1st Financial Federal Credit Union

Member obtained a loan with our institution on March 16, Upon becoming delinquent, three letters were sent within the first thirty days Calls to the number provided on the application noted that the mailbox was full We met with the member and discussed the concerns with the payment system, which is provided by an external vendor and noted that due dates are displayed within the credit union’s online banking system We waived the repossession fee and the member redeemed the vehicle

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2015/08/05) */
The member had called within the past few months to discuss remaining payments and outstanding balances, which were reviewed with the member
On July 20th, the member called and wanted to know why her loan balance was so high, and was upset
because she thought the loan was supposed to be paid off soonThe Account Resolution representative noted it was due to a combination of transactions, including skip-a-pay months requested by the member, collateral protection insurance coverage, and fees including late and NSF chargesThe member was not satisfied with the representative's answer and the member wanted specific dollar amounts for the full four year time frame of her loan payment history and asked to be transferred to the manager
The Account Resolution Manager spoke with the memberShe asked to verify the member's address, however, the manager discovered that the member had moved and did not update her address; therefore the member was not receiving statementsThe manager offered to send statements to the member so that she could see what made up the total balance and they could set up an appointment to go over the statements together in order to resolve the question of the remaining paymentsThe member demanded the manager review the loan payment history right at that moment because she stated she didn't have time to wait for statements or an answer and that it is the manager's job to do this for the member when they askThe manager informed the member that she needed to research the transactions and couldn't just start discussing the history without looking into it and pulling statements first
The Account Resolution Manager researched the payment history on the loan and contacted the memberThe manager went over the results of the research in detail, explained remaining balance and gave specific amounts related to the three skip-a-pay months requested by the member, collateral protection insurance coverage and various other items including late and NSF feesThe member understood why there was a remaining balance and where it is coming fromThe manager pulled statements from the beginning of the loan and printed them out, changed the member's address and mailed the statements to the member for her records

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/08) */
Revdex.com Complaint # XXXXXXX
On June 4th, 2015, the member's vehicle loan was reviewed for repossession due to the delinquent statusThere had been no payments made since April 16, The loan was due for April, May and June paymentsThere
were two promises for payments made by the member, and both were brokenIn addition, there were six messages left at the member's home and no return calls from the memberThere was no proof of insurance provided for the vehicle1st Financial is the lienholder and the loan agreement states the member is to keep the vehicle insured for the duration of the loanAfter the information was reviewed, the decision was made to place the repossession order, which was done on June 4th,
A member may be allowed an opportunity to redeem the vehicle and continue their loan with the credit union if the credit union can be assured the member will be able to make the remaining paymentsThis is done by obtaining certain documentation, including current insurance declarations and proof of incomeThe member must also bring the loan current
On June 11, 1st Financial received a check payment via mail from the member for a third of the amount dueHowever, since this amount was not the total amount to bring the loan current, it was not enough to stop the repossession orderThe check was placed into the member's savings account and was not placed towards the loan so that the member would not be led to believe that the repossession order would be stopped
The member's car was repossessed on June 18, On that day, the member called in and wanted to know how to get his car backHe was informed of the information the Credit Union would need in order to redeemThe member was sent the Notice of Repossession and Intent to Sell letter
On June 22, 2015, the member went to our Downtown location with his paperwork for redemptionHowever he did not have all of the required paperworkHe had an insurance card instead of a declaration page from the Insurance companyThe member was also informed that we would need paycheck stubs to verify income and he did not have those
On June 23, 2015, we received the declaration page that was received from the insurance company, however, the member's address was different from the address we had on fileWe contacted the member and asked which address was correctThe member would not confirm which address was correctProof of income was not provided by the memberWe asked the member to provide paycheck stubs once againThe member stated he is a worker who does not receive payroll checksTherefore we asked for proof of income from his employer on letterheadWe received a letter from a paralegal company noting that the member had a full time position as an "independent electrician contractor"Because it seemed odd that a paralegal firm would require a full time electrician, we needed to research the issue furtherWe reviewed the employer's address and found it was traced to a public storage facilityWe telephoned the company using the number given in the letter and asked for copies of company documentation noting amounts being paid to the memberWe received this on the evening of June 23, We checked the Missouri Secretary of State's business listing and the company was an active registered businessAlso, the individual we spoke with at the company was noted as an officer of the company
On June 24, the member was allowed to redeem the car if the loan was brought current, which the member did on June 25,

Member obtained a loan with our institution on March 16, 2017.  Upon becoming delinquent, three letters were sent within the first thirty days.  Calls to the number provided on the application noted that the mailbox was full.  We met with the member and discussed the concerns with...

the payment system, which is provided by an external vendor and noted that due dates are displayed within the credit union’s online banking system.  We waived the repossession fee and the member redeemed the vehicle.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/12/09) */
We appreciate Mr. [redacted] letting us know about his concerns with the way we handled this situation. In reviewing the events prior to the repossession, during, and after the repossession, we realized there were several key moments where we...

could have handled the situation better than we did. During our review, we realized that we acted faster than we should have. We were trying to stick to the letter of our agreement to protect our collateral when we should have taken more time to better understand the Mr. [redacted]'s specific situation so we could work with him on a solution. This incident has made us go back through our processes related to deceased members to determine how we can better serve their families in the future. We are in the process of contacting Mr. [redacted] to discuss this with him and will honor his request for the amount noted.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 12, 2015/12/18) */
This complaint is not closed since 1st Financial Federal Credit Union only resolved one portion of the complaint and that they were going to send me a check for $159.31 which I still have not received.

Also their response contained a statement which was totally false. They stated "In reviewing the events prior to the repossession, during, and after the repossession we realized we could have handled the situation better than we did" What REPOSSESSION!!! My brothers 2011 300 Chrysler was in my garage from February 28, 2015 until I sold it to [redacted] Ford in June 2015.

I also requested a Financial Statement for the month of March 2015 for monies received and paid out of [redacted] C. [redacted]'s Account. No response.
I also did not receive a copy of their Directive addressed to all of their company personnel to follow all of the procedures in their main brochure stating how to support customers who have encountered unforeseen circumstances as noted in their "Member Solution Center statement in their brochure." This should be their response in handling all cases not just those associated with a death in the family. From their answer to my complaint it is my opinion that nothing has changed as far as correcting their company attitude and therefore they will continue to Harass people instead of trying to work out a solution.
They also did not offer me compensation for the 3 months of harassment and stress it caused by Company Personnel and Skip Tracing Services Personnel calling myself, my family and my lawyer demanding to know where the 2011 Chrysler 300 was located so they could reprocess it. Therefore I am requesting the same amount of money for compensation that they demanded of me for Lawyer fees and Skip Tracing Services. $950.00.
Until all of these are complied with, this complaint will stay open.
The CFO of 1st Financial Federal credit Union did call and he was professional which was a drastic change from other personnel contacts with that co.
The only thing resolved during our conversation was the check for $159.31 which I still have not received.
All other requests were left up in the air since he did not have the authority to address those issues .
So as a final statement, this complaint against 1st Financial Credit Union will stay open until they have complied with all of my requests.
[redacted] L. [redacted]