Firefly Credit Union

Mr [redacted] applied for a loan on 9/26, and at the time of application he accepted optional loan insurance coverage – Credit Life, Credit Disability, and Guaranteed Asset Protection This coverage is routinely explained as optional to members whenever applying for credit Mr [redacted] agreed to the coverage and signed documents to this effect The documents (of which he received a copy) fully explained the terms of the coverage, including the premium payment The Revdex.com complaint on 10/was the first the credit union heard of Mr [redacted] ’s request to remove the coverage As a result of the complaint, the credit union attempted multiple phone calls to reach Mr [redacted] In order to cancel the coverage, the credit union does require a signature After failing to respond to phone messages, the credit union reached out to Mr [redacted] via the e-mail address provided on the Revdex.com complaint, and still received no response On 11/4, Mr [redacted] visited our branch office in Brooklyn Park There he requested to opt out of the coverage, signed the necessary form, and received a full refund

As a convenience and cost savings to members, Firefly Credit Union allows borrowers to set up automatic loan payment withdrawals from their deposit accounts Members that choose this service can set the recurring day of the transaction and receive a discount on their loan interest rateFrom time to time, members make loan payments in addition to these automatic withdrawals Some members treat these transactions as additional payments, some members treat them as advance payment of a future obligation Because the member’s reason for an unscheduled payment is difficult to discern, it is the member’s responsibility to request suspension of any future automatic paymentsIn the case of Ms [redacted] , an overdraft did occur as a result of her automatic payment Because overdraft fees have been refunded for her before, the credit union representative offered a partial refund of the overdraft charge The fee has since been refunded in fullIt does, however, remain the responsibility of the member to have sufficient funds in their account to cover transactions, automatic or otherwise We appreciate Ms [redacted] ’s long time membership and hope she will continue to do business with her credit union If she does, we encourage her to contact us to change her automatic withdrawal or to consider one of our overdraft protection tools The ReadyCash line of credit, for example, is a low-cost overdraft mitigation service enjoyed by thousands of Firefly members

As a convenience to members, Firefly Credit Union provides automatic transfers from deposit accounts to make regular loan payments Ordinarily members will receive a discount on their loan rate when they use this free serviceWe have investigated Ms [redacted] ’s claim Ms [redacted] has two different savings accounts with Firefly - a share savings account and a preferred savings account The automatic transfer was set to withdraw from her share savings account Ms [redacted] made regular deposits to the share savings account, sometimes on the day the transfer was to take placeIn a few instances Ms [redacted] made the deposit to the preferred savings account and the automatic transfer thus failed to occur on time As a result late payments were noted on the loan account and ultimately on her credit reportAfter a review of the situation, those late payments have since been removed from Ms [redacted] ’s credit reportRepresentatives from Firefly Credit Union have reached out to Ms [redacted] by phone to personally explain the situation A follletter was also mailed providing further detailWe appreciate Ms [redacted] ’s business and look forward to serving her in the future

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 8, 2015/11/23) */ Mr [redacted] visited our Minneapolis branch to dispute a debit card transaction that he claimed was fraudulentOur branch manager explained that we could address his concern by filing fraud paperwork and reissuing his debit card with a new number Mr [redacted] was satisfied with this response, but questioned why we didn't take him through a similar process when he experienced what he claims were "other fraudulent transactions" during the months of December through February Our branch manager expressed that she was unaware of these nearly 2-year old transactions, and would have to do some research before getting back with a responseThe research was conducted and it was discovered that the transactions in question were not in fact debit card but rather automatic withdrawals from the accountFurther, there was no record of reported fraud occurring on the account during the period researched Instead, what Mr [redacted] thought was fraud was in fact overdraft fees for insufficient fundsDespite communicating this to Mr [redacted] on several occasions (both in person and via phone messages) he has insisted that the credit union has not responded to himAt one point our branch manager and her immediate supervisor (AVP of Retail Services) jointly called and attempted to explain the situation to Mr [redacted] , a call he claimed never happened Despite his closing of his accounts this year, Mr [redacted] has returned to our office in Minneapolis seeking retribution for what he claims is fraud, but are in fact fees that were assessed in accordance with our membership agreement Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (2000, 10, 2015/12/07) */ Consumer indicated that he/she accepted the business response

I am rejecting this response because:
The credit union never notified me about the loan being rejectedThe car salesman and the finance officer with enterprise car sales told me that the loan had been approvedThat's why I signed the papersThe credit union had my phone number and e-mail as I have had other business with themThey could have contacted me about the loan

I am rejecting this response because:
There lyingThey never called me Not onceI got no e-mail from them ever that's why I had to go inI don't care what the Revdex.com thinks anymore your not getting the truth from the CU

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me

Per the recommendation of our federal regulator, the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), Firefly Credit Union limits prepayments to a period of five months. This has been suggested by NCUA in part to protect members from accumulating considerable interest on a loan paid far into the
future then not paid again until the next due date. In the case of Mr***, our Asset Protection Supervisor further discussed this case with him and will make an exception to the NCUA-recommended process. The loan pre-payment has been adjusted to eight months in advance and we will note this member request if queried by our federal regulators We apologize for the inconvenience to Mr*** and appreciate his continued business

Firefly CU was among hundreds of financial institutions across the country that experienced system issues with our third-party card processor during the weekend of 10/13-10/The processor was incorrectly declining transactions when sufficient funds were available. Further the processor was
showing declined transaction amounts as withdrawals from the account when in fact no funds were takenFor Ms***, the debit card transaction on the 13th was incorrectly declined. The merchant then attempted to run the card through nine additional times which (incorrectly) showed all funds in the account as being depletedWhen Ms*** contacted Firefly at 4:59pm on Friday, our staff was only beginning to hear a handful of complaints from our membership. Our card processor had not yet informed us of the issue. Evidence of card declines were not showing up on our systems, so it was difficult to properly diagnose the issueMs*** was told that we were becoming aware of an issue with our processor and we would make every attempt to release her funds as soon as possibleWhen Ms*** called back at 6:03pm, the situation was unfortunately still not resolved at our processorOur hope, as explained to Ms***, was that funds would be released by Saturday. Ms*** called again at 11:00am on Saturday, and the situation was regrettably still underwayDuring this time Firefly (and likely other impacted institutions) were pushing the processor for a quick solution. Later that day and into the evening, Firefly employees communicated what we knew about the situation to members through our websiteThe issue was corrected by the processor later that weekend, and on Monday 10/Firefly staff attempted to reach Ms*** to make her aware that all funds were available in her account. When Ms*** did not respond on 10/16, additional contact attempts occurred on 10/and 10/It is unfortunate that our members were inconvenienced by this system errorFirefly leadership has expressed concerns to our card processor regarding their handling of the situation and we are requesting assurances that similar occurrences will be better addressed in the future. To Ms*** and others impacted by the error, we offer our sincere apologies for any inconveniences, and can assure that all account balances have been restored as of Monday, October 16th

I am rejecting this response because: your corporation purposely charged me another fee after refunding the previous overdraft fee when (once again) per your app I had more than enough funds in the account.Secondly, your specialist shouldn't tell their customers "other places wouldn't even do that"It's very poor customer service and an extreme lack of professionalism regardless of the situation.Lastly, your overdraft protection is a line of credit which I was told I was not eligible forIt's ridiculous that you can't simply pull from an attached savings account (which again) had more than enough funds on both occasions.Yes, I will be closing my accounts after my PENDING transactions clear

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. I was in fact unaware that when dealing with loans you do not go through the dealers , this was my very first loan As far as receiving contact from fire fly credit union , I want aware that they had tried to contact me I called in February regarding the matter because when my car was towed from my parking lot I made a police report & the officers informed me that it had been repowed & gave me the credit unions contact That is when I found out that my payments to the dealer had not been going to the bank itself

Mr. [redacted] applied for a loan on 9/26, and at the time of application he accepted optional loan insurance coverage – Credit Life, Credit Disability, and Guaranteed Asset Protection.  This coverage is routinely explained as optional to members whenever applying for credit.  Mr. [redacted]...

agreed to the coverage and signed documents to this effect.  The documents (of which he received a copy) fully explained the terms of the coverage, including the premium payment.   The Revdex.com complaint on 10/27 was the first the credit union heard of Mr. [redacted]’s request to remove the coverage.  As a result of the complaint, the credit union attempted multiple phone calls to reach Mr. [redacted].  In order to cancel the coverage, the credit union does require a signature.  After failing to respond to phone messages, the credit union reached out to Mr. [redacted] via the e-mail address provided on the Revdex.com complaint, and still received no response.   On 11/4, Mr. [redacted] visited our branch office in Brooklyn Park.  There he requested to opt out of the coverage, signed the necessary form, and received a full refund.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2015/11/23) */
Mr. [redacted] visited our Minneapolis branch to dispute a debit card transaction that he claimed was fraudulent. Our branch manager explained that we could address his concern by filing fraud paperwork and reissuing his debit card with a new...

number.
Mr. [redacted] was satisfied with this response, but questioned why we didn't take him through a similar process when he experienced what he claims were "other fraudulent transactions" during the months of December 2013 through February 2014.
Our branch manager expressed that she was unaware of these nearly 2-year old transactions, and would have to do some research before getting back with a response. The research was conducted and it was discovered that the transactions in question were not in fact debit card but rather automatic withdrawals from the account. Further, there was no record of reported fraud occurring on the account during the period researched.
Instead, what Mr. [redacted] thought was fraud was in fact overdraft fees for insufficient funds. Despite communicating this to Mr. [redacted] on several occasions (both in person and via phone messages) he has insisted that the credit union has not responded to him. At one point our branch manager and her immediate supervisor (AVP of Retail Services) jointly called and attempted to explain the situation to Mr. [redacted], a call he claimed never happened.
Despite his closing of his accounts this year, Mr. [redacted] has returned to our office in Minneapolis seeking retribution for what he claims is fraud, but are in fact fees that were assessed in accordance with our membership agreement.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 10, 2015/12/07) */
Consumer indicated that he/she accepted the business response

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/10/16) */
When record of insurance coverage on a collateralized loan is not evident, US Federal Credit Union contacts members with repeated requests to make that information known. This is per the terms of our loan agreement.
When the insurance was...

not found, the following letters were sent to Mr. [redacted]:
09/02/15 - Letter requesting Mr. [redacted] to provide proof of current insurance
09/30/15 - Second letter requesting Mr. [redacted] to provide proof of insurance
Additional investigation into this complaint revealed the following sequence of events:
08/15/15 - Mr. [redacted]' State Farm insurance policy number changed. The new policy number did not even remotely resemble the previous one. It is rare for a policy number from the same insurance company for the same collateral to change in such a dramatic fashion.
Mid-September - US Federal received a renewal notice of insurance from State Farm. At this time, our verification service incorrectly identified the notice, possibly due to the unusual circumstance described above. As a result it was unknown to US Federal that the coverage for the existing collateral remained in force. This prompted the mailings of 9/2 and 9/30.
Early-October - US Federal discovers the error and corrects it in our systems. Unfortunately the proof of insurance letters had both been mailed by this point, prompting Mr. [redacted]' complaint.
Please note that no insurance was added to Mr. [redacted]' loan.
In his complaint, Mr. [redacted] questions the cost of the credit union's collateral protection insurance and compares it to a typical vehicle insurance policy. Such a comparison is not accurate as the collateral protection insurance is not individually underwritten. Instead it is automatically granted with little or no knowledge of the insured's driving record or overall insurability. It is thus considerably more expensive than a policy a consumer may seek on their own.
We appreciate Mr. [redacted]' business, and reached out to him directly to explain the situation and to offer our apologies for any inconveniences it caused. After our review of this situation, we were able to modify our verification process to reduce the likelihood of it happening again.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2015/10/29) */

Upon receipt of this notice, Firefly Credit Union leadership investigated the situation and reached out to the member to address their concerns.  This particular situation was the result of an employee that erred in properly communicating the capabilities of our HELOC program. We have...

since spoken directly to the member, correcting the information they previously received, and refunding all overdraft charges assigned to the account.  Further we have contacted the member’s contractor to explain the NSFs were the result of incorrect information and funds were and continue to be available in the HELOC account.  Finally we have provided coaching to the erring employee to ensure the situation is not repeated. Firefly Credit Union regrets this error and formal communication from our President/CEO encourages the member to reach out directly to management if any inconveniences persist.

As a convenience and cost savings to members, Firefly Credit Union allows borrowers to set up automatic loan payment withdrawals from their deposit accounts.  Members that choose this service can set the recurring day of the transaction and receive a discount on their loan interest rate. From...

time to time, members make loan payments in addition to these automatic withdrawals.  Some members treat these transactions as additional payments, some members treat them as advance payment of a future obligation.  Because the member’s reason for an unscheduled payment is difficult to discern, it is the member’s responsibility to request suspension of any future automatic payments. In the case of Ms. [redacted], an overdraft did occur as a result of her automatic payment.  Because overdraft fees have been refunded for her before, the credit union representative offered a partial refund of the overdraft charge.  The fee has since been refunded in full. It does, however, remain the responsibility of the member to have sufficient funds in their account to cover transactions, automatic or otherwise.  We appreciate Ms. [redacted]’s long time membership and hope she will continue to do business with her credit union.  If she does, we encourage her to contact us to change her automatic withdrawal or to consider one of our overdraft protection tools.  The ReadyCash line of credit, for example, is a low-cost overdraft mitigation service enjoyed by thousands of Firefly members.

As a convenience to members, Firefly Credit Union provides automatic transfers from deposit accounts to make regular loan payments.  Ordinarily members will receive a discount on their loan rate when they use this free service. We have investigated Ms. [redacted]’s claim.  Ms. [redacted]...

has two different savings accounts with Firefly - a share savings account and a preferred savings account.  The automatic transfer was set to withdraw from her share savings account.  Ms. [redacted] made regular deposits to the share savings account, sometimes on the day the transfer was to take place. In a few instances Ms. [redacted] made the deposit to the preferred savings account and the automatic transfer thus failed to occur on time.  As a result late payments were noted on the loan account and ultimately on her credit report. After a review of the situation, those late payments have since been removed from Ms. [redacted]’s credit report. Representatives from Firefly Credit Union have reached out to Ms. [redacted] by phone to personally explain the situation.  A follow-up letter was also mailed providing further detail. We appreciate Ms. [redacted]’s business and look forward to serving her in the future.

This is an unfortunate situation for which there is little the credit union can do to bring about the member’s desired resolution.   The dealership referenced is in fact under investigation by law enforcement.  The member indicates she made her payments directly to the dealership. ...

Those payments were never received by Firefly Credit Union, nor did we have any knowledge of the member paying the dealership directly. (In fact, no Firefly loan has ever been “paid through a dealer.”  The loan agreement is between the member and the credit union, never the dealership.)   As per our procedures, Firefly did notify the member on multiple occasions of her delinquency.  Had the member been making routine payments directly to the dealership during this time, it was presumed these notices of delinquency and collection would have warranted further investigation on her part.   No payments were ever received by Firefly Credit Union.  As a result the vehicle was eventually repossessed and sold.  The sale of the vehicle was less than the loan amount, and the credit union experienced a loss.  Because of this the member did experience a negative impact to her credit rating.    Upon our repossession of the vehicle in February of this year, we first heard from the member regarding an arrangement directly with the dealership. This information has been shared with the authorities currently conducting their larger investigation, and any follow up on the matter will be directly between the member and the investigating authority.   If the investigation proves the member’s claims, the member may have an opportunity to demonstrate on her credit bureau that she was a victim of fraud.