CRS (Cutter Recovery Services, CRS CMS/GES)
Cutter Recovery Services (CRS) has withdrawn $100 from my account twice in less than one week. Both times they took money they put my account balance into overdraft and both times I incurred (& have had to pay for) NSF charges, totalling $70.
I didnt even know CRS had accessed my bank account until I checked my account balance just prior to payday via telephone banking. When I heard I was in overdraft, I immediately went online to see who had withdrawn funds, how much, when & so on.
The name of the debitor showed up as:
CRS CMS/GES
The amount was for $100 and it was Nov 25/05.
It showed it was a PRE AUTHORIZED PAYMENT.
Now, I know EVERY single biller/etc that is pre-authorized to debit funds from my account; I keep VERY strict records of any/all cheques I write or pre-auth forms I fill out, and CRS was NOT someone I authorized to withdraw any amount of money from my account.
This came completely out of nowhere. And because there were insufficient funds that day, I incurred an NSF charge of $35.
I went to my bank to fill out whats called an INDEMNITY FORM which is not the same as a STOP PAYMENT. An Indemnity Form allows the bank to contact the person/company in question, on your behalf, and retrieve the funds they withdrew without your knowledge/permission. There is absolutely no guarantee this will work as the person/company does not have to cooperate.
Before filling out the form, I asked the teller who was helping me if she could somehow figure out who or what "CRS CMS/GES" was, since I had no idea myself. She was able to pull up CUTTER RECOVERY SERVICES after a few minutes of searching a database on the bank's computer.
And even though I spoke to her about a stop payment, she said that CRS could try another amount and if it were off by ONE PENNY ($100.01 instead of the original $100.00), the stop payment wouldnt work.
Less than one week after the first attempt to withdraw $100, CRS tried again (Dec 1st/05), this time successfully. However, since my bills are pre-authorized to come out on the 1st of every month, because of CRS accessing my account on this date some of my bills went unpaid.
CRS's withdrawal went through and caused my bill payments to bounce and I once again incurred a $35 NSF charge. As well, my billers went unpaid which affects my credit, and they will automatically retry debiting my account again in a few days, causing more NSF charges.
This is all due to CRS making two withdrawals from my bank account. They are VERY difficult to get a hold of, but when I was able to find an 800 number, I called and I made sure to ask for their address.
Upon calling their number, I listened to the automated message telling me to either enter the extension number of the person I wished to reach or wait/press "0" for further assistance. I did the latter and got voicemail, so I left a message. I didnt get a reply for days so I called the number again, and when I got their voicemail, this time I just tried entering four random numbers, as most extentions have 3 or 4 digits. I figured that I would probably get someone this way, and I did.
Needless to say, the woman (who Ill call "JAN") I spoke with told me that I did, indeed, give them permission to access my account when I went to a payday loan service here in Hamilton (she claimed not to know the name/etc of the loaner). The place I got the loan from was THE CASH STORE (various locations in Hamilton--5, I believe.)
According to "Jan", she had just taken over someone else's files and while originally I DID NOT OWE any money to The Cash Store/CRS, "Jan" said she looked at the file again and saw I did owe $100.
So, I had been told one thing and then another. And when I asked "Jan" for the address of CRS, there was a long pause--I was wondering if she was going to ask me "why" I requested their address or if she was going to say "no".
After that pause, she didnt sound very thrilled to, but she gave me the address, which I will post here (at the end of my report) for anyone else who has dealt or will deal with CRS.
I am completely disappointed in CRS as well as THE CASH STORE for the way in which they handle their business. I will not use The Cash Store again and I have emailed/phoned/alerted all of my friends, family, coworkers and acquaintances of my experience.
I really, sincerely hope this will help someone else out there--if anyone else can benefit my my misfortune, being ripped-off, then I would feel vindicated.
Thank you for taking the time to read my report. Here is the contact info for CRS:
Cutter Recovery Services (aka CRS)
10251 178 Street
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada
T5S 1M3
1.866.483.5024
HG
Hamilton, Ontario
Canada
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