Merrick Bank Corporation

A review of the account was conducted; this included listening to the calls made by Mr*** on October and October regarding payments on the account and how the balance of the account was calculated. The account history shows that Mr*** made a payment on the account in the
amount of $on October 23, 2015. The payment was returned to Merrick unpaid. The notation on the return indicated that an account was not authorized for this type of payment
The cardholder agreement that governs the account indicates the method of payment that is acceptable for Merrick’s accounts. In section of that agreement it states as follows:
You must pay us in US Dollars, with a check, draft or money order drawn on a United States Bank or the United States Postal Service, or through an automated clearing house acceptable to us at our sole discretion
Merrick does not accept payments via debt card or pre-paid card for its accounts. Electronic payments can be made using the checking or savings account number and routing number via the cardholder website or through the VRU-automated system. Those electronic payments are converted into an ACH debit from the checking or savings accounts that are input into those systems. No other form of payment is considered validThe account used for making payment must be owned by you or you must be the co-owner or authorized user (signatory) on those accounts
I reviewed all of the calls made regarding the account and there was no indication on any of those calls that the representatives said that it was acceptable to use an ATM/Debit card for a method of payment on the account. The call on the 20th of October the representative indicated that only a checking or savings account could be used for payment on the account. Mr*** indicated on the call that he had a routing and account number that would allow ACH payments to be made.
If Mr*** account is showing that the $payment was debited from the account he used he will need to contact the company who issued the account and discuss it with them as it was not honored as a payment for his Merrick Bank account Mr*** can request that the account be reinstated. He can contact customer service and make that request

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
Sincerely,
*** ***In addition, please advise them that I will never do business with them nor will I recommend anyoneI was mislead and the fact that the company could not even apologize for the misrepresentation is really eye openingI guess people don't think empathy goes with customer service any moreSmh

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
Sincerely,
*** ***

Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because: it does not answer with a response on weather or not the account would be removed from credit report..
Sincerely,
*** ***

Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because:
I paid directly on the Merrick website, so there is no check or money orderMerrick has records of paymentsI am trying to deal with Merrick, the business in which I had an account withI do not deal with unknown third partiesThere are too many scammers out there to deal with unknown entities Merrick offered a deal, and I made the first payment to that dealThis payment was made directly on their website, and they know thatThere are no checks or money orders to show, they know that as wellThey also know they made an arrangement then closed my online payment access making it impossible to pay themThey did not follow terms of their own deal, and are in violation of several federal and state laws in their practicesI ma trying to give them the opportunity to settle this rationally before advancing to the next step in resolutionThey are still refusing to settle this matter, as seen in their response.
Sincerely,
*** ***

Merrick has no additional reply to this issue

Merrick’s records show that Mr*** opened an account in April and used the account for the purchase of goods and services The current status of the account is charged-off for non-paymentThe balance owing on the account is $1,320.16. If Mr*** wishes to find out what
options are available to pay the balance of the account he can contact the current collection agency, Carson S*** at 877-487- Merrick has not received any credit bureau disputes from Mr***. The status of the account as reported is correct and accurate according to Merrick’s records and will not be deleted or modified. To do so would be a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting ActIf Mr*** settles the account, the credit reporting will be updated to reflect that settlementT

Merrick has conducted a review of Mr***’s account and his charge dispute. On March 7, 2016, Mr*** contacted Merrick regarding a dispute of a charge for the sum of $made by him to a merchant named *** *** *** that was billed to his Merrick account on March 2,
2016. Mr*** explained that he thought the charge was to be for the amount of $to get a copy of his SR-form. He did not realize until the next day that the charge was actually for $for a full policy not just the form he had requested. The representative who spoke to Mr*** opened the dispute and sent him a letter on March 11, requesting additional information about the dispute. Mr*** called Merrick on March 29, and explained that he did not have any of the additional information requested in the letterMerrick requested that Mr*** send what he had along with a detailed letter regarding the claimMerrick did not receive any response to this requestOn April 25, Mr*** indicated that he was to receive a partial refund from the merchant insurance agency in the amount of $and that he would let Merrick know when he received that check Mr*** called again on May 2, regarding the refund and told Merrick he had received the check in the amount of $but still wanted to dispute the remaining $ Mr*** provided some additional information about the dispute to Merrick on May 16, Mr*** called Merrick on May 16, to ensure that we had received his faxed letter and the representative with whom he spoke said that we had received it, but not been reviewed it Mr*** indicated that the agent at *** *** *** told him she could not do a full refund that would have to come from the insurance company, *** ***Mr*** explained that he did not have the credit slip from the original transaction nor any other information regarding the cancellation policy for the insuranceThe Merrick representative explained that without some proof of what he is alleging there would be no way for Merrick to do a charge back to the merchant insurance agency of the amount of the remaining $Merrick explained that we are not able to assist him further with the dispute since he had signed the letter agreeing to the merchant’s terms and conditions and have received the check for $ Notwithstanding the above, Merrick has made a one-time credit to Mr***’s account in the amount of $as a courtesy and to resolve the remaining issue he had with this disputed charge from the merchant insurance agency. He should see this adjustment to his account on the next billing statementTell us why here

Mr*** opened an account with Merrick in November and has used the account for the purchase of goods and services. The due date on the account is the 5th of each month. According to the account history in the past months Mr*** has made all of the payments due on the
account online with the exception of the payment due for February which was received via USPS. That payment was posted to the account on January 14, and no late fees were assessed to the accountThe payment was posted within days of the date on the check. It is Merrick’s policy and practice to post payments to accounts as of the date they are received. Payments received via USPS by 5pm CT and online payments received by 12am ET will be posted as of the date they are received Mr***’s account has not been assessed any late fees in the past monthsAll payments received were posted on or before the due date

Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because: because they are reporting me late before the daysMy payment is due on the 28th of each monthMerrick bank is reporting late when I had made a payment on the 27thReporting inaccurate informationI was on the program on the 27th which I had made a paymentBefore the 28thAnd I was never late with this company everThe reason is because the mislead me with no telling me about the program they put onI am requesting Dispute for my credit being report days lateDue not giving accurate information
Sincerely,
*** ***

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
Sincerely,
*** ***

It is Merrick's policy as required by the regulator to manage risk to the Bank. Multiple returned payments constitute a risk that requires the action taken

Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because: the reason why my account was past due is because your recurring payment plan failed to correctly enroll me and make the recurring payment I set upIn more than a decade I have made payments in time on all of my accounts, including Merrick Bank's, and think is rather unfair to hurt my credit report because of a system issue
Sincerely,
*** ***

Mr*** opened an account with Merrick in December but the account has had a zero balance and no activity for a year or more. Merrick’s decision to close the account was based upon the inactivity of the account and no other reason. The cardholder agreement between Mr*** and
Merrick allows either party to close the account at any time, and allows Merrick to do so for any reason without prior noticeMerrick reported the account as “closed by credit grantor”, which is the correct reporting on the account

A review of Mr***’s account was conducted. Mr*** opened an account with Merrick in March of 2015. He has used the account for the purchase of goods and servicesThe account has a double your line offer that will take effect after the account has been opened for months and
all of the monthly payments have been made on or before the due date.
The payment from September 18, for the amount of $was returned unpaid. The return code on the rejection for the return is Rwhich means insufficient fundsThis was the code placed on the return by his bank, UMB NA
The first payment made was also late, but if that had been the only payment issue Mr*** may still have been eligible for the credit line increase. The notice for the cash payments does indicate that a third party will take payments on accounts for Merrick. A copy of that information as shown on the website is attached.
Mr*** needs to speak to the ACH department at his bank this is the area that can explain to him what occurred on their end with the returned payment from September 2015. Unfortunately Merrick will not be able to give Mr***’s account the credit line increase. However, his account will still be reviewed in the future for credit line increases and if eligible the account will receive those increases

Mr*** opened an account with Merrick Bank in January and has used the account for the purchase of goods and servicesMr***’s account was eligible for a “Double Your Line” DYL increase after the first payments are made on timePayments on the account are due on the 28th of each
monthA review of Mr***’s account does confirm that he called in to Merrick in January to ask when his first payment was due and was given incorrect information from a Merrick Bank representative, which resulted in his first payment being late. Therefore, Merrick has determined that Mr*** should still receive his DYL offerMr***’s credit line has been increased from $to $1,Mr*** should have access to this additional credit as of September 6, Merrick apologizes for the mistakeTell us why here

Merrick’s records indicate that this cardholder agreed to the terms of an “Account Restructure” program in June A letter detailing the parameters of the program was mailed to the address on file for the cardholder with instructions to contact us immediately if she didn’t agree to the terms
The letter detailed the required minimum monthly payment, a reduced interest rate, reduced late fee, and that monthly fees would no longer be assessedThe letter also disclosed that the account would be closedIn addition, the letter stated if the account becomes five payments past due, the account would be classified as a charge off and reported to the consumer reporting agencies. [In June when she entered into the program] Ms*** made payments of $on the account and Merrick waived $in fees which brought the account currentShe received a second letter indicating that the account was then current and would be reported that way going forward. I have attached a copy of that letter. Statements are still being mailed to the address of recordIf Ms*** is not receiving those she can access that information via the cardholder website accessible at www.merrickbank.com, or call us to update her address and request duplicate statements. If she needs additional assistance please have her call us at ###-###-#### and we will be happy to assist with any questions or issues

Mr*** opened an account with Merrick in June and used the account for the purchase of goods and servicesThe records of the account show that in the past months Mr*** did not make the minimum payment due on the account for several monthsNo payments were received for the months
of April, June, July, September, October, November and January 2017. The months of May, and December payments were made for less than the minimum payment due on the account. Mr*** paid the balance of the account in full in February and closed the account. The credit reporting history for Mr***s account is correct and accurate according to the records of the account. Merrick will not change or delete the reporting sent to the credit reporting agencies. To do so would be a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Bank policy

A review of the account was conducted. Ms*** opened an account in May 2015. She made a security deposit of $on the account. The account was closed due to the fact that Ms*** lived outside the US main land. Merrick does not allow accounts with APO/FPO or
foreign addresses associated with the accounts
The deposit of $was originally sent as a refund to the address in the Virgin Islands on May 28, 2015. Ms*** called Merrick about the refund on August 15, and there was a stop payment issued on the original checkAnother refund was sent to her address in the Virgin Islands for the $on September 4, 2015. Ms*** called Merrick again on September 9, and explained she had not received the reissued check either. She was informed at that time that it could take up to days to reissue another check. This is a risk prevention procedure by Merrick’s bank to prevent the possibility that the outstanding checks might be negotiated. The account notes show that the reissued check was sent to Ms***’s address in the Virgin Islands today via certified mail. She will need to sign for the letter when it is delivered. The second refund check for $that represents a payment she made on the account was sent to her address on September 8, 2015. As of today this check has not been cashed. Ms*** needs to let Merrick know if she has received the $refund check
Merrick has done everything possible to send Ms*** the refund for her security deposit. It is unclear why she has not received the funds that have been sent to her

*** *** opened an account with Merrick in March and has used the account for the purchase of goods and services*** *** took a cash advance in July for *** A pricing appendix and cardholder agreement were sent to *** *** at the same time the card for the
account was mailed to him. The pricing appendix discloses the fees and interest associated with the account The way that interest is calculated on the account is part of the cardholder agreement *** *** received when the account was opened. Section of that agreement sets forth how interest is calculated: Periodic interest charges on your Account will be determined by applying a periodic rate to one or more average daily balances (including current transactions)The average daily balances of Purchases and Cash Advances (each of which is called “Balance on Which Interest Charge Applied” on the front of your periodic statement) are calculated separatelyThe “Purchase Interest Charge Balance” described below, is multiplied by the applicable daily periodic rate, then multiplied by the number of days in the billing cycle… The manner in which Merrick applies interest and fees is a Card Industry standard and compliant with both Regulation Z and the CARD Act. Section of the cardholder agreement explains how payments are applied When *** *** made the cash advance there was a fee associated with that as shown on the statement dated August 2, 2015. The statements after that don’t have a cash advance fee but there is interest charged on that advance until it is paid in full. A part of each payment made has been applied to both purchases and the cash advance and as of the last statement on the account the amount of the cash advance that interest was charged on is *** *** *** was informed of all of the fees and costs associated with the account at the time he opened the account. I have enclosed copies of statements reviewed, the cardholder and the pricing appendix for this account