Complaint Review: Pearce Financial Group - Coral Gables Florida

As with any financial transaction, whether it be a mortgage on a new home; a line of credit at a traditional bank or a car loan, the terms and conditions of the relationship are contained in an agreement. With hundreds and hundreds of similar transactions with staffing companies, like the one complaining here, we strongly recommend that they read and understand the obligations of both parties. We also recommend that they seek counsel prior to entering into a complex financial relationship. In the instant case, the borrower did not carefully read the Agreement, or he or she would know that it is not a matter of when his customer pays the invoice, but rather when the customer's payment actually clears our bank (at the time of this relationship First Union National Bank) and when the funds become liquid to our company. It is at that time that we release the reserve funds. We are, and were consistent in this regard. We do understand that borrowers like this company want their remaining funds as quickly as possible, and on occasion we accomodate our clients by releasing their reserves in advance of their client payments clearing our banking institution. The clearing of payments is concisely described in our Agreement and should have been no surprise. In this company's second issue, they discuss "non-funded" payments being held by our company. Put into perspective, our electronic lock boxes around the nation receive thousands of payments (checks) per day. Imagine a check and an invoice arriving at one such lock box and that check and invoice are not entered into our system. We don't know who the client is, nor who the payor is. We have to wait for the actual hard copy of the payor's check, and the hard copy of the invoice (if one accompanies the payment at all) to be sent to us by our bank. This takes days, if not a couple of weeks. Normally, we have entered an anticipated payment into our computer system and can electronically identify the client and their customer immediately and credit their account appropriately. When we have no information on the payor, we have to go "manual" to identify whose money it is, etc. Unfortunately for this complainant, he mistakenly told a client, for whom we did not loan him money on his invoice, to send their remittance to us, instead of directly to his own offices. He needs to accept accountablility for his own actions. We believe we acted responsibly and in accordance with both the letter and spirit of our Agreement. Under certain, very limited circumstances, when a client exercises their right to an early termination of our Agreement, or if the client is in default of the terms and conditions, there may be a penalty incurred. This varies, but is a rare circumstance. Without knowing more about this supposed client of ours, I can't be more responsive to this last issue. If, as he or she alleges, we were in default, that company had every right to cancel the Agreement with us and no default fee would have been payable. Our clients have every right to seek legal redress if they believe their rights were abridged by our company. I state categorically that this is an isolated instance where a company owner did not do his or her due diligence and entered into a financial relationship that they did not clearly understand. We are sorry that this company feels that they were mistreated, and are sorry that they believe we ever acted in an inappropriate way. As the largest and oldest privately owned payroll funding company exclusively serving the staffing industry, we pride ourselves in being responsive to the needs of our valued client base. One misunderstanding clearly does not define the value set of our company. Thank you for providing a forum for our response to this baseless complaint.