Merrick Bank Corporation

California has a state law that requires a notice, but even in those instances Merrick still closes the account and we do not reopen them.  The reply sent is the final reply.

There is no "past due" notation. Accounts are not reported as past due until they reach 45 days past the due date.  No past due notation is on the account.

Ms. [redacted] opened a Visa credit card account with Merrick in July 2015.  The marketing materials she received disclosed the annual fee. Shortly after Ms. [redacted]’s application was approved, Merrick forwarded Ms. [redacted] the credit card plastic and a copy of the cardholder agreement (including a...

pricing appendix which discloses the fees applicable to the account). The pricing appendix, like the marketing materials, disclosed the assessment of the annual fee.     The first year annual fee is assessed to the account in one lump sum and each following year the annual fee is assessed monthly at the sum of $3.00. Ms. [redacted] closed her account in [month, year].   In accordance with the Cardholder Agreement, Ms. [redacted] agreed to pay the Annual Fee(s) for each year the account is open and for each year in which there is an outstanding balance on the account. When Ms. [redacted] closed the account, there was an outstanding balance.   Nevertheless, as a courtesy Merrick has waived the $3.00 annual fee assessed to the account prior to Ms. [redacted] closing the account.

The original reply explains why there was no reallocation of the payment.  Merrick has no further reply.

A review of Ms. [redacted]’s account was conducted.  The call between Ms. [redacted] and the customer service representative from October 11, 2016 was also reviewed. On October 12 Merrick received a Western Union money order for $150 and posted it to the account the same day.   Ms. [redacted]...

indicated during the call that she mailed the payment on September 27, 2016, but the money order is dated October 4, 2016.    Ms. [redacted] indicates in her complaint that the representative stated that Merrick holds payments but the representative did not state that during the October 11 call. Ms. [redacted] stated during the call that her due date is the 9th but the due date for the account is the 4th of each month.  It is Merrick policy to post payments every day until 5pm Central Time that are received from the US postal service at the proper address noted on monthly billing statements.  Merrick posts payments every day except Christmas. Merrick will not waive any fees assessed to the account and will not change the credit reporting it has submitted on the account.   I have attached a copy of the money order received and posted to the account on October 12, 2016 for review.

The account access is removed once the account has charged off.  No statements are generated after charge off so none were sent after that date.  Merrick has no further reply to this issue.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because this is by far the worst customer service I have ever received.  I have read dozens of complaints on here against Merrick Bank for similar if not exact situations of gross negligence.  I have NEVER been late in fact this card has been paid off for some time.  Due to a $6 fee that is not associated with any charges or interest whatsoever they have refused to correct the $6 late payment thus decreasing my Fico credit score 80 points.  I will not let this go.  Please review the hundreds of similar complaints.  I also filed with the Attorney General as well.  These people don't care, they are in India anyway.  
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Mr. [redacted] opened an account
in April 2015.  Mr. [redacted] contacted Merrick
on April 4th regarding the credit reporting for a past due balance
on the account.  Mr. [redacted] explained
that he had not received the statements since December and that he did not
receive the reminder emails...

that were sent to him regarding the past due status
of the account.  The statements were sent
to the same address that has been on file for the account since it was
opened.  There has been no returned mail
received on this account.  Mr. [redacted]
verified that the address we have on file is the correct address during the
April 4 phone call.
Mr. [redacted] did not make a
payment on the account for the months of February and March 2016 as shown on
the statements attached.
The cardholder agreement that
governs the account states the following in Section 2:
           
“No matter where Billing Statements are sent or when
they are received, your obligation to make timely Minimum Payments and to pay
all other amounts owed on the Account is not excused. “
           
If Mr. [redacted] wishes to do so
he can enroll into the cardholder website. 
  There he is able to view his
statements and what the next payment amount is at any time after the statement
cycle date, 24/7 regardless of where the statement may have been mailed.  The delinquency on the account according to
Merrick’s records is valid and the credit reporting of those late payments is
correct and accurate as required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act and will not
be removed or changed.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: I see the credit report has been updated.  However, according to response, I did indeed settle in full.  Which means that balance should be 0 dollars.  It says I still owe 1400 dollars. If I settled in full, balance should be 0 dollars on credit report.   Please fix. 
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Attached is a screen shot from Ms. [redacted] account showing the adjustments.  They were just completed so they will appear on her next statement.

Merrick has made a thorough search of payments it received for the time period that Ms. [redacted] and One Main Financial sent the payoff check for her account.  The copy of the check provided by One Main Financial does not contain any identifying information that would help Merrick find this...

payment.  Our payment processing vendor has reviewed the check copy and confirmed that none of the information on the check indicates that it received the check or processed it for Merrick. We have reached out to One Main Financial and requested that it contact its bank, Bank of America, to investigate who remitted this payment, but have not received a response.  Ms. [redacted] will need to work with One Main Financial to find out where this money was sent.  Merrick Bank did not receive this payment and therefore cannot payoff Ms. [redacted]’s account.

A review was conducted.  Mr. O[redacted] applied for a secured card on June 1, 2015.  The application was declined because of an open bankruptcy.  Mr. O[redacted] sent in a deposit of $200 for the security on the account.  
 
A disclosure is made at the time the application that...

the refund of the deposit could take up to 30 days to be returned.  Mr. O[redacted]’s refund was sent to him via regular mail on June 19, 2015 to the address on the original application.   The funds are kept in a non-interest bearing account so Merrick derives no benefit from keeping the funds.
 
An example of the disclosure on the secured card application on Merrick’s website is attached for your information.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Merrick Bank has several [redacted] accounts, but none at this address.  Please have the person filing the complaint provide previous address, last 4 of the SSN and any other identifying information that will ensure we are addressing the correct account. Thank you

Mr. [redacted] opened an account with Merrick in March 2013 and has used the account for the purchase of goods and services.  In April 2016 Mr. [redacted]’ account was placed into the account restructure program at his request.  Merrick sent Mr. [redacted] a letter describing the terms of the...

program on April 28, 2016.  During the past 12 months on several occasions Mr. [redacted] has not made the minimum payment due or did not remit a payment under the terms of the program.  This caused the account to become delinquent and Merrick reported those delinquent payments to the consumer reporting agencies.  According to the account records Mr. [redacted]’ account has been past due 30-60 days several times in the last 18 months.   The credit reporting submitted for the account is correct and accurate according to the account history.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
I could have used the account if I had known they were or would close it. a simple notification would suffice
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Merrick had previously addressed Ms. [redacted]’s credit reporting complaint which she submitted through the FDIC.  A copy of that response is attached.  As stated in that reply, the credit reporting information for the account is correct and accurate according to the account history.

A review of Ms. [redacted]’s account was made. On September 11, 2015 Ms. [redacted] made a payment in the amount of $[redacted] on her Merrick Visa account.  That payment was returned unpaid by her bank as “account frozen”.  The account was blocked as a result of that returned payment.  The block...

remains on the account for up to 15 days.
 
I reviewed the calls made on the account Ms. [redacted] called two times on September 16, 2015 to have her password for online access reset.  In the second call she mentioned at the very end of the call that her account from which she made her payment mentioned above had been compromised and that she would update the account information on-line once she had that.  At no time did she indicate that there would be any problem with the payment made on the 11th the comment about the issue with her checking account was made as just that, a comment at the end of the call.
 
Ms. [redacted] has not replaced the returned payment.  The block on the account will remain until the 15 days has expired which will be October 1, 2015.   This is the bank’s policy and is in place to reduce risk to the bank.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:  I agreed to the fees IF they are FAIRLY applied.  the fees were not.  I've taken up this with the consumer financial protection bureau and they passed this along to the FDIC.  Once again, Merrick Bank refuses to admit their misleading fees.  I have provided proof that My august statement said I owed 98.00 which included a 37.00 past due fee.  my sept statement showed where 98.00 dollars in PAYMENTS was rec'd before the due date.  that would be 61.00 I paid plus the 37.00 refunded.  The 37.00 was included as a PAYMENT..so I DIDN'T have a balance due of 37.00 left from sept in which I was charged another past due fee.  If the refund was to be a credit on my account then it would have been recorded on my sept statement as a credit NOT as a payment.  I believe that Merrick Bank has structured this in a way as to confuse the customers and collect additional fees illegally.  This will turn into a massive class action lawsuit once the FDIC takes a look at it.  Merrick bank needs to admit their wrong doing.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

[redacted] opened an account with Merrick in November 2016 and has used the account for the purchase of goods and services.  [redacted] called Merrick and reported the account lost/stolen on October 11, 2017. On October 24, 2017, the card was credited for the unauthorized activity...

for the amount of $382.26. [redacted] then contacted Merrick on November 29, 2017, and advised that all charges from February 2017 through July 2017 were also fraudulent. After receiving the required documentation and a detailed statement from [redacted], Merrick approved an additional credit in the amount of $1,211.57, which will appear on the next account statement. The credits that were applied to the account for the fraudulent charges do not count as a payment. A payment needs to be made on the account for the non-fraudulent charges each month by the due date in order to avoid late fees.The last payment Merrick has record of receiving was for $100.00 on August 17, 2017. If any additional payments have been made, the cardholder will need to contact Merrick at 800-253-2322 and provide payment details so that we can research those items.