Direct Merchants Bank

Late Fees

Direct Merchants Bank •Application Fees •Change of Address Policy •Collection Policies •Customer Service •"Credit Protection" •Interest Rates •Late Fees • Late Posting of Payments •Over-Limit Fees •Preying on the Disabled • "Rate Reward" •Secured Credit Cards •Security Policies •Disappearing Funds •Telemarketers •An Insider's View

Gurinder of Nashville TN writes (2/4/03):
As alaways I mailed my credit card payment of January 2003 on time before JAN 27th, but on Feb 4th I got my torn check back and a small slip says, "It was damaged during handling." It was Direct Merchants Bank's fault for careless mail handling, they are charging me $38.41 late fee for not paying my bill on time. What they are doing is punishing me for their mistake. I talk to their representative but I was told late charge has been added to my account. It seems that they don't care about what they did.

Donald of New Port Richey FL (1/30/03):
My monthly payment was returned for uncollected funds because my bank put a 2-day hold on my payroll check. I called customer service and they told me they would send it back to the bank. They did not send it back through but neglected to notify me of this. My next statement had $99.00 in charges on it. I sent off that payment and my next statement had an additional $78.00 in late fees, all due to the fact that they lied to me about my check being sent back through the bank. take it from me -- do not get a credit card from this company.

Jeffrey of Amarillo TX (1/26/03):
Direct Merchants Bank quite obviously manipulates its billing so that their client's payments are "late" in an illegitimate attempt at creating more profits. In my particular circumstance, Direct Merchant's Bank regularly sends their monthly statements so that they arrive on or about the 9th day of the month; the payment being due on the 12th. Therefore, each monthly payment is automatically "late."

I have repeatedly attempted to call their "customer service desk" and can only contact an answering machine; which is highly offensive. Therefore, I have resorted to writing letters to the only address available -- the billing address. At these, various clerks have "forgiven" the monthly late fee; however, an infinitely worse situation has developed.

Last October, I discovered that Direct Merchant's Bank had arbitrarily raised my interest rate to an obscene 30%! Earlier this month, I sent a strongly worded objection to the billing address, along with a $311.00 payment. To date, there has been no response. Additionally, a week after making the last payment, I received a statement demanding a $400.00+ payment but, I noticed they had added some $300.00 to the balance. If ever I were to receive an "answer" Direct Merchant's Bank will undoubtedly resort to claiming the extra $300.00 are "fees, penalties" or other mendacious charges. The entire situation is absolutely unacceptable.

At this time, I cannot fully calculate the profound losses imposed upon me by Direct Merchant's Bank. Over the last year and six months, I have been making payments of at least $150.00 to over $300.00 each month. No new charges have been made as the account was closed many months ago. Yet, the total due on the principal has not significantly or, correctly decreased. This is to say, that well over $1,000.00 has been paid to Direct Merchant's Bank but, the total due has not decreased! This is a flagrantly obscene manipulation of the account for the sole purpose of gaining illicit profits; and, is totally unacceptable.

Cyndy of Crossville TN (1/21/03):
We sent in a check to close our account and they held it 7 days, until one day after the due date. This caused a late fee to be applied. Actually, the amount we paid off was $39 more than the statement said it was and they charged that $39 to our account with a $88.24 which left a $88.24 fee due, they said we were over the limit. When we talked to customer service they said they would charge $80 a day for any unpaid amount until the account was a zero balance.

On Nov. 20, 2000, David of Santa Rosa, CA, wrote: I called the customer service and got a young women. I proceeded to inform her that I had an extra charge on my bill indicating that my payment was late. Prior to two months ago I have never been late. Last month I was credited the late fee and we chalked it up to a late mail situation. Anyway I then tell her, you're going to tell me I'm late again and she said yes.

She told me the date my check was received which was over 14 days from when I mailed it. I told her that isn't my fault, the check was mailed in a timely fashion, she said, "Tough s***." I then asked for the supervisor. I waited several minutes, then the gal came back on and said it was an error on their part due to a envelope error sending my payment to another location. She said she was going to credit me per her supervisor.

On July 19, 2000, Jennifer of Durham, NC, wrote:
I have been dealing with Direct Merchants Bank for a few years now, and I have had nothing but trouble. I suspected that my payments were being deliberately credited to my account after the due date because no matter how early I send them, I am frequently charged late fees. Now that I read the complaints on your web site, I realize there might be more to this. When I call to complain, they tell me the late charge will be removed. Of course, it isn't.

They also raised my interest rate to 24.99% when a payment was late shortly after a freak snowstorm dumped 20 inches of snow on Durham, NC. I wrote a letter explaining the situation and asking that my interest rate be returned to the original rate. I received no response and the interest rate remained at 24.99%. Instead, my card was upgraded to Gold. That's the last thing I want.

Additionally, on several occasions my card has been turned off on a Friday evening because a payment is late. The customer service department is not available after 7 pm EST on weekdays, and I have been unable to speak with a representative on the weekends. I do not understand why they wait until Friday to put a hold on the account. I intend to pay this card off in the next month or so and NEVER deal with this bank again.

On July 20, 2000, Debi of Cedartown, GA, wrote:
This credit card has been a nightmare. Our payments would be late and if we tried to pay a large amount then they would sit on the check. I would send payments of $300 at a time for the full amount. Lately, we have closed out account but they keep posting some of the charges that are coming through. They don't do all of them because we have had people call us and say that our card was cancelled. How can they keep posting to a closed account? They were not helpful at all. I am glad we have stopped using them.

On Sept. 12, 2000, Lynnette of East Jordan, MI, wrote:
After phoning Direct Merchants Bank today to arrange a $400 payment to them in order to try and decrease my payment I looked at my most recent bill and discovered my credit limit had increased without my knowledge. I have had this card for a couple of years now and have not made purchases in over a year and can not seem to get my balance below the maximum limit, even with this increase.

I have been charged late fees every month, over the limit fees every month and mysteriously a higher interest rate of 28.99%. I have phoned on many occasions to try and make arrangements to close the account and eliminate the over the limit fees and late fees that are appearing for reasons I don't understand, but get no where. They have no payment arrangements available. My phone rings constantly and I want to get rid of this bill and credit card, but I don't know how.

I pay them over $100 a month which doesn't cover the fees and finance charges they add so each month I get a new bill and my balance is $100 or more higher than what it was before. I haven't kept good records of this, but I would venture to say that my payments are being delayed in order for them to add more fee's to my account. If my payments are even being posted. I will continue monitoring my account, but my fear is how do I stop this behavior. They are rude and unhelpful people. I have never ran across an agency so unwilling to help their consumer or even explain the charges or how I received this increase. I did not ask for a credit increase. How can they do this? I can't keep up with the FEE's.

On Sept. 24, William of Providence, RI, wrote:
I received a call concerning my "overdue" acct with Direct Merchants Bank. I to no avail tried to convince the rude and inappropriate collections agent that I had sent a check over a week ago to their bank to have my account curent. He not only did not accept my explanation he threaten my credit. This is not the first time the company called with the same complaint.

I have the distinct impression that they may be holding the checks in order to extort customers in this way. I checked my check ledger to make sure and I have sent a check to this company over a week ago but they seem to have "lost" it. I was infuriated at being disturbed on a Sunday afternoon and at the utterly unprofessional behavior of the customer service agent and would like to warn others of this nefarious practice. I have had no problems like this with my other debt servers and have recently qualified for a mortgage and hope that this "company" dosen't interfer with this process. On Oct. 4, 2000, Yvonne of New Castle, PA, wrote:
I got a DMB Mastercard about Feburary 2000. I have nine other credit cards and do not have trouble understanding the billing methods. But Direct Merchants Bank has given me nothing but trouble since I got it. I was on time with my payment then one day I got a phone call from Direct Merchants telling me I was late and that my account was overlimit. So I paid it by electronic check and they told me that the amount I paid eould bring me current. OK, the next month it was the same situation so I started to keep a closer eye on the account. That was in July 2000.

August it was the same problem. So I called them again because I kept getting different answers as to why my account was late. At that time I wanted to close my account but they wouldn't let me so the only charge I had going on this card was my Compuserve. I canceled this and put my Compuserve on another credit card.

The funny part about all this is I would get a statement of my late charge and overlimit status one day after my current month's bill had been mailed. So now it is October 4, 2000 and I received a statement today about my overlimit status. I called them and they told me my bill was mailed out on the 28th of september. But I did not receive it as of yet but I did receive the overdrawn status paper dated for the 29th.

On Oct. 12, 2000, Julie of Aurora, CO, wrote:
They added "credit shield" to my account without my authority. This put me over the limit and I was charged. Took me two months to straighten that out. I mailed my last payment on 9/11/00 and they "say" they didn't receive it until 9/19/00 so I was charged a $29 late fee as well as a $29 over the limit fee (they said my balance was $502.50). They now tell me I must make a payment of $115 to be brought under my limit. The information on the statements is never current. If I pay what they say on the statement, there has already been other fees charged not showing on the statement. Is there anything at all I can do about this?

I am a single mother with two teenagers and a gradson I am raising. My son is in college and my daughter and gradson live with me. If I pay them the $115 payment, I will be shorted for groceries and other necessitites. My daughter and I can eat "light" but a baby has to be fed and other bills have to be paid. I live on a very tight budget and cannot afford all these charges. Also, they call me every night and are quite rude. This is very upsetting to me and my family.

On Oct. 23, 2000, S.J. of Granite City, IL, wrote:
After reading all of the complaints, I realize this is a pattern. My husband and I both have DMB cards. When I first got mine there was no annual fee, after a year that changed...mind you I had no late pymts and the card was no where near maxed. I also had the trouble many others described about the credit card protection plan. They (or a telemarketer) called asking if I wanted it, after telling them No 2x, I hung up. It took me several phone calls and several letters to get the fees reversed!

Now, two yrs later, for the first time my card is maxed, and my husband's as well. Now all of a sudden every payment seems to arrive late resulting in more late fees? I actually just got off the phone with someone telling me that my husbands payment was late. I wrote the check but it has mysteriously disappeared! HMMM...Cant wait to pay these off and be through with this company!

On Nov. 1, 2000, Kevin of Portland, OR, wrote:
I mailed a payment of $300.00 for a bill that was $175.00 due to the fact of my knowlege of more charges after the payment date. I mailed in the payment 4 days before it was due and recieved on my next bill a $29.00 late fee and was told that I wouldn't get credit for my payment for at least 15 days. I asked how I could my account up to date faster and they said with Western Union only. They specificly stated that that was the only way I could make it on time, without any late charges!

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