UXBRIDGE, MASS. (WHDH) - Lauren Steele is a mother of two and a lifelong learner, always eager to soak in new information.
“I’ve always enjoyed school and challenging myself intellectually,” the Uxbridge woman says.
So once Lauren’s children left for college, she decided to go back to school as well. She earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies and wanted to keep going. But getting a master’s degree isn’t free. Needing to figure out her finances first, Lauren reached out to a debt consolidation company.
“I had to be proactive about my future,” she says.
The company helped her refinance her home and pay off her car loans and credit card debt.
“I started to see all of the balances go to zero,” she says.
With one exception, that turned into a $2,400 headache!
“The one that never got paid off was Best Buy,” Lauren says.
The debt consolidation company told Lauren that a check had been sent to Best Buy to pay off her credit card. But her account still had a balance. Her monthly due date was quickly approaching so Lauren made the minimum payment to avoid paying a late fee.
“Then I started to think, ‘Well maybe this one slipped through the cracks,'” she says.
She continued paying off the balance on her own, plus about $60 in monthly interest.
“I’m thinking, ‘This is going to take me forever to get rid of this,'” she says.
To lower the interest rate, Lauren took out another loan and paid off all of the Best Buy credit card. But when Lauren checked her account, she was shocked to see a huge credit. She had gone from owing $2,400 to now having a credit of close to $2,400. A credit she didn’t want.
“I have other pressing matters that I really could use the money for,” she says.
A Best Buy representative told her the original check sent out by the debt consolidation company had been cashed months earlier, but for some reason the credit had never been applied to her account. The representative told her they would send her a check in the mail for the amount of the credit.
But that check never came. Despite several more phone calls, Lauren was unable to get the money back on her own. So she reached out to Solve It 7.
Best Buy referred us to Citigroup, the company that issues its credit cards. We explained Lauren’s situation and the Citigroup representative assured us they’d reach out to her right away.
“[Then] I got a letter in the mail saying that my check would be coming,” Lauren says. It did. Citigroup gave Lauren a check for her credit and another check for all the interest she had paid over the last five months, bringing her credit card confusion to an end.
“It’s wonderful to have it all wrapped up and taken care of,” Lauren says. “I couldn’t be happier with the help that I got from you all.”
If there’s a problem you can’t seem to solve on your own, send us an email at SolveIt7@whdh.com or give us a call at 617-367-7777.
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