Time Investment Company, Inc.

Review: I borrowed $2,650 from Time Investment. The installment term was for 36 months. The loan was at 21% APR, and the monthly payment was $99.84. On the contract, it states that there is NO prepayment penalty.

I made 5 monthly payments of $99.84. On the 6th month, I requested a payoff. They told me $2,995. I paid that amount in order to pay off the loan in full.

A few weeks later, I called to question why the payoff was more than the principal loan amount of $2,650. The agent I spoke to, *** said she was new and asked me to hold so that I could speak with her supervisor. ***, a supervisor, got on the pone and asked me what the problem was. I told her that I just got done explaining to *** in detail my question. She immediately said "We don't owe you any money". I asked *** why I was paying nearly $1000 in interest on a $2,650 loan for 6 months, and asked if they were charging me a prepayment penalty. She said there is no prepayment penalty. I then asked her again to explain to me the math of how a 21% per year interest calculates to nearly $1000 in interest on a $2,650 loan when the money was paid in full after 6 months. She said again "we don;t owe you any money". She then said "do you want to talk to my manager?" I said yes. Of course her manager, *** (***) was "not in the office".

The total I paid to them was $3594, which happens to be the FULL amount of the 36 payments ($99.84 x 36). I only borrowed the money for 6 months, with NO prepayment penalty, and paid nearly $1000 in interest.Desired Settlement: I would like to be charged the proper interest amount for borrowing the money for 6 months. They charged me 36 months worth of interest. They overcharged me nearly $700 in interest.

Business

Response:

I am writing in regard to complaint id# ***. First, I would like to apologize for the misinformation the client was given. We have been trying to contact you by phone to explain the error but have not been able to reach you. When the payoff was sent, it appears Ms. *** took information from her statement and paid the account balance rather than the payoff amount. This caused an overpayment of $639.84. When the client called our office, there was an error on the transaction screen which caused the refund due not to appear when *** and *** were looking at the account. When I reviewed it shortly after, the error had been corrected. This refund would have automatically been sent to the client in the last week of February however I have authorized the immediate release and the check will be mailed out on Monday.

I sincerely apologize for the error on this end.

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. While I do accept the resolution, it further upsets me how *** spoke to me during the conversation. She was coy and callous and kept repeating herself saying "we don't owe you any money". When I simply asked her to do the math and you will see that it does not add up, she blew me off.

Regards,

Review: We ordered cookware from Hycite enterprises, Royal Prestige, Time Investment Company, we aren't sure which company is even the correct one because we have been harassed by them all. The salesman told is we would only have to pay $25 a month with no problems and it would be very affordable for us. He failed to mention that there was an astronomical interest rate applied if we only paid that $25. We tried to cancel our orders after finding this out and reading terrible online reviews of their customer service and products, and they told my fiancé the order was cancelled. Then, our neighbor notified us that the UPS man had her sign for a package- it was the cookware we thought was cancelled! My fiancé called the company and asked where we could ship the product back to because the order was supposed to have been cancelled. They told us that it was impossible for us to cancel or have cancelled over the phone because you can only cancel by mail within 3 days. Since then, we have filed multiple complaints and received no resolution. Every time we file a complaint, they claim we need to address a different company. Now, we receive threatening voicemails and emails on a daily basis from Time Investment Company. We told the woman that we spoke to that we filed complaints and she called us liars, she told my fiancé that she feels sorry for him for marrying me, etc. the harassment only continues.Desired Settlement: We want to return the unopened merchandise, and have the balance of the cookware removed. We are willing to let the company keep the downpayment that we provided at the time of purchase. We would also like any late payments to be removed from our credit reports.

Business

Response:

In review of the complaint received by Ms. [redacted], we have received the same complaint from Mr. [redacted], complaint ID#[redacted]. We have already replied that the sales office informed us that the order was going to be financed though another company. Ms. [redacted] will need to contact the Independent Distributor’s office regarding this account as we are not financing the order. Should you have any additional questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

My husband and I purchased a set of cookware from a bridal show with Time Investments. We were informed on the total of the pots ($3,200) with a low interest rate, and signed up for monthly payments of $65. After about six payments, it came to our attention that we were charged the expected $65 monthly, but the interest rate had risen to 24%, which added $62 a month to our total expenses. It was if we weren't even paying off the loan: after six payments of $65, we still owe Time Investments $3,100. Had we not noticed this on our bill sooner, we would probably end up owing TI thousands of dollars more than we signed up for. My husband and I, both working college students, are now scrounging what money we can to pay off the loan faster so that we no longer have to deal with obscene interest rates (of which no one informed us were escalating). Time Investments is a scam and once we have paid off our loan we will never work with them again.

Review: This company has started calling me as many as 20 times a day for a debt that is being settled. The account in question is in my husbands name but the company calls me over and over with threats of lawsuits and criminal charges.Desired Settlement: I wish for the entire amount owed to be settled by the company in question and brought to a ZERO dollar ($0) balance or further action will be taken legally to settle the account. Also, I wish for the calls to cease and desist or I will be filing charges based off a breach in the FDCPA.

Business

Response:

I am writing in response to complaint id# [redacted]. After thoroughly reviewing this matter, I found that Ms. [redacted] is also on this account, it is not only in her husband’s name. We are calling because the account is severely delinquent and we are trying to help them make arrangements to bring the account up to date. We have extensive records showing that Ms. [redacted]’s phone is only called one time per day by Time Investment Company, Inc. It is possible that the company who originally sold her the merchandise is also calling. They would be free to take legal action against Ms. [redacted] as well as her husband should the debt remain unpaid and everyone involved is attempting to contact Ms. [redacted] and her husband to help them avoid the negative consequences of continued nonpayment.

Unfortunately, forgiving the remaining balance is not an option. We will, however, stop any collection attempts by phone. I do suggest that Ms. [redacted] contact our office to make arrangements for the amount due to avoid any negative consequences. We are more than willing to work with her and to help in any way possible but communication is key.

Thank you,

Consumer

Response:

Review: My spouse and I purchased the Eco-3500 water system in April 2011. Universal Water Systems kept calling my home telling us that we had won a 50-dollar gift card to ***’s. They said they would give us the gift card once they tested our water. We setup an appointment to test the water and then decided against it, so we called to cancel the appointment. A representative from Universal Water Systems still showed up to test our water and did not have the gift card. They tested our water and said it was very bad, and used the fact that my wife was pregnant and our large family should not be drinking the water. The representative was very pushy and made me feel uncomfortable. He said he would give us a year supply of soap, 15,700 points to Healthy Living to purchase more soap online, an American shopper membership and a month supply of potassium pellets if we purchased the system. Come to find out we had to pay an additional amount to receive the coupons from American Shopper, which turned out to be useless coupons for items we do not purchase. The American Shopper was never used by us because it is mainly for high end retailers and travel coupons that we would never use. I had to drive to Universal’s location to pick up the month supply of potassium. I was given a difficult time when I picked it up. The soap they gave us only lasted six or seven months. Not only was the rep pushy but he also was deceitful about the amount and cost of potassium pellets needed. He said the bags are $15 dollars and that a bag will last 30-45 days. The bags range from $20 to $35 dollars and two bags are needed to fill the system monthly. The representative asked us how much we could afford a month and gave us the monthly payment of $128.19. He said that we would pay off the system in 6 years. He never told us that we would pay a ridiculous interest rate to Time Investment because we live in the State of ***. He knew that we had just been cleared from bankruptcy and that I am disabled and my wife was pregnant, yet he still pushed us to buy. He said this would help us build up our credit because of the bankruptcy. At first we decided to think about the purchase overnight but the salesman stated the offer was only valid that day and they installation team was available now only because of a cancellation and would not be available for another few weeks. We agreed to purchase the water system for $6,409.30 and before we finished signing the paper work, they were already installing the water system.

I called Universal several times about the gift card and was treated poorly because I kept calling. Once I got the gift card, it was only worth $20 dollars instead of the $50 that was promised. After we had purchased the water system and made our first payment I called Time Investment Co. to inquire about the interest rate. They said it is 21 percent and that it fluctuates on a daily basis. I asked if they could change it and they said they could not because we live in the state of ***. I told them I would have never bought the system if I knew the interest rate was going to fluctuate and be so high. Time Investment Co. said that the interest rate was told to us when we bought the system and that it was in the paperwork. I have the paperwork and the interest rate is not stated anywhere. On the billing statements it shows anywhere from $ 103 to $106 dollars in interest charged each month. We have been paying on the system for two and a half years now and have paid $3461.13 over the duration. However, the balance now is more than it was when I originally purchased the system, now the balance is at $6,531.90. Time Investment says the reason we have to pay so much is the late fees and floating interest rate, we have only missed two payments. The interest rate they are charging us is more than 60 percent. Time Investment has been rude every time I call to see about payment options, and they harass us daily demanding payments. This whole purchase has been a nightmare and at this rate, we will never pay the system off. We have not used the water system for six months because we cannot afford the potassium pellets.

Our last encounter with both companies was very disturbing and made us feel unsafe in our home. Dec. 30, 2013 Universal Water systems showed up to our home unannounced. They stated they were here to repo the water softener. I was taken aback and was not sure what to do. This was the first time I have had anything repossessed. They walked into our home and looked at the system and abruptly changed their mind. They said they need a plumber to remove it and would return tomorrow and call before they returned. The next day and to this day they have not returned and not called. Time Investment Co. received a phone call from my wife about the repossession and they do not have repossession on file or in process. They advised us to not let Universal Water Systems or whoever is pretending to be them back into our home. Since this incident we have felt uneasy who those men were coming into our home and Universal Water Systems has never returned our phone calls.Desired Settlement: do not want to have anything to do with this company.

Business

Response:

I am writing in regards to complaint id# *** submitted by Mr. ***. Time Investment Company, Inc. does not have anything to do with the sale or installation of the water filtration system. We also are not involved with any incentives such as the gift card or coupon book Mr. *** mentioned. We strictly handle the financing and gave Mr. *** a loan to purchase the water filtration system. Mr. ***’s interest rate is 21% annually which is broken down to a monthly rate of 1.75%, however it does not fluctuate on a daily basis. Interest is charged to the account on the 1st of each month and is calculated based on 1.75% of his average daily balance for the previous 30 days. As his balance decreases, so will the monthly interest charges. The balance has increased for many reasons. The first being that Mr. *** has been late with his payments several times and has accumulated $100.00 in late fees. He has also received a total of $40.00 in fees due to returned payments. Mr. *** also elected to have more than two months before his first payment was due and because the account was not paid in full by the first due date, interest was charged retroactively back to the date the account was opened. Mr. *** has also only paid the minimum payment since the loan was opened and as with any revolving account, paying only the minimum amount due causes the balance to decrease slowly. Finally, due to the several times this account has fallen past due and in our efforts to help, we have deferred a total of three monthly payments to help Mr. *** get back on track with his monthly payments. While this helps bring the account current, it is not always beneficial because interest was still charged for the months being deferred but payments were not made to cover that interest or any part of the principal balance.

In an effort to resolve this, my proposal is as follows. If Mr. *** will agree to automatic withdrawal, I will lower his interest rate from 21% to 16.99%. Furthermore, if Mr. *** is so inclined to do so, I highly recommend that he set the automatic withdrawal up for a minimum of $155.00 each month. If he agrees to do all of this, his loan term will decrease by approximately 5 full years provided all remaining payments are made on time.

We look forward to reaching a resolution.

Review: My husband and I purchased a water softener; which was finance by this company back in 2007. However, due to the Recession and my becoming seriously I'll we had to claim bankruptcy. We filed and we're discharged in May of 2013. This company placed a lien against our property in 2010. When we contacted them to see if we could work out an arrangement we were told we owed more than what we had originally financed. ($4990 @ $99.80) vs. $5300 ). It was as if we had not made a single payment in the three years prior to our bankruptcy.Desired Settlement: The company needs to provide an itemized invoce; which reflects the amount paid towards services and what was remaining at the time of the bankruptcy.

Business

Response:

I’m writing in regards to complaint id# [redacted] submitted by Ms. [redacted]. I’ve sent a copy of their transaction history by mail to the address included in the complaint. I would be more than happy to discuss this with the customer if they would like to call me directly at ###-###-####.