As I was working on my budget for my business, I noticed that my Northern Leasing payment was not among my expenses in February or March.
I called customer service at Northern Leasing and the young lady who answered my call told me that it’s customary for them to suspend billing for customers who have a Better Business Bureau complaint. I asked if that meant they were going to let me out of the lease. She said no, you can’t get out of the lease. As the customer, I am still responsible for the payments.
She asked if I authorized a debit to my bank account to make up for the missing payments and late fees, and to reinstate the debits. I reminded her that I had not asked for the payments to be suspended, nor had I received any notification that they were being suspended. I only noticed them missing when I did my bookkeeping. I said I first wanted to confirm the company wasn’t considering letting me out of the lease, since I can’t use the device and no longer have the affiliated merchant processing account. She put me on hold, returned to the call and said no, Northern Leasing had no intentions of letting me out of the lease. Then she offered to remove the late fees. I accepted, and authorized the charge of $170 to make up for the two missed payments plus the current month.
I imagine if I had not noticed, or if I had not called, I would have defaulted on my agreement without knowing, and then would have been a prime target for one of Northern Leasing’s routine lawsuits against small business owners. According to court documents, many business owners don’t find out there’s been a judgment against them until they see it on their credit reports.