Business ProfileforTower Loan

In October 2018, BBB recognized a pattern of complaints concerning service and customer service issues and asked the company to address the underlying reason for this pattern. The company offered the following information: 

Tower Loan ("Tower") operates two hundred thirty-five (235) consumer finance offices in five (5) states. In these offices Tower maintains approximately 400,000 customer relationships. On a daily basis Tower comes in contact with, whether in person or over the telephone, tens of thousands of customers. Tower's success has been built on being better than the competition. Key to that is developing personal relationships with our customers and offering quality customer service and striving to achieve a positive outcome with each customer on each contact. Unfortunately, no matter the intent or effort by Tower, some customers will feel they have not received optimal customer service. It should also be noted that Tower is under no obligation to respond to complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau. However, Tower does so in an effort to be transparent and to provide the general public an assurance that when it is made aware of issues affecting customer relationships, Tower will proactively address those issues. 

The recent letter from the BBB suggests that Tower has customer service issues including, collection phone calls, credit reporting issues and contract issues. I would counter that suggestion and offer the following in response. 

First and foremost, Tower has an internal structured training program for all employees that has been developed and refined over the forty (40) plus years Tower has been in business. 

The vast number of outbound calls made by Tower are to customers that are past due on their account and have not responded to a "late notice" that has been mailed to them. Tower policy is to contact the customer at their primary number. If there is no contact with or a return communication from the customer, Tower will attempt to make contact at the customers place of employment or through references provided by the customer at the loan closing. Tower policy is to cease calling the place of employment or reference if requested by the customer or reference. However, as the original creditor, Tower does have the right to call the primary number to pursue collection of a valid balance owed. In all cases, a customer may avoid collection calls simply by keeping the lines of communication open and contacting Tower and arriving at a mutually acceptable payment arrangement. 

Regarding credit reporting, the advent of "credit monitoring apps" has fostered an environment of credit reporting issues. Tower, as described on its website, describes how, when and to whom it reports. It further describes a process for the customer to provide information they wish to have reviewed. My experience is that Tower accurately reports the performance of its accounts on a monthly basis and that the information a customer receives from an "app" and not directly from the Credit Reporting Agencies is frequently incorrect or outdated. This often leads to confusion on the part of the customer. Unfortunately, Tower has no control over these sources of information that these customers may rely upon, however inaccurate they may be. 

Regarding contractual issues, Tower is examined by state regulatory agencies on a regular basis in all the states in which it operates. As part of these examinations, Tower's contracts are reviewed for accuracy and compliance with applicable law. If or when made aware of any issue regarding documents, Tower implements a change to bring it to compliance as soon as possible. 

In summary my review concludes that Tower has received approximately 222 complaints in a three year period. As indicated above, Tower maintains approximately 400,000 relationships. Given the nature of the traditional consumer installment loan industry, Tower is proud of the customer service it provides on a daily basis. However, with over 800 associates, human error and other issues may arise. A core principal at Tower is to "hit problems head on". This includes addressing these issues with associates that may not live up to Tower's standard. 

After providing company business response by addressing Better Business Bureau's concerns in question, we are confident the concerns are resolved.