Prospera Credit Union

Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] , and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.] The credit union never gave us copies of the protection plan! Per our original loan officer and her replacement loan officer in the branch we bank at, copies of the actual protection are generally not printed unless the customer requests a copy No where on the signature page does it state that there are additional pages How is a customer to know that they need to request additional pages We were told 100% payout! There was nothing stated about our age We were also told by our original loan officer when we recently met with her, that the mailing that was sent out in would not have included our signature page so that we probably wouldn't have even known what it was about I received the first copy of the entire protection plan after my husband passed away They did not create two copies of all of the documents signed on the day we took out the loan Please see the gap endorsement ponote signed by the original loan officer stating that she forgot to give us a copy of that We never received any copies of the paperwork we signed regarding the protection planI have at this time retained an attorney as I feel that the credit union consistently is stating one thing and doing another Regards, [redacted] ***

I went into Prospera Credit Union to open a second savings account so my daughter could put money in it with out the account being directly tied to her account. I was asked for my personal information. Now please note that they already have my personal information because I already have an account. The employee said they were "required" to check my credit when I open a new account. Again I am already a customer. (Not member) He said that other banks use systems that check without hitting your personal credit but Prospera checks your credit. I asked if it would do a hard hit on my credit and he said he thought it did. So I had him open the account and my credit did get hit. My credit dropped and all because I wanted to open a savings account at a place I already had an account. After I left I was confused as to why they wanted to run my credit and it occurred to me that they use that to sell their products to you. They keep the score on file so loan officers have access to this and call and harass you for loans and mortgages if you have a high score. This is a dirty practice and should not be legal. There are plenty of other Credit Unions to go to and banks as well. You get treated better at a bank.

Dear Ms, ***We are writing today in response to the complaint filed with the Revdex.com regarding Prospera Payment Protection in which complainant*** ***, pa d $over two plus years and received a benefit of $5,in September of this year,We are deeply sorry for
Mrs, *** loss and feel it is unfortunate that she misunderstood the details regarding what the protection plan covered specific to Loss of Life for those over the age of However, a contract was signed and therefore a benefit paid resulting in positive earnings for Mrs*** of $4,527.15.Our records indicate that the loan originated on June 15, under an open-end planOur lenders are trained to get an understanding of each member's financial situation at the time of application so as to provide products, services and solutions that may benefit the memberThis would include educating our members on the benefits of payment protectionCUNA Mutual also provides training for our lenders specific to the payment protection products that Prospera offers.At the time of each loan closing two sets of loan documents are created - one set is for the member to sign and for the credit union to retain the second is given to he member for their recordsUpon loan closing, the documents are explained, Including the payment protection contractWe have a payment protection contract that was signed on June 15, by both Russell and Janet ***In this contract under "protected events" is an explanation pertaining to the Loss of Life Coverage for those over the age of 70. This contract is attached.In September 2013, CUNA Mutual revised the Payment Protection Terms and Conditions and time stamped all new forms with this dateProspera implemented this change as of April , and notified all members who have a payment protection product via direct mail In February of The mailing Included a letter and revised Payment Protection contract , There were no changes madehowever, to the Loss of Life coverage over age The notice states that enrollment is optional and members can cancel protection at any time We verified that the ***'s name was on the list of members who received this mailingThese documents are also attached.Once again, we are deeply sorry for Mrs***'s LossHowever, based on our research into this specific situation, it is our determination that Ms*** received the benefit in which she was entitled per the signed contract dated June 15, 2012.Sincerely,*** ***CEO

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.] The credit union never gave us copies of the protection plan!  Per our original loan officer and her replacement loan officer in the branch we bank at, copies of the actual protection are generally not printed unless the customer requests a copy.  No where on the signature page does it state that there are additional pages.  How is a customer to know that they need to request additional pages.  We were told 100% payout!  There was nothing stated about our age.  We were also told by our original loan officer when we recently met with her, that the mailing that was sent out in 2013 would not have included our signature page so that we probably wouldn't have even known what it was about.  I received the first copy of the entire protection plan after my husband passed away.  They did not create two copies of all of the documents signed on the day we took out the loan.  Please see the gap endorsement post-it note signed by the original loan officer stating that she forgot to give us a copy of that.  We never received any copies of the paperwork we signed regarding the protection plan. I have at this time retained an attorney as I feel that the credit union consistently is stating one thing and doing another. 
Regards,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
I have now started legal proceedings against Prospera Credit Union and will leave this matter in the hands of my attorney and the courts. What the contract stated, which we never received a copy of the entire contract until recently, and what the original lender told us were two different things.
Regards,
[redacted]

Review: On 6/15/12, my husband and myself, refinanced an auto loan thru Prospera Credit Union. We’ve been a member of the credit union for approx. 46 years. We were told about a loan protection plan that upon a death of either one of us, our loan would be completely paid off. Since we are retired and on a fixed income, we knew that if something happened to one of us that our income would be reduced. We purchased the plan. We received a folder and were told that the folder contained copies of all of the paperwork that we signed. No pages of this plan were in the folder. The exact words that were stated to us was, "If something were to happen to one of us, we wouldn't have to worry about the car payments any longer. The car would be completely taken care of."

On 8/26/14, my husband passed away. On 8/27/14, I contacted Prospera to inform them of his death and to see what needed to be done. I was told that I needed to come into their office and meet personally with a loan officer, sign some papers and provide them with a death certificate. They told me that they couldn’t do anything without my signature and death certificate.

On 9/2/14 at 10:15 am, my daughter and I went to Prospera to talk to a loan officer. We requested to see the original loan officer. We were told that she wasn’t working that day and that now she works at a different location. We were told that we could meet with a different loan officer. So we did so. she looked up our loan and informed me that only 25% of the remaining balance would be covered since he was over the age of 70 years old. I told her that we had purchased an insurance plan that would pay off the loan balance should either one of us pass. She stated that was accurate if we were under 70 years of age. However, she stated, that once your over 70 yrs of age, only 25% of the loan balance is covered. We were never told about the age requirement and we were both over 70 years old when we purchased the plan. I was 73 years old and my husband was 76 years old. She suggested that we speak directly to the loan officer that did the original paperwork. We asked how this could’ve happened. She stated that possibly the original lender didn’t even realize the 70 years old change of coverage. We would’ve never purchased the plan with only a 25% coverage of the balance. We asked the lender for a copy of the policy. She printed out an unsigned copy of the policy and highlighted where it showed the reduction of coverage. This was the first time I saw the plan. I stated, we never received this paperwork. The lender stated, “That could be true. Due to the age of the loan they didn’t always require signatures, nor did they ever print out all of the pages.” She also told us that the policy could’ve changed since we originally took it out and that all they were required to do was send us a copy of the changes in the mail. We asked her if it could’ve changed. She didn’t know the answer to that question. Again, she suggested that we speak directly to the original loan officer.

On 9/3/14 at 10:30 am, my daugher and I went to Prospera located in Appleton, to speak with the original loan officer. Once she came out to meet with us, she had my file in hand along with a post-it note. She stated that it took her forever to find my file. She stated that my file was circulating around on several different peoples desk this morning. She stated, yes my manager, his manager, processing and myself all had our hands on this file today. She gave me her condolences and stated that she just left me a phone message. I introduced her to my daugher and she led us into a conference room. My daughter asked what the message was that she left and she stated that she was just passing along her condolences and she was just informing me of my options. My daughter asked her what she meant by options. The lender then read her post-it note that stated, $5,330 would be paid off on the loan, leaving a balance of $15,995.07 and that I either needed to pay off the loan completely or she already got approval that I could just take over the loan using the current terms and just refinance it. She then asked me which I would prefer to do and that she could do the paperwork right then. My daughter stopped her and said that we first wanted to discuss the loan protection plan. The lender that unless an insured asks to see the policy, they don’t have to give it to them. It’s the insured’s responsibility to ask to see the policy. It’s up to the borrower to request a copy of the policy.” When my daughter asked the lender to elaborate and stated how were they to know there were additional pages to request? Nowhere on the signature page does it state page 1 of 3 or page 3 of 3. The lender changed the subjest and stated, “I can’t be responsible for customer’s home filing systems and I know what the contract says.” The lender pointed out that even though signatures were not required, we did sign the Payment Protection Contract. That was never what was in question. What was in question was that we never received a copy of the policy and we were never told about the age restriction, we were told that if something would happen to one of us, the car payments would be taken care of. The lender stated, “If you ever wanted a copy of the policy, you could have just requested it. It’s your responsibility to know what you’re signing.” My daughter then took a look at the signature page and again asked her where it references that there were additional pages to this contract. My daughter stated, “How were they to know there were more pages? How did they know there was a policy with additional verbiage. They were told, upon death 100% of the loan would be paid off. Again, they were over 70 when they took out this policy.” The lender then said she was uncomfortable answering any more questions. The lender did go ahead and state that somewhere along the line, she was sure they sent us a copy of the policy verbiage and that we probably didn’t even realize it when we received it because it would’ve just been the verbiage with no reference to the policy so we probably just threw it away thinking it was junk mail. We ended by my daughter stating that we would be looking into what our options are at this time. The lender informed us that the claim has already been processed and the loan is now reduced by the $5,330 and that I would be getting a letter in the mail stating that I need to either pay off the loan or refinance it. She offered to do either right then. I asked her, “How they could process the claim? I didn’t sign anything and I didn’t give anyone a copy of the death certificate.” The lender stated that I gave the death certificate to the other lender. When we informed her that we didn’t, she stated that they processed it off of the obituary and that they didn’t need my signature, nor the death certificate. We told the lender that no one had authorized the claim yet. The lender stated that the claim was done.

On 9/4/2014, I filed a complaint with the Insurance Commissioner’s office. We are currently waiting for their response.

On 9/18/2014, I received a message from an employee at Cuna Insurance and she requested that I return her call.

On 9/19/2014, my daughter and I returned the phone call to Cuna Insurance Co. The employee informed us that what we purchased was a Protection Plan and not an insurance plan, therefore, they were standing behind Prospera’s decision to only pay 25% of the remaining loan amount.

Today, 9/30/2014, my daughter and I met with the CEO of Prospera, per her request. The CEO wanted to know what she could do to make this right. She offered to match the original 25% coverage that they gave us, an additional $5,330. That leaves a remaining balance of approximately $10,665.

I feel that my husband and I were misled right from the start. We were told about a plan that we could purchase that would pay off our loan, 100% of the remaining balance, upon death of one of us. There was no mention of an age requirement and that over the age of 70 years old, our coverage would be reduced to 25% of the remaining loan balance. We were both over the age of 70 when we purchased the policy. We are only 2 years into our 5 year loan, we have paid nearly $1,000 for this coverage and I’m now only receiving approximately $5,000. That’s only a $4,000 payoff, when you deduct what we paid for the coverage. We would have never purchased this policy if we would have been told that only 25% of the balance would be paid!Desired Settlement: I feel we were told right from the start that if something were to happen to either one of us, that our loan would be paid off, "one less thing we would have to worry about, the car payments would be taken care of". I feel they should have to stand behind what they stated. I feel they should pay off 100% of the remaining loan balance. No where on the paperwork does it state that there are additional pages to the contract. We were never given the additional pages. Both lenders agreed that we probably never did receive the additional pages as that is not their common practice to print out all pages of the contract.

Business

Response: