Company screws you out of ~ $30 and is nonresponsive to complaint. How far do you pursue it?

Dream up any hypothetical you want.

In my case, it is a mortgage loan servicing company to which my loan had just been transferred. They incorrectly applied my entire first payment “to interest” (even though the payment was 4/5 principal), took two months (two more mortgage payment cycles) to address my complaints, then when they did they shortchanged me on the application of the principal by a little more than $20, and also did not recalculate the payments for the intervening months on the basis of the correct (lower) principal balance with the result that I was charged more interest than I should have been by a couple of bucks per month.

They responded to my complaint about the errors in their correction by explaing that since they corrected it, it must be correct, and they consider the matter closed.

Yeah, I know the amounts involved are very small, especially compared to the time and aggravation I would incur in pursuing a correction by filing a claim with the BBB or my state’s regulator of financial institutions (if they would even bother contacting the company over something so trivial compared to people getting foreclosed illegally, etc.), but it is a matter of simple and straightforward math, not a question requiring expert opinions or interpretations of contract law.

And you know that if somehow I underpaid them by $10 or something, there would be no end to the add on fees and penalties and threats about foreclosing.

So I pretty much know what I am going to do, but I wonder what others would do.

take your business elsewhere. There are many options for mortgages.

Is your mortgage federally insured (FHA/VA)?

I’m in the “keep it in perspective” camp, but part of that perspective will be a high level of caution about getting screwed over again. The more likely I think they are to do it again, the more likely I am to move along. Also, the more I think it represents overall bad management/customer service, the more likely I am to move along.

With something like a mortgage, the hassle of moving elsewhere makes me particularly likely to just let things lie. My time is worth more than the $30.

… before you take one out, sure. What is he supposed to do, pay it all off immediately?

10+ years ago AT&T charged me a extra month of cellular service which they could not explain. Not wanting any credit dings I paid it, canceled my accounts with them and never went back. Occasionally they would call me, I would tell their rep that they still own me $30 (sometimes I add plus interest) from the time when I was their customer, and if they were willing to pay that I would consider going back to them.

No., it’s not federally insured. Just for my edification, if it was federally insured, how would that impact things?

Just, FYI, I’ve read stories of people who sent a formal letter to companies charging them for the money owed, plus fees and interest, and got a check for the full amount.

It’s a half hour putting together a professional letter and a forever stamp, couldn’t hurt.

I had a bank account with Chase I transferred $500 to from my BOA account, the money was present in the account(this was NOT a check) and no longer in the BOA account. A week or more passed and I started using my Chase debit card, then the overdraft emails came in one after the other after the other. Dozens of them, every tiny charge and they made sure to apply them biggest to smallest for maximum overdraft.

The account showed in the red more than $800, it showed the $500 balance as deposit reversed? Or something plus all the overdrafts and charges. I called Chase and they said BOA must be responsible. My BOA account showed nothing but the correct balance after the transfer, I called them and they said all they saw was the transfer to Chase and it had not been reversed or sent back. Now call Chase and they insist that it was BOA’s fault.

Then Chase closed the account, now when I attempted to call them they refused to talk to me and said the account was sent to collections I could only deal with them. Collections refused to speak about details of the account and just wanted money, gimme a credit card number NOW! Stupid idiots.

I wasn’t paying that, aside from the overdrafts it was nearly the balance of $500. Took the credit hit. It fell off by now.

I was looking for the ‘pursue it a bit, but then let it go’ option until I actually read your OP. A financial institution making that screwup would make me really angry. I’d never let it go. I’d create a paper trail to prove what I had tried and if they weren’t apologetic go to regulators.

It amazes me how much incompetence is in the whole real estate field. When I bought my house, and when I refinanced, I felt like I was the first person who had ever done those things, because nobody ever knew anything.

Let it go until you’re of their radar as squeaky wheel, then get your money’s worth in recreational vandalism.

Grude, that story made me feel better in a “misery loves company” kind of way. Sorry that happened to you.

I already hate Chase, though, and they aren’t even the company in question in my recent story.

I hate Chase so much that my personal “Win the Lottery” fantasy has been reduced to winning a giant lottery just so I can go to the press conference and answer the inevitable “What will you do with the money?” question with “I don’t know what I’m going to do with the money yet, but I do know that I won’t be depositing any of this $100 million with Chase. They can’t be trusted.”

If it seems like a bungled issue or difference of opinion, I make some attempts and let it go. If they are rude, or seem to be aggressively trying to “screw” me, then I will go so far as to give it to my attorney and sue them if I think we can at least get court costs.

You could go to the complaint website Yelp and warn others about your experience with them.

I had a similar situation, except it was $10. My general approach is to be polite and utterly, completely relentless. I wound up writing to the president of the company, and got my $10 back with an apology.

The trick is to make enough of a pest of yourself that they give in just to get rid of you, and not get angry so they can’t dismiss you.

Regards,
Shodan

FHA loans include a number of required consumer protections relating to calculation of interest and application of payments and other things.

Around 40 years ago the police removed me and my bag of nickels from the local power company office when I refused to leave without a receipt showing my bill had been paid. That was over a dispute of less than $30.00, but the dollar was worth more in those days, so there’s that. I ended up getting my credit, so it worked, but kind of extreme.

Basically, yes - rates are still low enough that refinancing is a very good option.

For 30 dollars, I’d personally drop it. I originally read the thread title as 30K (30 thousand) and no way would I let that go :D.

If you do refinance, make VERY VERY SURE that all the paperwork is filed correctly. If this company screwed up this badly once, I wouldn’t trust them to release liens etc. correctly either.

I do this with a well known cable outfit who once scrambled my channels over less than a $0.25. Now whenever I see one of their sign-up Kiosk, I loudly tell the story.

I often hear of people complaining about such and such company ripping them off in some way for a small or not so small amount of money. They say that the company puts them on hold forever, gives them the run around and never issues the refund they deserve.

This is why I ALWAYS pay for everything with a credit card. Mastercard and Visa will almost always side with the consumer when there is a business dispute. There are a lot more consumers than companies and Mastercard and Visa want to make you, their customer, happy. Relatively speaking, they don’t give a crap about the companies that use their services.

Don’t even bother contacting the company you are having trouble with. Go straight to your credit card company and dispute the charges. This has worked for me every time.

Mastercard and Visa have access to these company’s accounts and they can just suck your money right out of these accounts and refund the money directly to your CC account.