Consumer complaint received 2018-06-05
Company: TD BANK US HOLDING COMPANY
State: MA
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Managing the loan or lease
Sub-issue: Problem with fees charged

Complaint:
I purchased a new XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, MA ( or XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX depending on what paperwork you are looking at ) on XX/XX/XXXX. I chose a vehicle that I knew I could afford with my {$12000.00} cash down and {$3000.00} trade. I was prepared to pay approximately {$300.00} per month to finance this vehicle as the math was done with the salesperson before stepping in to the finance office. 

The finance person then told me that I had been approved for a 3.89 % 75 months car loan with TD Bank which would be {$280.00} per month ( including additional Road Hazard Protection & LoJack which was sold to me as add-on sales ). I was then asked if I would like to pay monthly or bi-weekly. I was told that if I paid biweekly I would pay the car off faster and it would save me money on the interest since car loans charge interest per day. Since I was trying to chip away at this car loan as quick as I could ( hence the {$12000.00} cash down ), I was interested in any savings that I could get. I was told that if I had a blank check, the finance person could enter my bank account information right then and there and get me started right away with this biweekly plan. He gave me a printout calendar which showed which dates the biweekly payments would be deducted. I was not given any other literature regarding this plan nor was I shown any details that would indicate that this was a 3rd party bill pay company ( XXXX which is now called XXXX ). After leaving the  dealership with my Retail Installment Sale contract, and a payment calendar ( no copy of the biweekly paperwork ), I was under the assumption that TD Bank was affiliated or managed this biweekly plan and that they were just getting their money in a faster more convenient method. I received a letter from XXXX  a couple weeks later congratulating me on my vehicle and asking me to call or email with questions. I called to confirm that everything was all set ( since I had already received my first bill from TD Bank ) and I was reassured that the automatic biweekly draft was complete and I had nothing to worry about.

I am now 1 year in to this loan and I have decided to refinance for a lower rate ( 2.9 % ) which prompted me to call TD Bank to get a payoff balance for my new refinance. I was informed that not only are they not affiliated with Intellipayment, but my account is overdue! There was a payment due on XX/XX/XXXX that never posted ( although I knew for sure that it came out of my bank account! ). And for almost every single month, the payments had been 2-8 days late posting to the account. 

Without my knowledge, the dealership had ultimately signed me up as a customer of XXXX. They would withdraw {$1.00} convenience fee each time they drafted a biweekly payment from my bank account as well as a {$390.00} " deferred program fee '' which could be drafted at any time from my bank account without my knowledge as long as the amount did not go over the {$140.00} biweekly amounts ( which includes the {$1.00} fee ). When I called XXXX to let them know that I was never made aware of these fees, they said that I signed the contract with the dealership and they were supposed to go over the fees with the 4 page biweekly agreement paperwork and send me home with a customer copy. XXXX has taken {$1.00} in convenience fees for the last 25 payments that they have drafted from my account ( {$48.00} ) as well as {$280.00} for the deferred program fee. This {$280.00} was taken in ( 2 ) drafts ( XX/XX/XXXX {$140.00} & XX/XX/XXXX {$140.00} ) which appeared to me to be regular car payments, but were in fact full amounts taken out to satisfy their fee ( without my knowledge ). Since the amounts taken were identical to my payment amount, neither the bank nor I recognized anything out of the ordinary. 

Since I have become aware of this ( over the past week ), I requested a copy of the paperwork that I signed from the dealership ( attached ). I do not recognize this paper and I don't recall signing it. Perhaps it's possible that it was placed in front of me while I was signing all of the other paperwork? The fees certainly were not explained to me ( otherwise I definitely would not have opted in to this program ) as you can see that if I paid the entire loan..it would actually result in a loss of {$540.00} ( " net cost '' on the paperwork ). I was not given any copy of this or given the opportunity to look at pages 2,3 or 4 which are mentioned in " Section 4 ''. I do not feel that this agreement is valid as this program was clearly misrepresented to me.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation