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Beneficial

Judy of Homeland, CA May 5, 2009

i am writing in the hope that someone will investigate the shady and deceptive mortgage lender i am dealing with who is beneficial/hfc. after several of their mailings for a home equity loan and since we were in need of help at the time we called them and they seemed so nice and i thought they were honest. we did not realize how dishonest they were until at the signing in front of the notary and other lies we found out when it was too late. they made bad faith statements to secure mortgage loan, failed to provide a copy of credit report, and now i know why because they lied about the score. they failed to execute promised lending program. my husband has received notice that his employment will be ending and i have exausted all my pleas to get them to contact us. this institution avoids all contact. it has been now 9 weeks since i first called them to talk to someone. in april i faxed them a letter stating upcoming job loss and a company letter. 3 days later i went on their web site to pay mortgage and they stated on site that we can no longer access accounts online and to call a number which i called. same old thing, a customer service phone agent from india telling me i can't access accounts because of my letter i faxed. could not give me any phone numbers to call anyone to speak with about it. why would they tell me to call that number and then the number you call can't tell you anything.

some of them are rude and hateful to you. you cannot get a compatent person to answer much less get a question answered. i have emailed them weeks ago and they respond saying they will contact by mail. still no mail. we have never been late on any payments so far and i am very worried about this bank. i was told they do not have to abide by United States lending laws. i believe they are just out to get your home. if we can't get this bank to help at all we will have to file bankruptcy.

Harriet of Evanston, IL April 24, 2009

When I originally got my line of credit for 4,500.00 in 2006 the interest was 12.0%. I then received an increase on my credit line to 14,350.00 and my payments went up to 347.00 per month with an interest rate/finance charge along went to 307.64 which is more then 33% from 12%. I have tried calling and I get the run around. When I do receive a call back, it is always from someone's cell phone. I am a senior citizen and I feel I am being taken advantage of. I have paid on time every month and I have good credit.

However, because I complained about the interest/finance charge, they took my line of credit away from me without any explanation. I never received a letter regarding the increase on interest/finance charge nor the reason why my credit line was taken away. I feel they are in violation of the FDCPA and I hereby will file a complaint with the States Attorney office of Illinois, for what I believe to be is fraud and misuse and deceptive practices from Beneficial.

Dana of Torrance, CA April 15, 2009

Dana of Torrance CA (04/15/09)
I was told I would be paying 8% on a 28,000 loan, at the time I was desparate for money. When I went to sign and pick up the check, my interest rate went to 13%. This was back in 2004, now 5 years later, I called and my interest rate is now at 18.4%. When I asked for a copy of my loan docs they said I would receive them in 2 wks.

It has now been 3 phone calls later, 6 wks, and still no loan docs. They are ripping americans off and sending all their jobs offshore. You cannot get a compatent person to answer the phone much less get a question answered. I am looking for legal representation now.

I have been paying 489.00/mo for 5 years and my principal is only decreased by 78.00 during this time. I am going to lose my home.

Shirley of Waco, TX April 10, 2009

Shirley of Waco TX (04/10/09)
I refinanced my home over ten years ago with Beneficial. I borrowed 50,000. To date, April 10, 2009, my balance on my statement from Beneficial says I owe 43,298. BUT WAIT! That is not all. There is a secret amount that does not appear on my statement. It is called interest and other charges. Sit down. The interest and other charges is over 10,000. So I now owe more than I borrowed! I asked Beneficial to send me a history of all my transactions over the life of my loan so that I could see why all of these other charges were assessed. I was told by many phone agents that they were not able to do that and the phone agents were not able to explain where the extra charges came from.

No one at this company has explained to me the terms of my loan that justify these extra charges. No one at this company has been helpful in any way. No one at this company can tell you who to talk to if you need a problem solved. When you call you get transferred from department to department, entering your account number over and over again having to verify who you are to each and every agent, then when you finally reach one of them they can't tell you how much you owe on your loan. It is a secret number that guard jealously.

On one occasion I reached a supervisor and I complained to him that over and over Beneficial had refused to send me a history of my transactions with the company. I explained that I wanted to see it to see the justification of the 10,000 in interest and other charges. He denied that anyone at Beneficial would refuse to send it to me and he told me he would send it to me and that it was no problem. He was nasty with me and cocky. Well, I did receive something. But it was impossible to make out what represented payments that I had made and charges that they had added. It was filled with computer codes and stuff and I had to dig through to even be able to read small parts of it. What was that supposed to accomplish?

I would like to know what magical burning hoops I need to jump through to get Beneficial to live up to their legal obligation to furnish me with information about my account and information about the interest and other charges that they say that I owe. This is only the tip of the iceberg with Beneficial. They have been holding me in what they call pre-foreclosure status for years because of my inability and refusal to pay these extra charges until they can justify them. I am current on my mortgage payments. They remind me of that on the phone each time I call. Yet I continue to get pre-foreclosure letters from them on a monthly basis with what would call a soft threat if I don't pay. I am also paying 12-14% interest on my loan.

They have made a bunch of money off of me. I had to take a sub-prime loan when I refinanced and I knew it was a blankety blank loan when I signed the papers, but never could I imagine that Beneficial would be so shady about dealing with me. All I ask is for them to be up front with me about their charges, why I owe them, and what they are. I am playing blind with them. They hold all of the cards, they add charges to your account that they have hidden somewhere in the fine print and they call it by some name like other charges so that it sounds good on your statement, but when you want to know what the other charges are for, there is no way you will ever find out.

I find myself living in a home that I can never pay off. I am 57 nearing retirement age and had hoped that I wouldn't have a huge mortgage payment in my senior years. Now, in order to payoff Beneficial I will have to refinance my home for over 60,000. That is 10,000 more than I borrowed originally even though for ten years I have paid mostly interest and only about 6,700 in principal. I am tired of taking the ----ing on this loan. My credit rating has approved immensely since I took out this loan and I want to pay off Beneficial, but this extra 10,000 or more dollars that they say I owe is robbing me of any equity that I thought I had after ten plus years of paying.

Kenneth of Visalia, CA March 13, 2009

Kenneth of Visalia CA (03/13/09)
We were with some other bank for the payment of the house. Me and the wife decicded to refinicae the home. we contacted Bendficial and they were happy to re-fininice the home. they did write up a new loan, and paid off the other Bank (I hope) now a few years later, I noticied that at the bottom of the statement I keep getting what they call deferred interest, at first it was only 100.00 and next month and the months carrying on the deferred interest got up to 800.00 I contact david at Beneficial and he sayed that the type of loan that i have the payments must be made 30 days between the next payment example my payment was schuduled for the the tenth of each month, and as long as the payment was posted on the tenth everything was fine, will the payment wasn't getting paid my the tenth.

when i would recieve my second paycheck of the month I would pay Beneficial for the next month exmaple (make payment on the 20th of the month for next month payment due on the 10th) and next following month my paycheck i would get paid on the 23th every other friday now my payment is three days different and there is 21.40 deffered interest added to the defferred interset bucket as David refered it as.

So to stop all the deferred interest on this account I had to go to my bank, open a checking (just for the house payment) and authorzied Beneficial to automatically take out the house payment from this account (they are the only people in the united states of america, besides my self that have access to this accout.) Benefical never told me about this deferred interset, and if they did they did it very quickly and brushed over it to the poing that me and wife did understand it. And now Beneficial don't care all they want is there payment on time and thats all. yesterday 3/12/2009 I recieved a letter from them stating that all branch offices are closing, that is great i hope that they don't forget to take my payment from the checking account.

Barry of Mt.vernon, OH March 9, 2009

Barry of Mt.vernon OH (03/09/09)
I have had a loan with them for a few years now. The way that this all got started was that I received a check in the mail one day for approx. 7,000. At the time I was going thru a seperation and custody issues for my two children. It was very stupid for me to cash it but I had no choice, I needed some quick cash to get me back on my feet. As soon as I deposited the check into the bank I realized that I had no paperwork to back this loan and that I hadn't even talked to anyone from beneficial about this. The check cleared and a few days later they called me to confirm my loan with them.

When they tried to confirm my ssn# I told them that they had the wrong one and that it was incorrect. They realized and admitted that they sent the check to someone with the same name but that I did not qualify for this. I told them that I already used most of this money to pay off lawyer bills etc. and they said that they would get me approved for this and sorry for the mistake.

Ever since that day I have had nothing but trouble with them. My interest rate is always changing and they are now telling me that I am locked into 25 % THAT IS CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!! They said that if I am in hardship then they can lower this rate. I need help on this loan that ACCIDENTALY was put towards me and that I am stuck with 25%.

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