ERI FInancial Services, Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/03/16) */
To whom it may concern, ERI Financial Services is formally addressing and responding to the Revdex.com regarding the complaint entered against our organization on 03/09/on behalf of *** ***ERwould like to take this opportunity to
dispute this complaint as well as challenge its validity
Synopsis: Our client Caltech Employees Federal Credit Union assigned two (2) individual unresolved loans to ERI Financial services on 07/21/for the purposes of attempting to reach some resolution with *** ***
Time line of events for loan number ONE:
07/21/15: Loan information is received from Caltech Employees Federal Credit Union and entered into our data system Acknowledgement letter is mailed to *** *** at Avery Street San Bernardino CA XXXXX advising him ERI is authorized to negotiate the unresolved balance on behalf of Caltech Employees FCU
07/27/through 11/03/15: Attempts to reach *** *** via phone begin (As mandated per Federal and State guidelines set forth for collection purposes) On 10/02/a second letter is mailed to *** *** requesting he please contact ERI Financial servicesA third letter is mailed on 11/03/requesting a response (day interim between last mailed letter)
11/13/through 12/19/15: Periodic schedule of calls attempting to reach *** *** (As mandated per Federal and State guidelines set forth for collection purposes)
12/30/15: ERI representative places a call to the home number listed to *** ***, an unidentified male answers the phone and says "stop calling me, you have been harassing me" The ERI representative advises that we have never spoken to him before? The unidentified male states "He gets the messages and considers that harassment"The ERI representative attempts to verify the unidentified male to confirm that this in fact is *** ***, since that has not been established to this point, The unidentified male refuses to listen and advises no more calls and terminates the callEven though ERdid not have an opportunity to successfully identify the male we spoke to as *** *** by last four of social security and date of birth (as is required for a consumer to evoke their right to cease and desist) we as a conservative precaution immediately recoded the account within our data system as DNC which is the acronym for "Do not calf"This DNC code informs any ERI representative working the loan that this is a "do not call" loan
Time line of event for loan number TWO:
07/21/15: Loan information is received from Catech Employees Federal Credit Union and entered into our data system Acknowledgement letter is mailed to *** *** at: Avery Street San Bernardino CA XXXXX advising him ERI is authorized to negotiate the unresolved balance on behalf of Cattech Employees FCU
07/27/through 08/11/15: Attempts to reach *** *** via phone begin (As mandated per Federal and State guidelines set forth for collection purposes)
08/11/15: ERL representative receives an incoming call from (XXX) XXX-XXXX from a female identifying herself as *** ***She stated "Do not call my boyfriend, ever again" she advised that she was a bill collector at a Law firmThe ERI representative asked for the name of her boyfriend, to which she would not discloseMs*** advised the ERI Representative that he had been called todayThe ERI representative asked for more information, in order to locate and address her concernMs*** at that time did provide the name of *** ***, and advised that SHE was requesting a cease and desist on her boyfriend's behalfThe ERI representative requested to please have *** *** contact ERI directly
08/21/through 01/05/16: Attempts to reach *** *** via phone begin (As mandated per Federal and State guidelines set forth for collection purposes) *** *** contacts ERFinancial (01/05/16) and leaves a voicemail indicating that she is a bill collector for a Law firm and that she was going to seek legal action if her boyfriend was called againThe ERI representative alerted management regarding the issue and after review it was determined that *** ***, himself, had never spoken with us nor attempted to communicate with our officeMs*** is NOT an authorized signer on the account nor was she directly being contacted regarding this matterThe ERrepresentative mailed out a certified letter as well as a standard US postal issue letter to: Avery Street San Bernardino CA XXXXX which according to our due diligence was the most accurate up to date mailing address for *** ***This certified letter was another written request to please contact ERI as soon as possible
01/19/through 02/29/16; Account was placed on hold to allow ample opportunity for *** *** to respond to the letter mailed via regular mail on 01/05/ERI never receive any response or communication from *** *** during this time periodOn 01/19/ERI received a "no receipt" from our certified mail attempt
03/01/through 03/09/16: Attempts to reach *** *** via phone begin(As mandated per Federal and State guidelines set forth for collection purposes)
03/09/16: *** *** contacts ERE Financial, again, threatening to sueERI advised Ms*** that we are attempting to speak with *** ***, not her, Ms*** states that she is a collector and that she sent a letter stating not to call *** *** *** request to speak to managementCall is escalated to Martin Vega, ERI Compliance ManagerMs*** informs that she is Mr*** wife and that she had provided ERI with an email cease and desist on behalf of *** ***Ms*** is asked for the persons name or email address that she used to send the requestShe cannot confirm that information at the time of the callMs*** is provided with Martin Vega's email address and asked to please forward the original email she claimed to have sentAt this time as a conservative precaution this account is recoded within our data system as DNC which is the acronym for "Do not call"This DNC code informs any ERI representative working the loan that this is a "do not call" loan
On 03/09/Ms*** proceeded to send a total of emails to ERE Financial over the course of hoursWe are providing you with these emails for your review as exhibits A through P
We would like to confirm that ERI Financial Services prides itself in upholding all State and Federal Laws and guidelines as it pertains to collection practicesERI financial conducted itself in good faith and without malice in the pursuit to resolve the matter between *** *** and our client Caltech Employees Federal Credit Union
We would also like to note that we are fully aware of the consumer's right to provide a cease and desistWe also are aware that as a consumer there are certain requirements that must be met in order to be afforded these rights and protectionsOur concern is that we (ERI) were never properly provided that by *** ***The one opportunity in which "a possible" communication was made, the unidentified male would not allow for the standard verification process (name/last four of social security/ date of birth) to be completed by ERI FinancialWithout this verification process ERI had no ability to determine that at the time of the call this unidentified male was truly *** *** who was requesting we cease and desistThe only individual who would communicate with us was *** ***, who is not an authorized signer, which is someone we are legally unable to speak with regarding *** *** mattersWe then receive from *** *** an email from an address that is not identified as that of *** *** requesting we cease and desistThis cease and desist err ailed letter does not even include a signature from *** *** to legitimize that these are in fact his wishesThere is a standard practice of verifying any cease and desist letter by comparing the signature on the letter versus signatures on fileFor these reasons we stand in our belief that we acted in good faith and that this complaint filed against us has no validity or merit and should be expunged and dismissed
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2016/03/20) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I am responding on behalf of my husband, *** ***, due to severe health issues he is currently going throughMy name is ***
Firstly, I am a legal collector at a law firm, and are familiar with collection law, as well as the CFPB regulationsERI FINANCIAL, refused to honor cease and desist notices, given multiple times by myself and ***My husband has receives at least voicemails a month from an agent named "***", after advising him to not call anymoreMy husband has the saved voicemailsIn December2015, my brother in law received a phone call at his home from an ERI agent, attempting to locate my husband and or a phone number for him, AFTER the do not call request was givenAs for the March 9th incident, my husband received a call from "***" once againI called the agent back and he acknowledged, on a recorded line, that he received my prior voicemails asking him to stop calling"***" began to raise his voice, demanding to speak with my husbandAfter I asked why he continues to call after being told to stop, he proceeds to yell, "Don't call me anymore" and hangs up on meAfter that disturbing call, I called the agency and spoke with Martin Vega, who identified himself as the agency's "Compliance Manager", and advised him of the circumstancesHe asked if I knew the agent's call was recorded, and I answered I did, because of my current experience as a legal collector, and I asked him to review my call with the agent, and explain why the agency refused to honor multiple do not contact requestsHe declined to explain, and simply asked for me to send him a copy of the do not call e-mail that was sentHe provided his e-mail address, and per ERI's own evidence, I sent it to him, as well as various management members of the agencyI requested the contact information for the agency's legal counsel multiple times, and received no responseAs my understanding, this agency has a history of harassment and fraudulent debt collection practices not limted to, but including, attempting to collect on debts where the individual is deceased, yelling at the individuals they communicate with, and have multiple agents call on the same accounts, the same dayIf the business would, they can utilize Google, and see the complaints I describedAlso, per ERI'S own website, they advise they will go to a consumers home or place of employment, to "deliver notices", and retrieve contact information for the individual, which unless it is a legal matter, is prohibited by federal law, per the FDCPAMy understanding is ERI FINANCIAL is a collection agency and cannot practice law, therefore by their own admissions, they practice harassment and threatening tacticsWe have submitted a complaint to the CFPB, as well as with the appropriate legal authorities, as well as seeking our own legal counselMy husband has health issues that are being exacerbated by the continued and unwarranted abuse, subjected by ERI FINANCIAL, and their abusive agentsWe ask that the complaint not only stand but, that this be reported to the Government, for further evidence, for their follow upThank you
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2016/03/30) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
On behalf of my husband *** ***, we do appreciate the agency's willingness to turn the debt back over to their client in an attempt to resolve this issue, however, given that ERI FINANCIAL has violated the FDCPA as well as CFPB regulations, we again ask that this complaint not only stand, but be forwarded to the appropriate government agency, for follow upI have been responding for my husband, due to a severe medical issue that he has been going through for a long while nowWe ask that the original Cease and Desist notification be honored, as in California, a notice as such can be given by a spouseThank you
*** ***
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2016/03/30) */
March 29,
Ref: Revdex.com complaint case #XXXXXXXX
RE: *** *** (2nd response)
As per our previous communication, ERI has not been able to verify the identity of the people/persons involved in filing this complaintERI has not been provided the opportunity to complete a satisfactory verification of identification with the "male" who had one (1) brief phone conversation with ERI, to confirm that this in fact was "thee" *** *** in question thus making the "Cease & Desist" validIf ERI had been able to complete the identification verification process (First name/last name/DOB/last of social security) as is a standardized practice, ERI would have been able to update our client Caltech Employees Federal Credit Union as to the proper "Cease & Desist" being implemented by their Member, *** ***Even further, if *** *** had provided ERI with a "Cease & Desist" letter signed by *** ***, ERI would have been able to authenticate the signature by comparing it to the original file signature(s) in order to validate the "Cease & Desist" request
In an effort to bring closure and resolution to this incomplete "Cease & Desist" request, please inform Mr*** *** that he can provide a signed "Cease & Desist" letter to ERI via regular mail at:
*** Corona CA XXXXX
Or via email at:
***@eri2005.com
Mr*** *** can also contact ERI at (XXX) XXX-XXXX Monday - Friday 8-PST and allow us to properly verify his identity to ensure that we are speaking to the correct individual, and at that time HE can instruct us of his "Cease & Desist" request over the phone
We will be informing our client Caltech Employees Federal Credit Union that at this time we are unable to assist with any further resolution options regarding *** ***, so that Caltech Employees Federal Credit Union can review any and all of its options
Thank you