Consumer complaint received 2020-11-22
Company: Consumer Portfolio Services, Inc.
State: OH
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Getting a loan or lease
Sub-issue: Changes in terms mid-deal or after closing

Complaint:
This complaint involves myself as the retail-buyer of a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  ( est. XXXX miles at the time of purchase ; included only basic features : two power windows, a sunroof and CD player ). A 'XXXX  dealership ( herein referred to as the Dealership ) in Ohio was the seller/creditor and was also the location of the credit sale. 
CPS, INC was the purported assignee who purchased the named Retail Installment Sale Contract/Simple Finance Charge ( herein referred to as installment contract ) at issue. CPS is an unlicensed fictitious business entity in the State of California and unlicensed as a foreign entity in the State of Ohio and conducts business interchangeably as or with the name : Consumer Portfolio Services ( herein wholly referred to as Consumer Portfolio Services ). 
The crux of this complaint boils down to : the formation of this installment contract ; being misled into contracting for this credit sale and the unrelenting illegal enforcement of the same thereto as a result of : intentional misrepresentations ; undue influence ; unilateral mistake ; unconscionable, unfair, unequal bargaining power/contract terms/treatment ; economic duress ; frustration of purpose ; breach of warranty ; material breach ; violations of Consumer Protection Act ( Dodd-Frank Act ), Truth in Lending ( TILA ), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act ( ECOA ), Unfair and Deceptive Acts or Practices ( UDAP ) and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ( FDCPA ) in relation to the advertising, offering, bargaining, financing, servicing and overall enforcement the purported installment contract at issue. 
BACKGROUND I am aware of this complaints length, but I am submitting it in good faith and I dont intend for any part to appear repetitive, but I needed to articulate my claim in a manner that made this complaint well-received and for the most appropriate relief. Therefore, I ask that you refrain from presupposing it as some acrimonious tangent against some company. Rather, this complaint affects the public at large because I am certain I am not the only one that has or is going through this what I am with the company at issue. I did not want to leave any element out, as I was concerned that if I failed to address everything in this complaint that I might waive the opportunity to do so later. Therefore, as a background for my complaint I assert the following : In the year XXXX, in my XXXX I regrettably filed bankruptcy for the first time ( for debt totaling - $ XXXX ). Soon after filing, I received and answered a direct mailer advertisement from the dealership offering to help me reestablish my credit with favorable terms and stating no matter my past credit history ( e.g., bankruptcy, repossession, divorce, etc. ). 
I was not hard pressed for a vehicle at the time. I was a single mother of XXXX children and a XXXX  XXXX for the State. I would drive 90 miles a day in my SUV. Being the only income provider economic stability was important, so acquiring a more gas/money saving vehicle and being able to rebuild/reestablish my credit were two attractive selling points for me. I thought that I was in a good position by not being desperate to buy a new vehicle, because I viewed the lack of desperation as a plus in my buying making decision and protecting my interests. 
THE NEGOTIATION PROCESS WITH THE DEALERSHIP At the dealership, I was originally steered towards purchasing brand-new vehicles, which I firmly refused because I could not afford it. I was shown a limited selection of used vehicles, which had no visible price displayed on them. I could never receive an immediate direct answer by the dealership regarding the sale price for any one car, because not realizing it -- -each car was tied to a specific finance offer according to my credit, income, etc. and whomever would offer the financing I was ready to leave when I saw the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX which became the subject matter of this installment contract. I test-drove it ; I was offered to keep it for a couple days, but I declined. From here, the dealership told me they would call me to offer the financing terms. 
MANUFACTUTRED & PURPOSEFUL CONFUSION IN RELATION TO CONTRACT TERMS INTERPRETATION The dealership called and offered me terms with the payment amount nearing $ 500/a month and gave vague mentioning to just a couple other terms. I rejected the offer and told the dealership that the monthly payment was too high and I could not afford it. The dealership qualified me for too much, but I knew my limit and thanked them for their time. The dealership immediately began to haggle posing the question Well, what payment amount would you be comfortable with? I told the dealership and they contacted me later to present a new offer with a new lower monthly payment amount now set at XXXX XXXX a month, but now needed a {$500.00} down payment. I provided a provisional intent of acceptance to this offer over-the-phone to the dealership. 
However, having been unfulfilled with this phone conversation when time came to return to the dealership to consider finalizing the transaction I had and indeed asked numerous questions. But here is the kicker : I must ask a lot of questions in most situations financial or otherwise because I have a documented XXXX  XXXX. My XXXX  XXXX has nothing to do with my intelligence, but I require more context clues ( i.e., thoroughness in explanation ) and I must ask several questions to grasp a fully comprehensive level of understanding, especially when the information is not familiar. 
Unfortunately, the dealership who believed that my coming back meant that the deal was all sewn up was irritated by my various questions about the transaction and eventually left me alone in a room for an extended period of time, which I assume was to place me in a so ready to leave state to the point that I would agree to anything just to be able to sign and leave. This was not the case for me. I always maintained and had my questions to ask them. 
PRE-FORMATION ANALYSIS OF INSTALLMENT CONTRACT TERMS I had never seen the words RETAIL INSTALLMENT SALE CONTRACT / SIMPLE FINANCE CHARGE before. I asked the dealership if I was making payments or installments?. The dealership told me both.XXXX-month term, with equal monthly installment payments, at {$360.00} a month, all fees and finance charge included. 
I was floored when I saw the length of the contract term XXXX installments/months. This was substantially longer than the contract term provided to me via our previous phone call regarding the offer/terms ; the APR ( 19.45 % ) was omitted during our phone, and I was equally just as surprised seeing the APR rate as well. 
At this point, I rejected the offer because it had lost its value once again. Everything just seemed to keep changing, despite the dealerships attempts to make everything seem straightforward. 
I was there for a vehicle and the financing was a consequence to the sales transaction. I was not expecting the red-carpet treatment after a bankruptcy, but assuming anything could happen in-between signing and XXXX  months ( XXXX years ) down the line I needed to be comfortable with the finance terms based on my ability to pay and any worse case scenario. This was an integral part of conducting the transaction, and if not for the representations and warranties promised to me the vehicle would not have mattered anymore and I would have simply went to another dealership or have waited for another time later to finance with the credit union, etc. 
Nonetheless, the dealership explained that the length in the overall financing term had to be stretched-out to get me to a lower monthly payment amount. At the time, due to my ignorance I did not know that the length of time for financing mattered just as much as anything else if not more ( i.e., time value of money ). 
I argued next about the high APR, on grounds that I had just filed bankruptcy ; therefore, no longer had any debt, so I did not understand why the APR needed to be that high? And I negotiated to have it lowered. The dealership noted that they worked like a dog to get me the best deal. 
The dealership said that they could not change it that day, but promised that the company being assigned the contract would take care of me and adjust/lower the APR to get me at a better rate and lower payment amount. The dealership reinforced this warranty by pointing to a clause on the very front of said installment contract which stated The Annual Percentage Rate may be negotiable with the Seller as a reassuring reference point to me. 
In general, the installment contract was explained in a hurried manner. The contract itself was on a huge, long, busy, and purposely distracting form ( 8.5x 24 inches long ) and I had difficultly following along with it. There was absolutely no way to change this adhesive pre-printed LAW Form No. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Retail Installment Sale Contract form. The contract was printed on a 3-5-page carbon copy form and the dealership used a dot matrix printer to print it, and the installment contract was already printed when I arrived. 
I asked and required more thorough explanations/interpretations for most of it, especially at the very least for the provisions I was bombarded from clearly seeing by the dealerships finance/insurance representative due to his hovering over the contract citing that he was trying to be thorough. The only contact I had with the installment contract was my actual placement of my only two required signatures on the very front. 
Whats more, whether the dealership hovered over that oversized contract or not they could have given me the installment contract ( prior to signing it ) to hold for a week it would not have mattered. 
Take the numbers and the signatures out the equation and to this day I still do not understand most of the boilerplate terms which are an essential part of any agreement and affect the rights and/or benefits under the agreement as much, if not more, as any other terms. Boilerplate terms can be negotiated in the same manner as all other terms in an agreement, however, when you dont comprehend wholly the context of a contracts terms but ask for the contract presenter to explain the interpretation because this is their field of expertise and they should know only to be told and agree to one thing and later the contract be enforced a completely different way is monstrous. 
Nevertheless, I never met the people at the dealership and as a person who does not think that way would hate to live believing that everyone was lying to me on approach. I was not nave per se. However, I was by myself during the transaction, but I asked all questions beyond reason that I needed to make the best decision for me and my family. With the APR of XXXX % being a major contributing factor of my monthly payment calculation I only proceeded with the sale and the financing contingent upon the warranty and representations offered by the dealership in my ability to change and lower both the APR and monthly payment as a condition subsequent. 
I relied on this reassurance, as these conditions were extremely material aspects of my decision making, and if the dealership had told me no to any one of these negotiating/bargaining pain points I would have rejected the offer for the third and final time. End of story. 
ANALYSIS OF INSTALLMENT CONTRACT CONTENT & FORM ( GENERALLY ) The installment contract was comprised of two-pages total and lacked absolute clarity. It was at times, ambiguous, had confusing term placement, important terms were separated and/or buried within contractual language but not limited to, for example : 1. Wherein the installment contract provision ( s ) on the back where it states : How late payments or early payments change what you must pay We based the Finance Charge, Total of Payments, and Total Sale Price shown on the front on the assumption that you will make every payment on the day it is due. Your Finance Charge, Total of Payments, and Total Sale Price will be more if you pay late and less if you pay early. Changes may take form of larger or smaller final payment. We will send you notice telling you about these changes before the final scheduled payment is due. 
2. The aforesaid contract provision on its face, appears to have been a straightforward representation but it is not. The Total of Payments represents the time balance ( the total finance repayment duration or maturity ) and includes the Amount Financed which is the amount of the vehicle sale by itself ( e.g., principal amount ).

3. That would mean this was never a Simple Interest financing credit sale, rather from the beginning this was a Precomputed financing credit sale with interest bearing qualities. Precomputed financing is where the debt is a sum ( wholly ) comprised of the principal amount and the amount of interest computed in advance on the assumption that all scheduled payments will be made when due.

4. With respect to Precomputed financing, they are repayable in substantially equal and consecutive monthly installments of principal and interest combined, except that the first installment period may exceed one month by not more than fifteen days, and the first installment payment amount may be larger than the remaining payments by the amount of interest charged for the extra days ; and provided further that monthly installment payment dates may be omitted to accommodate borrowers with seasonal income ( which is explained further, but in a completely separate provision from this one ).

5. Wherein the installment contract states in part : How we will apply payments We will figure the Finance Charge on a daily basis at the Annual Percentage Rate on the unpaid part of Amount Financed. My thought to this confusing statement was I thought you did figure the finance charge because its enclosed on the front? This lacked clarity. 
6. Well, with respect to Interest-Bearing financing, interest is computed on the unpaid principal balances outstanding from time to time, for the time outstanding. Each payment is applied first to unpaid charges and fees, then to interest, and the remainder to the unpaid principal balance. 
7. How we will apply payments provision states in part : We may apply each payment to the earned and unpaid part of the Finance Charge, to the unpaid part of the Amount Financed, and to the other amounts you owe under this contract in any order we choose 8. With respect to the Actuarial method '' it is a method of allocating payments made on a loan between the principal amount and interest whereby a payment is applied first to the accumulated interest and then the remainder to the unpaid principal amount. 
9. Notwithstanding, the last statement states in part : in any order we choose looking back was a flagrant play upon the target audiences ( me and other consumers ) low-awareness & and financial ignorance. To the extent, where this standard adhesive XXXX XXXX XXXX retail installment contract, once you put it all together because its all over the place that this installment contract is not only Precomputed, Interest-Bearing, but uses the Rules-of-78s as its accrual & payment methodology.

10. Said installment contract was made for 66 months, the use of Rules of 78s as the accrual method is prohibited for any loan or financing term over 61 months according to federal law, and some states dont allow it at all.

11. The accounting method ( s ) used by Consumer Portfolio Services best explains why my efforts ( many years before now ) to refinance with another company and get away from this contract altogether ( after complaining to the Consumer Portfolio Services about the credit sale formation with the dealership ) was absolutely fruitless. Additionally, it explains why the pay-off amount back then was stated for the entire installment contract amount and not just for what I would have owed up until that point, because again, this installment contract never used a simple interest methodology for accounting and payment allocation. 
This fact became even clearer when considering the You may prepay provision on the back of the installment contract, which contradicted the Prepayment provision on the front of the installment contract. 
It was confusing and the provision on the back stated in part that there would not be a penalty for paying all or part of the Amount Financed ( the Principle amount ) but you must pay the earned and unearned part of the Finance Charge and all other amounts up to the date of your payment which was not stated on the front of the installment contract under similar provision. The dealership deceived me. He confused the words prepay with pay-off and those are two separate terms. The material omission that you will not be refunding the finance charge is a prepayment penalty. 
Additionally, there was an Option box detailing that there would be No finance charge if the Amount Financed is paid in full before. I was told that this provision meant no finance charge if paid in full, as a promotional offer, for example if I was offered a no finance charge for XXXX promotion, etc.. But this was not true. I was duped again. Nevertheless, I never received the refund I should per Ohio law regarding as a result of my efforts to refinance out of this contract years earlier. 
12. This installment contract failed to include a Notice Clause. If notice were to be sent to either party how was this process supposed to be achieved? This installment contract did not require a change of address, a requirement that a partys phone number be updated. This contractual delegation or duty was silent. 
13. This installment contract might have stated that no oral changes are binding, but it did not include no changes in understandings are not binding. Moreover, how do I know that the dealership did not in fact provide Consumer Portfolio Services of our understandings when the boilerplate language is static and already stated that this is the complete agreement prior to anything ever being filled out. 
14. This installment contract failed to explain how deferments and/or payment extensions would work and to what extent because the installment contract does not even provide an explanation. At the time, I didnt understand the words maturity date from the installment contract extensions because this was not a loan it was financing, but I felt that I had no other choice but to always agree to Consumer Portfolio Services terms no matter what. 
15. Many important contract terms were repetitive in wording or were not reasonably close to its analogous context to prevent intent from becoming lost, impaired, or creating ambiguity. 
16. Thus, ambiguity is created by stating the same thing more than once ; rarely is it not possible to say something twice without creating ambiguity. Certain terms within said installment contract were merely stated generally on one document side, only to be repeated and elaborated differently on the other side of the page resulting in contradiction and confusion. 
17. Another installment contract provision states in part : Your Other Promises to Us which was a confusing headline. It created emphasis which implied that other statements in the contract are less important, especially considering the words which followed, wherein it stated in part, This secures payment of all you owe on this contract. It also secures your other agreements in this contract [ sic ] This is how these two sentences within this paragraph began and ended. It did mention a few bullet points before it, but the words after did not lead to nowhere that I could conceive, because I do not know what This or It is referring to. Moreover, the statement, All you owe on this contract is awful to place in any contract. Owe means that I am already obligated. 
18. The installment contracts headline RETAIL INSTALLMENT SALE CONTRACT / SIMPLE FINANCE CHARGE is fraudulently stated because it is contradictive to the payment accrual and allocation method described within it. 
19. The installment contract provision wherein it states : Prepayment. If you payoff all your debt early, you will not have to pay a penalty. To a reasonable person this would mean that there is no prepayment penalty, but it is deceptive when the finance charge already worked into the total installment contract amount in a way that doesnt allow for an incentive to pay early. On the other hand, an installment contract with precomputed interest consists of substantially equal payments throughout the entire contract so with that information you would know what to expect. 
20. But, when the headline of a contract states, Simple Finance Charge but is in fact a Precomputed Finance Charge the consumer would never truly know what they were getting into. You can not lie about the type of loan you are getting a consumer into, especially when they are concerned, inquisitive and asking every question that should have prevented this fact. 
21. Which is why I have been devastated by the willful deception and misrepresentations told and warranted to me by the dealership. I would not have agreed to a XXXX  month payment term, while paying XXXX XXXX  interest the entire time, no matter if for example, my credit score the 800s ; fresh out of bankruptcy where the chances of rebuilding my credit after 1-2 years later were greater and absolutely would not have justified such awful terms as these. 
22. I was misled into believing that I could merely pay just the Amount Financed ( i.e., principal amount ) and have my performance discharged from this contract if I needed to refinance elsewhere. 
23. Notwithstanding, CPS after I made inquiry about refinancing the APR for a lower rate and payment amount but was refused by them despite my agreement and understanding with the dealership and my reliance of it when asked if I could at the very least make principal payments? CPS told me No they do not do that either ... So, how was this ever a simple finance charge ( lightbulb ) thats because it never was. 
POST-CONSUMMATION COURSE OF DEALING & TREATMENT WITH ASSIGNEE OF THE INSTALLMENT CONTRACT ( CONSUMER PORTFOLIO SERVICES ) Not long after finalizing this installment contract/ credit sale transaction, I missed many calls from Consumer Portfolio Services who was calling me to make first contact with me, but I did not know who they were. This installment contract was assigned solely to a company named CPS, INC who is unlicensed. 
I soon found that Consumer Portfolio Services uses the name CPS interchangeably which has always been confusing, but even more confusing for third-parties ( i.e. family members, friends ) who would receive phone calls from Consumer Portfolio Services referring to themselves as CPS and stating that they need to speak to me about an important matter, to include my XXXX XXXX  where I received oral discipline because of their calls. Consumer Portfolio Services caused distressing urgency and confusing amongst these third-party persons for me, because CPS is not distinguishable from Consumer Portfolio Services. 
That is because most people consider the combined letters C-P-S as an automatic reference with Child Protective Services. Which was confusing to me when I saw their name on the installment contract and was absolutely disturbing to hear by other third parties on my behalf because they thought I was I XXXX  my children. Coupled with the fact that CPS would call the same or next day as Consumer Portfolio Services third-party persons were all over the place with confusion and didnt know if I was XXXX  my children or having a debt collected it was intentionally embarrassing! 
Which is why in year XXXX I submitted a partial Cease and Desist on Consumer Portfolio Services to bar them from contacting anyone but me, which they recently violated for the first time in 4 years on XX/XX/XXXX in retaliation of my telling them ( Consumer Portfolio Services ) that I would no longer be subjected to their abuse, mistreatment or this contract. Only days later they pretended as though they were struggling to reach me, however, phone records would show that I have gone months without making actual contact with them

( Consumer Portfolio Services ) because they are absolutely abusive to talk to.

Notwithstanding, once I eventually figured out who Consumer Portfolio Services was and had my first contact with them, I asked if they were aware of the warranties promised to me by the dealership and wanted assurance they would honor it. Consumer Portfolio Services told me that they would not be able to change any part of the contract and that needed to have taken place during the transaction and that theyre just the servicer for the contract. I argued with them and I also communicated with the dealership and they merely passed the buck back to Consumer Portfolio Services. 
I advised Consumer Portfolio Services that I did not agree to this loan as it has been, and only agreed because I negotiated with the dealership and was given a warranty of certain changes by you. 
Consumer Portfolio Services evaded acknowledgment of my claim and refused to address it directly, but provided that if I no longer wanted the vehicle that I could turn it back in. When I asked if the contract would be considered settled from that point if I did return the vehicle, they told me no, it would be considered a voluntary repossession. 
At that moment, I felt sick. It was clear to me that parties to this installment contract were not on the same page ; 2 out-of-the 3 parties knew exactly what every boilerplate term meant, didnt mean, or could mean and how they could manipulate the context of the contract egregiously more in their favor. And I was the only one who wanted a fair deal. 
My performance soon after communicating with Consumer Portfolio Services after realizing I was entangled in this installment contract with terms I did not agree to alone and with some I did not understand during the bargain phase ; and which were not going to be honored was poor from the onset and my performance remained poor & impaired throughout the duration of my involuntary servitude against this installment contract. My payment history tells a story, and that story fails to ever show actions of me guaranteeing, committing, or confirming anything but my impaired willingness to make payment. 
Consumer Portfolio Services however, did not care. They were not concerned, surprised or shocked by my claims of being misled. They never once made a good-faith attempt to investigate my claims regarding the dealership. It was rather business as usual for them, and they instead preyed further and continued to exploit my misrepresentations, my perceived ignorance, my contractual burden and inflict undue influence, manipulation, economic duress and mental & emotional abuse upon me by enforcing this installment contract which did not align with neither what I agreed to my detriment or with my understanding in relation thereto.

ABUSIVE SERVICING AND COLLECTION PRACTICES Consumer Portfolio Services and I were never on the same page by design. They used the word interest, accrue, and other similar words that the original installment contract never used and was more indicative that this was a loan than a credit sale contract. 
Due to the many nuances and ambiguities within the contract Consumer Portfolio Services flagrantly cherry-picked what they were going to acknowledge, and made the duration of dealing with them both burdensome and frankly most times just extremely awkward. 
Over time, it was clear that the rights I should have had, not only at the onset of the transaction, but during the contract term was not going to be pursuant with Ohios Retail Installment Sales Act ( RISA ) which gives more protection for circumstances like these or should due to partly because the merchant seller is unlicensed and is more susceptible to self-dealing as is the assignee Consumer Portfolio Services. 
Much like the dealership, Consumer Portfolio Services teetered back-n-forth as to what hat they were wearing within any given conversation with me. One day they were able to grossly modify the installment contract ; or at times when I would attempt to stop paying holding to my claims Consumer Portfolio Services would tell me that we gave you a loan when no one else would. Which is not true, but at the time I believed them because I did not know any better. 
But I no longer had debt at the time of contracting, and years later I realized that they by law could not have given me a loan, because that is not how a credit sale contract works. Notwithstanding, when I had wanted to change the APR at the beginning or renegotiate any other element of the installment contract I would be told that they ( Consumer Portfolio Services ) were just the servicer and couldnt do anything. 
Whats more, Consumer Portfolio Services used that name as well as CPS in their collection efforts. On top of which they used oppressive, coercive influence and abusive practices and tactics to collect, which included but not limited to : - Engaging in behavior which that menacingly argumentative ; confrontational ; harassing ; yelling at me ; continuous cycle of intimidating me to reinforce my compliance ; - Previously would call my place of employment and/or a third-party everyday using misleading names to the point I was warned of discipline and was forced to place a partial cease and desist on communication with Consumer Portfolio Services to stop them from contacting third-parties which they recently breached ; - Yelling at me, - Forcing me to act contrary to my rights ; and beliefs as they were not present during the credit sale ( silent compliance ) ; - Undue inducement by " Consumer Portfolio Services '' through intimidation to perform in a manner different than I otherwise would have performed from the beginning based on previous representations made and agreed to, which created a continuous cycle intimidated or threatened ; - Employing undue fear, blame, undeserved guilt/emotional blackmail, and XXXX  as their servicing tactics to distort my sense of events and the reality of what was happening to me ; - Victimizing themselves by normalizing and legitimizing their abuse & behavior to me by attempting to make unreasonable demands seem reasonable ; - Utilizing a cycle of mental and emotional control to support & reinforce economic abuse of enforcing the underlying installment contract ; which acted to limit my actions by restraining my resources to resist the abuse and vulnerable in defending their demands to avoid more harm ; -Numerous unjustified payment extensions against a loan with substantially impaired performance. The cascading interest-bearing effects of these purported daily finance charges, which were allegedly computed based on the outstanding principal balance, in addition to the undisclosed precomputed finance charge improperly increased the principal balance as it steady compou -Gross abuse of contract terms ; creating terms as they went via unilateral modifications of terms and numerous undisclosed changes of the maturity date. 
-Unwillingness to produce request for original contract upon request ( my original was destroyed during a break-in ) -Adverse Selection ; Attempted to solicit me a loan with a misleading advertisement once informing " Consumer Portfolio Services '' that the maturity had already passed. 
( ( ( I experienced an inability to upload/attach this entire complaint ; breach of contract notice to CPS ; the installment contract itself ; and 'numerous ' exhibits

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation