, with my home in foreclosure and going through a divorce which left me pennyless, I recieved deportation papers informing me I was being sent back to Santa Domingo. I explained this to Aqau Finance. They said the only thing they can do is lower my payments from $140 to $110. It's funny how every company (even credit card companies) are working with their consumers except for Aqua. This is a problem for them because, in this economy, you will surely collapse if you don't work with people. It's always better to get a little money instead of none at all. I have contacted a lawyer and he belives, because the representative originally was being totally dishonest, I may have a case against them. I also taped phone calls of Aqau Reps telling me they could take my car and take my home (which is foreclosed anyway). My lawyer said they can not take anyones home or car. Am I wrong about that?? This is a rip off scam company!!!! Beware!!!!

Well it has been quite some time since this situation started. I must tell you that though I still have some of the ill feelings from the way this was initially handled, and still stand on my grounds, but I do need to update. Since "Harry" was so kind as to not blast my last name all over the place though it was a little obvious, there is a name I have to mention. Bob S. in their account recovery department. This guy has done a great job developing and maintaining a positive working relationship with me through this process. He actually calls from time to time to see that everything is ok and works with me if I need to adjust a payment date. Kudos to Bob S. Other than that, I will pay this out $100.00 at a time until it is done regardless of my resources. Now for "Pumpkin". You're an idiot. I guess between collecting stray cats and managing your bottle cap collection you surf Rip-Off-Report and post idiotic responses to things you have no clue about. I do not recall any senses of entitlement being played out, but from the sounds of it you were referencing me and another veteran. I think that you would have to be the lowest form of human waste to attack someone for their affiliation with the Armed forces. We do not think we are hero's. We do not think we are upper class citizens. And we sacrifice so much of ourselves and our family to live at pay that is below the poverty level in the United States. But I respect every single soldier, Marine, Airman, and sailor that has the intestinal fortitude to put that uniform on. They are entitled. They are entitled to my respect and reverence for the sacrifices they have made for you and your cat collecting. I really would like for you to post a more intimate form of contact here for the members of our armed forces to respond to your "making you sick to your stomach." I know that you will not because you present yourself as a coward. I am finally in a position where I am very blessed and am able to pay my bills. Other than coming on here and posting something pleasant about an employee of Aqua Finance, I actually have a life. So in the interest of not using profane language. Bugger off. I recommend you look up what that actually means in between hording stray cats.

This post and the others like it make me sick to my stomache. As Americans we have the responsibility to pay for things we purchase. Read the contracts, follow the rules and there will be no surprises. If you cannot afford a water softener or a system, do not go out and purchase one. If you cannot pay your bills, don't blog on the company that tries to collect them. If you were receiving harrassing phone calls, you were late. All companies work on the same sort of dialer program. They don't call accounts that are on time. If you fell on hard time, sorry. What if everyone was a "little late"? What about the paycheck for all the employees that have to call you that no longer have a job because all of you "a little late" didn't pay and the company goes out of business? Get over your feeling of entitlement. Some of us work for a living and pay our bills and don't buy items we cannot afford.

Me and my husband were stationed in Oak Grove, KY. He was in the Army and we had just moved from Tennessee. He bought a house and we had just filed bankruptcy and were finally getting it together, when these sales people came to my door. More than once. They finally talked me into getting this water softener system which has cost us more in the long run. Before he was discharged he advised them to come and get the system, because we could no longer afford to pay for it. He had been medically discharged. Well they never did. Aqua Finance, Inc. is now garnishing my husband's pay 10% each check he gets. We are really struggling now. They waited 8 years to collect and a system that was 1500 is now costing us over 7000. I think that this company should not be in business. I realize we owed the debt, but to wait this long is wrong. I believe a class action lawsuit is in order. We are both veterans who have served our country and when we needed Aqua Finance to help out, they did not....l

Drew, I'm sorry that you had fallen on hard times but I wanted to do a rebuttal to the statements you have made. First the credit inquiries were not unauthorized. By signing the credit agreement you gave permission for your credit to be pulled for legitamate reasons, trying to collect on a defaulted account is a valid reason. Also not just the Negative account you have with Aqua Finance, but any collection account will report on a credit file for 7 years from the date of first delinquency. The loan amount you state of 3386.00 would have been the balance of the account from what ever month it was when you last looked at your credit file or when it was last reported on your credit file. Given that your account went into default and you had not paid, late fees and interest would still apply to your account. So 3500.00 (without looking at the account) is probably much less than what is actually due. It is commendable that you admit to owing the debt but at the same time you are trying to make Aqua Finance seen as unfair because it's trying to collect on something you purchased, financed and were obligated to pay for, not having it in your posession does not excuse you from the obligation. I also find it interesting that people always say they are "hounded" or "harassed" when creditors follow the laws that govern debt collection. As for the arrangement for repayment, I think it is more than fair, you defaulted, then dissapeared and during that time instead of trying to make some kind of arrangements you purchased a vehicle at 400.00 per month. If you loaned me several thousand and I didn't repay you, went away, and then show up with a new car what would you think? Aqua Finance is giving you the opportunity to settle this debt which in turn will help to improve your credit rating. Please take advantage of this.

I understand as well what it is like to be in financial hardship. obviously you knew the risks going into it as well but sometimes things just don't go as planned, am i right? i've been in debt (and still am) to many people and they are ruthless, calling 10-15 times a day over a small amount of money. the only thing i've found to be effective in getting rid of the calls is cutting out landline phones and getting a cell phone, that way you have all of your friends/family listed in your phone book and if by some off chance they happen to get your number, you don't have to pick it up if it you don't recognize it. i actually have an interview today at aqua finance and i'm not going to go, it upsets me at how they treat customers so i thank you for all of the information in this post. i would like to express my concern regarding the attitude of the VP from aqua finance. someone as heartless as that should not be in that position and especially should not be answering questions in the manner he is. yes they do loans for people etc HOWEVER if that is how you treat your customer(s) then you're right, your small business will fail.

First off, I feel for your case. My family's financial status is very tight as well. I can relate to your case, because we recently purchased a RainSoft System and received financing through Aqua Finance Inc. One thing you always have to remember is that financing is just that, financing. Whether it's secured or unsecured is irrelevant. WaMu, Capital One, CitiFinancial, etc. etc. They all operate the same way. They provide unsecured credit, or money, for purchasing items in which they have no intention of ever retrieving back as collateral if the money borrowed becomes defaulted. In most cases you still keep the items whether you have defaulted or not. It just turns out in your case, due to bad renters, you lost your items as well. A default on consumer credit stays on your report, not from the time it defaults, but from the time it is resolved either through collection agencies, settlement, or whatever, for 7 years starting at the time the account was resolved and closed. For example if you today, make a lump sum payment to Aqua and resolve any debt. This default will reflect negatively on your report for 7 years from today, and Aqua finance can legally report the deliquency throughout that entire time at which after seven years must be removed completely be law. This is federal law that overrides any state laws regarding credit reporting. Also if a company provides you with any kind of credit, and to which a balance is still owed on that credit, they may pull your credit as often as they deem necessary, however these "soft" hits should have nothing to show negative on your credit. If it is for the purpose of debt collection and investigation, they can pull a report for this at any time as well, and this does reflect negatively on your overall report. The best solution here to work directly with the lender and get a set agreement going so they don't have to play investigator and dig into your financial status. That route always leads to worse problems then the debt itself, and/or up to wage garnishment. On your behalf however, never agree to be recorded by a collection agency. You can legally refuse that as your right to privacy. Then they are forced to deal with you through paper agreements. Always have a signed, valid copy of any agreement for your records in case it ever goes to court. "Get everything in writing. always." If you still need further assistance, there are many other options, some I am very unfamiliar with, that all of your non-profit debt counseling agencies can assist you with. Given your financial hardship, they can advise you towards possibly some better options for settling this debt once and for all. Make sure you find the reputable ones though. There are a lot of fraud debt services waiting to prey on helpless credit consumers in a jam. Good luck!

Despite Drew's last posting I do give him credit and respect for calling me personally to discuss in a civil manor. While I respect his right to his own opinion, I advised I do not feel that gives him the right to call us a scam company on any web site. I felt that we ended the call on a positive note although we both agreed to disagree on how we should operate our business. He advised me that he will not post any more on this matter. I do wish him the best of luck in building his credit back, as I do understand that can be a difficult and long task. He is also welcome to call me again directly at any time to discuss any further issues that he may have with our company so that we can resolve those matters. Sincerely Harry Kohn Vice President Aqua Finance, Inc

I personally had a conversation with Mr Kohn. We agree to disagree. He is not apologetic for the methods by which his company operates and feels completely justified. I too feel that my points are valid. We do however do agree to continue the remaining interaction with eachother on cordial terms. Just know that if you are at fault as a debtee, expect no accomidation from anyone even if it is you that attempts to pay for the unfortunate circumstance. There is little you can do as recourse for a company that is within their legal right to continue pulling credit reports. It goes to show, there are no good debts. In this case, it is simply not worth it, especially since I am literally paying for nothing. Just try to avoid all credit companies as I am sure that they are all like this. No good deed goes unpunished. Mr Kohn, thank you for your time.

Ok Harry, we can go this route. Allow me to address a few things. First off I need to you provide me a good mailing address that I can send you a cease and desist notification for pulling my credit report. I am legally empowered to do so. As far as the terms of the original agreement? I know what I was facing, but here's a news flash for you. Because your company made it perfectly known that the system was not collateral and that this was an unsecured debt, you have a statute of limitations set by the State of Texas that makes it perfectly clear that after 4 years you are legally not allowed to come after me for the debt. The last action on this account was October of 2003. So your continued toolof pulling credit report to determine when to collect is invalid. Again, this is a tactic of continued damage. Next, you reported to the credit company that this was a charged off account long ago. What is you peoples problem? I came to you to repay this debt. I called you. And don't give anybody that bologna about losing money on this situation. You are actually going to be collecting more on me via this route than you would have made on me had I completed the term of the contract. Harry, I am not saying that I am in the right here. I am not saying that I made no error. I am not saying that I do not owe the money, or that you are recieving less than what the law would have let you take from me. I am not even saying that I deserve some special treatment. What I am saying is that there are a few facts here that everyone needs to be aware of. #1 the statute of limitations set in place for collecting an unsecured debt has run its course by the State of Texas. That's a moot point, as I VOLENTARILY am paying you anyway. #2 I called you to repay this, you guys didn't miraculously pull me out of the air and force me to pay you. #3 I told you what I was comfortable paying. Who the heck are you to pull my credit file so you can determine what YOU think I am capible of paying? You said that you pulled the file to keep up with skip jumpers. Your own employee said you pulled it to determine how much I really could pay you. How dare you and your employees tell me "Well we think if you can pay a $400 car note, you can afford to pay us the $100.00 dollars." I also have $775 rent, $680 child care, and several thousands of dollars in medical bills. By your own employees admission you are pulling reports for reasons contrary to what you have stated here. Trust me, I told you what I was confortable with because it was the truth, not because I wanted to be on your Christmas Card list for the next 3 plus years, but because that is literally what I am comfortable paying. Your company is not the only ones I am trying to make amends with. #4 There is no way that you are going to convince anyone that you are pulling my credit on a whim for the purposes of tracking. This is intentional malicious intent. Try to corporate mouthpiece it all you want. #5 Yes, having this debt delinquent is damaging to my score, but in a time when I am trying to make every effort I can to repair it, you know darned good and well that every pull causes damage. I love how you continue to mention that your company has legal right to do what you are doing. Good for you. Abortion is legal too, but it doesn't make it right. I can see that there is not going to be any getting through to you. I understand that unpaid debt is the plight of credit based companies. I am trying to repay my debt to you. All this company had to do was accept what I said I was comfortable with. Since I know that continuing to correspond with you is going to be a lesson in futility, I will move on. And by the way, how many Andrew Vs do you think are in the city of Benbrook? This is a blatant attempt at defamation of character. According to my calculations we have the next 32.5 months of working together. Trust me. Ripoffreport.com is just the beginning. I really hope that this is all worth the $25 dollars a month for you your company. You get real. Statute of Limitations Laws for Debt Collection Agencies in Texas Applicable Cities: Arlington, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Garland, Houston, Plano, and San Antonio Interest Rate Charged: Legal -> 6%Judgement -> 10% Statute of Limitations (in years): Open Account -> 4 years Written Contract -> 4 years Promissory Note -> 4 yearsDomestic Judgement -> 10 years Foreign Judgement -> 10 years Bad Check Law: -> Considered as Civil Penalty Wage Garnishment Exemptions: 100% of Wages. Reference: debtconsolidation.com/statute-limitations/state/texas.html

Ok Harry, we can go this route. Allow me to address a few things. First off I need to you provide me a good mailing address that I can send you a cease and desist notification for pulling my credit report. I am legally empowered to do so. As far as the terms of the original agreement? I know what I was facing, but here's a news flash for you. Because your company made it perfectly known that the system was not collateral and that this was an unsecured debt, you have a statute of limitations set by the State of Texas that makes it perfectly clear that after 4 years you are legally not allowed to come after me for the debt. The last action on this account was October of 2003. So your continued toolof pulling credit report to determine when to collect is invalid. Again, this is a tactic of continued damage. Next, you reported to the credit company that this was a charged off account long ago. What is you peoples problem? I came to you to repay this debt. I called you. And don't give anybody that bologna about losing money on this situation. You are actually going to be collecting more on me via this route than you would have made on me had I completed the term of the contract. Harry, I am not saying that I am in the right here. I am not saying that I made no error. I am not saying that I do not owe the money, or that you are recieving less than what the law would have let you take from me. I am not even saying that I deserve some special treatment. What I am saying is that there are a few facts here that everyone needs to be aware of. #1 the statute of limitations set in place for collecting an unsecured debt has run its course by the State of Texas. That's a moot point, as I VOLENTARILY am paying you anyway. #2 I called you to repay this, you guys didn't miraculously pull me out of the air and force me to pay you. #3 I told you what I was comfortable paying. Who the heck are you to pull my credit file so you can determine what YOU think I am capible of paying? You said that you pulled the file to keep up with skip jumpers. Your own employee said you pulled it to determine how much I really could pay you. How dare you and your employees tell me "Well we think if you can pay a $400 car note, you can afford to pay us the $100.00 dollars." I also have $775 rent, $680 child care, and several thousands of dollars in medical bills. By your own employees admission you are pulling reports for reasons contrary to what you have stated here. Trust me, I told you what I was confortable with because it was the truth, not because I wanted to be on your Christmas Card list for the next 3 plus years, but because that is literally what I am comfortable paying. Your company is not the only ones I am trying to make amends with. #4 There is no way that you are going to convince anyone that you are pulling my credit on a whim for the purposes of tracking. This is intentional malicious intent. Try to corporate mouthpiece it all you want. #5 Yes, having this debt delinquent is damaging to my score, but in a time when I am trying to make every effort I can to repair it, you know darned good and well that every pull causes damage. I love how you continue to mention that your company has legal right to do what you are doing. Good for you. Abortion is legal too, but it doesn't make it right. I can see that there is not going to be any getting through to you. I understand that unpaid debt is the plight of credit based companies. I am trying to repay my debt to you. All this company had to do was accept what I said I was comfortable with. Since I know that continuing to correspond with you is going to be a lesson in futility, I will move on. And by the way, how many Andrew Vs do you think are in the city of Benbrook? This is a blatant attempt at defamation of character. According to my calculations we have the next 32.5 months of working together. Trust me. Ripoffreport.com is just the beginning. I really hope that this is all worth the $25 dollars a month for you your company. You get real. Statute of Limitations Laws for Debt Collection Agencies in Texas Applicable Cities: Arlington, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Garland, Houston, Plano, and San Antonio Interest Rate Charged: Legal -> 6%Judgement -> 10% Statute of Limitations (in years): Open Account -> 4 years Written Contract -> 4 years Promissory Note -> 4 yearsDomestic Judgement -> 10 years Foreign Judgement -> 10 years Bad Check Law: -> Considered as Civil Penalty Wage Garnishment Exemptions: 100% of Wages. Reference: debtconsolidation.com/statute-limitations/state/texas.html

Ok Harry, we can go this route. Allow me to address a few things. First off I need to you provide me a good mailing address that I can send you a cease and desist notification for pulling my credit report. I am legally empowered to do so. As far as the terms of the original agreement? I know what I was facing, but here's a news flash for you. Because your company made it perfectly known that the system was not collateral and that this was an unsecured debt, you have a statute of limitations set by the State of Texas that makes it perfectly clear that after 4 years you are legally not allowed to come after me for the debt. The last action on this account was October of 2003. So your continued toolof pulling credit report to determine when to collect is invalid. Again, this is a tactic of continued damage. Next, you reported to the credit company that this was a charged off account long ago. What is you peoples problem? I came to you to repay this debt. I called you. And don't give anybody that bologna about losing money on this situation. You are actually going to be collecting more on me via this route than you would have made on me had I completed the term of the contract. Harry, I am not saying that I am in the right here. I am not saying that I made no error. I am not saying that I do not owe the money, or that you are recieving less than what the law would have let you take from me. I am not even saying that I deserve some special treatment. What I am saying is that there are a few facts here that everyone needs to be aware of. #1 the statute of limitations set in place for collecting an unsecured debt has run its course by the State of Texas. That's a moot point, as I VOLENTARILY am paying you anyway. #2 I called you to repay this, you guys didn't miraculously pull me out of the air and force me to pay you. #3 I told you what I was comfortable paying. Who the heck are you to pull my credit file so you can determine what YOU think I am capible of paying? You said that you pulled the file to keep up with skip jumpers. Your own employee said you pulled it to determine how much I really could pay you. How dare you and your employees tell me "Well we think if you can pay a $400 car note, you can afford to pay us the $100.00 dollars." I also have $775 rent, $680 child care, and several thousands of dollars in medical bills. By your own employees admission you are pulling reports for reasons contrary to what you have stated here. Trust me, I told you what I was confortable with because it was the truth, not because I wanted to be on your Christmas Card list for the next 3 plus years, but because that is literally what I am comfortable paying. Your company is not the only ones I am trying to make amends with. #4 There is no way that you are going to convince anyone that you are pulling my credit on a whim for the purposes of tracking. This is intentional malicious intent. Try to corporate mouthpiece it all you want. #5 Yes, having this debt delinquent is damaging to my score, but in a time when I am trying to make every effort I can to repair it, you know darned good and well that every pull causes damage. I love how you continue to mention that your company has legal right to do what you are doing. Good for you. Abortion is legal too, but it doesn't make it right. I can see that there is not going to be any getting through to you. I understand that unpaid debt is the plight of credit based companies. I am trying to repay my debt to you. All this company had to do was accept what I said I was comfortable with. Since I know that continuing to correspond with you is going to be a lesson in futility, I will move on. And by the way, how many Andrew Vs do you think are in the city of Benbrook? This is a blatant attempt at defamation of character. According to my calculations we have the next 32.5 months of working together. Trust me. Ripoffreport.com is just the beginning. I really hope that this is all worth the $25 dollars a month for you your company. You get real. Statute of Limitations Laws for Debt Collection Agencies in Texas Applicable Cities: Arlington, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Garland, Houston, Plano, and San Antonio Interest Rate Charged: Legal -> 6%Judgement -> 10% Statute of Limitations (in years): Open Account -> 4 years Written Contract -> 4 years Promissory Note -> 4 yearsDomestic Judgement -> 10 years Foreign Judgement -> 10 years Bad Check Law: -> Considered as Civil Penalty Wage Garnishment Exemptions: 100% of Wages. Reference: debtconsolidation.com/statute-limitations/state/texas.html

Ok Harry, we can go this route. Allow me to address a few things. First off I need to you provide me a good mailing address that I can send you a cease and desist notification for pulling my credit report. I am legally empowered to do so. As far as the terms of the original agreement? I know what I was facing, but here's a news flash for you. Because your company made it perfectly known that the system was not collateral and that this was an unsecured debt, you have a statute of limitations set by the State of Texas that makes it perfectly clear that after 4 years you are legally not allowed to come after me for the debt. The last action on this account was October of 2003. So your continued toolof pulling credit report to determine when to collect is invalid. Again, this is a tactic of continued damage. Next, you reported to the credit company that this was a charged off account long ago. What is you peoples problem? I came to you to repay this debt. I called you. And don't give anybody that bologna about losing money on this situation. You are actually going to be collecting more on me via this route than you would have made on me had I completed the term of the contract. Harry, I am not saying that I am in the right here. I am not saying that I made no error. I am not saying that I do not owe the money, or that you are recieving less than what the law would have let you take from me. I am not even saying that I deserve some special treatment. What I am saying is that there are a few facts here that everyone needs to be aware of. #1 the statute of limitations set in place for collecting an unsecured debt has run its course by the State of Texas. That's a moot point, as I VOLENTARILY am paying you anyway. #2 I called you to repay this, you guys didn't miraculously pull me out of the air and force me to pay you. #3 I told you what I was comfortable paying. Who the heck are you to pull my credit file so you can determine what YOU think I am capible of paying? You said that you pulled the file to keep up with skip jumpers. Your own employee said you pulled it to determine how much I really could pay you. How dare you and your employees tell me "Well we think if you can pay a $400 car note, you can afford to pay us the $100.00 dollars." I also have $775 rent, $680 child care, and several thousands of dollars in medical bills. By your own employees admission you are pulling reports for reasons contrary to what you have stated here. Trust me, I told you what I was confortable with because it was the truth, not because I wanted to be on your Christmas Card list for the next 3 plus years, but because that is literally what I am comfortable paying. Your company is not the only ones I am trying to make amends with. #4 There is no way that you are going to convince anyone that you are pulling my credit on a whim for the purposes of tracking. This is intentional malicious intent. Try to corporate mouthpiece it all you want. #5 Yes, having this debt delinquent is damaging to my score, but in a time when I am trying to make every effort I can to repair it, you know darned good and well that every pull causes damage. I love how you continue to mention that your company has legal right to do what you are doing. Good for you. Abortion is legal too, but it doesn't make it right. I can see that there is not going to be any getting through to you. I understand that unpaid debt is the plight of credit based companies. I am trying to repay my debt to you. All this company had to do was accept what I said I was comfortable with. Since I know that continuing to correspond with you is going to be a lesson in futility, I will move on. And by the way, how many Andrew Vs do you think are in the city of Benbrook? This is a blatant attempt at defamation of character. According to my calculations we have the next 32.5 months of working together. Trust me. Ripoffreport.com is just the beginning. I really hope that this is all worth the $25 dollars a month for you your company. You get real. Statute of Limitations Laws for Debt Collection Agencies in Texas Applicable Cities: Arlington, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Garland, Houston, Plano, and San Antonio Interest Rate Charged: Legal -> 6%Judgement -> 10% Statute of Limitations (in years): Open Account -> 4 years Written Contract -> 4 years Promissory Note -> 4 yearsDomestic Judgement -> 10 years Foreign Judgement -> 10 years Bad Check Law: -> Considered as Civil Penalty Wage Garnishment Exemptions: 100% of Wages. Reference: debtconsolidation.com/statute-limitations/state/texas.html

First of all Steven is not an employee of Aqua Finance. Do not know who he is but will thank him for his comments. Second I did not post your last name, I find it very interesting that you have no problem blasting the good name of the company I work for and then worry about having your name put out here. Get real. Third - Review your loan documents and then do the math on how much interest and late charges we could be legal in charging you, we have discounted this alot. More then a thousand dollars. Keep in mind the Credit Bureau does not report an accurate payoff on your account. Fourth - when you sign a loan application, you authorize us to pull your credit bureau as needed in the course of business. This follows through until such time as you have paid off your account. We do not pull bureaus after the application stage on current customers. With past due customers it is a very useful tool to locate customers that have skipped out on their bill and or help us to determine a good financial picture of customer so that we can decide how to best resolve the account with the customer. The fact that you are past due on a loan hurts your credit score far worse then a few inquiries. Fifth - We do care about kids and family. Do you care about the kids and family of the staff that work here? Check to see how many small companies like ours have gone out of business over the years. Number one reason for finance companies going out of business? Too many customers defaulting on their loans. Yes one loan won't break us, but we need to work to collect as much as we can so that we can stay in business to pay our staff, operating expenses and investors. I know of no reason that you deserve special treatment. In my 25 years I have been with two such companies that have gone out of business, one was pretty big too. So don't try to tell everyone that we do not have a moral right when we collect in legal manor. If you have a problem with our company as I said before borrow money from someone else and pay us off. Bottom line is we are more then willing to work with someone, you had agreed to terms of the loan which you did not follow. So we are going to try to get this resolved as soon as possible and not want to drag it out forever. Yes it stings to pay for something that you do not have, how is that our fault? It is not. Right now we are the party that has lost money in this transaction because you did not pay the money owed to us. Sincerely Harry Kohn Vice President Aqua Finance, Inc

I may not be the smartest person in the world, but I was pretty sure that I did mention that I defaulted on this loan. As a matter of fact, I think I mentioned it 4 separate times; so attempting to undermine my integrity is unfortunate. I appreciate your mentioning that my account or credit report may have been set up to trigger. I was unaware that this was a possibility and will have to look into it. I can assure you that if this is a standard operating procedure of your company, or any company for that matter, it further shows that this company is maintaining a policy of maximum damage. That type of system can only be in place as a measure to cause harm to the debtee in the event they try to make any financial or professional moves in the future. The way I see it, it is the position of your company that any financial or background check movement made by a defaulted debtee, will trigger a an automatic pull from your company as a measure to defame character of the debtee to a potential employer, creditor, or act simply as a way to cause additional damage to a beacon score. I understand. I do not need to justify myself to you, as I already have an agreement for repayment to your company, but I will humor you just a bit. I was a sucker when it came to renting my house out. It was my first house and consequently the first time I rented it out. The security deposit was minimal. Furthermore the house was rented to a soldier. The soldier was deployed to Iraq and his wife and baby daughter was at the house. I did attempt to collect the rent, and finally had to go to the house personally to find it abandoned and destroyed. I did sue the tenants. However since the house was destroyed, I could not re-rent it, nor could I afford to repair it. With the husband in Iraq, I could not pursue a court date until he returned. Your company deals with soldiers as targets allot, so you know I am telling the truth. By then, the house was foreclosed on. Not that it is any of your business, but I took over $3000.00, every last dime of my income tax return, to the mortgage company in an attempt to stop the foreclosure. All it did was delay it. Also, since the house was foreclosed on, and we had to sue the tenant after they returned from Iraq, we were only awarded $1000.00. So that I may supply you more information that is none of your business, the water purification system was not the only thing done to this house. I owed $1500.00 to a man that owns an A/C company in the area because shortly before we moved out of the house the condenser unit outside failed. I was making payments to him as well. Perhaps your company should have threatened my family like he did. He made it perfectly clear that he was going to sue us very badly. I dont know what he could have done, but we paid him the money we got from the lawsuit. Steven, I never said I didnt owe the money. I am actually happy that I am in a better situation now so that I can actually come to this company with an offer to repay. I am upset about $25.00 per month and the fact that your company continues to damage my credit report. Thats all. Did I clear this up for you? I also invite you to speak with me personally should you decide to do so. Also, labeling this "Sounds like a personal problem" goes one step further to prove that your company looks at its clients as money trees and numbers. A real family with two little children have suffered over this and other related situations for the past 6 years. It may not be your fault, but you could at least pretend that you care just a little.

I appreciate that you took the time to respond. I think that there is little doubt that the initial fault here lies with me. I did not deny or mitigate this fact in any part, nor am I upset about having to repay a debt that I rightfully owe. I also did not make mention of any illegal activities as it pertained to the operation of this company. Furthermore, I am not venting as a disgruntled debtor. Remember I called Aqua finance to repay my debt. I was not recently hounded in an attempt to pressure repayment. Just because as action is not illegal, does not necessarily make it right. Your asset recovery department is squeezing as hard as they can. I made it very clear to your employees that I will repay my debt. It is not necessary to pressure someone that calls you to repay a debt. What I call into question is the ethical and socially acceptable operation of your company. This targets lower income credit troubled people. The Internet is filled with Aqua Finance references. My only concern with this company is as follows: You have no right to pull my credit report whenever you feel like it. Especially when I call you to repay a debt and you pull it for the purpose of determining how much per month I am going to pay you after I tell you what I am comfortable paying. I find it personally insulting and an invasion of privacy. I did not authorize you at any point after the initial contract to pull my credit report for any reason. This is simply a snake like tactic. I noticed that you have not denied in any form that your company makes it a policy to randomly pull credit reports at your leisure knowing that it causes damage to beacon scores each time you do it. Also, no, your representative did not offer to discount this settlement not one red cent. As a matter of fact, as I stated above, I am being charged nearly 200 dollars more than what my last credit report stated. I am sure that you will update my report with a $3500.00 balance due now that I have agreed to pay it so that you can further damage my report by (even by a little) adversely affecting my debt to income ratio. I know that your asset recovery team received compensation in proportion to the amount recovered. I am simply viewed as a cash cow. The amount that you are charging me is in excess of the original sale price of the unit to begin with. Thank you for the favor of charging me for something I will never again possess, oh and thank you for not charging me the last 2 years of interest. It comes down to this. I would not have spoken a derogatory word to a person one had your representative accepted the terms of repayment I came to you of my own free will with. For a vice president making a 6-digit figure per year, I am sure that this baffles you. I will continue to make my payments to you as I agreed to do. You know that you have me over a barrel. You know I have no choice. You also know that there is little rebuttal you can provide that is going to sway anybody to side with a large notorious company versus a veteran family man trying to make his past mistakes right. I will come out and say this clearly. This is extortion. I am not angrily venting, the situation speaks for its self. If you wanted to make a discounted offer or accept my terms for payment in full, that would have been fine. I am paying every last dime plus some to what I owe your company. But since it is on your terms and causing additional financial stress to an already stressed household, you seriously cannot expect me to sit quietly. I am open to private conversation should you desire to contact me. I really am not a hostile person; I just think that anyone that intends to do business with you should be informed that there is a great price for your services. In my case, I was the one that messed up. Now (by the time we are done with each other) I will have spent nearly 10 years trying to fix it. Like I said before, just because it isnt illegal doesnt make it right. You have the right to sue me, harass me, call several times a day, mail my home, and so on. I came to you to repay a debt. Not only did you not give me any assistance to repay that, you intentionally made it more difficult to repay that debt. And Harry, Drew is short for Andrew. So is Andy Andi and Andie. Some people call me AJ, others Andy Joe. Was there a point to mentioning my name and initials? And you say Im venting.

Behind all the smoke and mirrors you put up you left out the underlying cause. You defaulted on your payments. It is not the fault of Aqua finance that your renters trashed your property and/or didn't pay rent. You should have either had a stronger hand in collecting from the renters or having a property management company handle it. You chose instead to default on your mortgage as well that is the reason you lost your house. Did you even think to check your options with Aqua finance instead of just lying low hoping to dodge out on the debt. The didn't need to run a credit check on you. You probably had your info flagged to trigger off an alert when you purchased your new car or when the company that you were going to hire on with did a background check. Did you ever go after your renters for payment??? How about pressing charges for vandalism??? What about a security deposit????????? You could have used any money you got from them to pay this off. Depending on the laws where you rented the property you could have sued them as well.

Behind all the smoke and mirrors you put up you left out the underlying cause. You defaulted on your payments. It is not the fault of Aqua finance that your renters trashed your property and/or didn't pay rent. You should have either had a stronger hand in collecting from the renters or having a property management company handle it. You chose instead to default on your mortgage as well that is the reason you lost your house. Did you even think to check your options with Aqua finance instead of just lying low hoping to dodge out on the debt. The didn't need to run a credit check on you. You probably had your info flagged to trigger off an alert when you purchased your new car or when the company that you were going to hire on with did a background check. Did you ever go after your renters for payment??? How about pressing charges for vandalism??? What about a security deposit????????? You could have used any money you got from them to pay this off. Depending on the laws where you rented the property you could have sued them as well.

Behind all the smoke and mirrors you put up you left out the underlying cause. You defaulted on your payments. It is not the fault of Aqua finance that your renters trashed your property and/or didn't pay rent. You should have either had a stronger hand in collecting from the renters or having a property management company handle it. You chose instead to default on your mortgage as well that is the reason you lost your house. Did you even think to check your options with Aqua finance instead of just lying low hoping to dodge out on the debt. The didn't need to run a credit check on you. You probably had your info flagged to trigger off an alert when you purchased your new car or when the company that you were going to hire on with did a background check. Did you ever go after your renters for payment??? How about pressing charges for vandalism??? What about a security deposit????????? You could have used any money you got from them to pay this off. Depending on the laws where you rented the property you could have sued them as well.

My research leads me to believe that we do not have an account under the name of Drew Benbrook. We do beleive that we have the correct name, the first name being Andrew. Last intial V. In the finance business we do understand that from time to time customers will suffer a financial hardship. I not sure how that means we should also suffer a loss on a loan by just forgiving it. Therefore as a company in highly regulated industry we attempt to recover our financial loss to the best of our ability while following the law. I see nothing in our account collection to indicate that we broke any of the many laws that govern how we operate. In my 25 years I have always found that when a customer has a problem, their best course of action is to communicate with their lender, so that the lender may work with them to resolve the issue. Many instead choose to avoid their lender in hopes that the debt just goes away. To come back at a later time and accuse the lender of being a scam, is just a way of venting. We have offered this customer a sizable discount from what we are legally entitled to collect, If he feels the terms that we are requesting to have the money owed to us paid back are not reasonable he would be welcome to obtain a loan from someone else and pay us a lump sum settlement. Our Credit History does stay with us for a while, that is why it is important to make sound credit decesions and if we have a setback to work to get it fixed asap. I do hope that this customer is able to get his financial house back in order but blaming the lender for his problems and accusing us of wrong doing does not help his situation in any way. Sincerely Harry Kohn Vice President Aqua Finance, Inc