Consumer complaint received 2021-09-22
Company: WHEELS FINANCIAL GROUP, LLC.
State: KY
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Title loan
Issue: Charged fees or interest you didn't expect

Complaint:
Attempted to work with them on XX/XX/XXXX about a payment plan due to me getting sick with XXXX and getting XXXX which put me out of work for a bit. As far as I was aware there was a federal loan relief programs with give banking services the ability to charge 0 % interest and they still get assistance from the government. I was turned down for any potential with the program ( probably because of XXXXXXXX XXXX insane rates ). 

XX/XX/XXXX a repo man attempts to repossess my car. In the state of Kentucky it is entirely illegal to enforce a repossession without first being sent a letter of repossession by the creditor. I never received such a letter, I even have proof from the post office that no such letter arrived. 

Me and my mother contact XXXX about the loan/repossession and a second attempt to settle the loan at XXXX XXXX. We spoke to XXXX. My original loan was for {$2000.00}, I paid off one month of the loan ( we believe I paid two, but haven't gotten the bank statements yet ). So either I missed just one or two payments total based on what my bank confirms. Yet by XX/XX/XXXX my total principle was now {$3000.00}. They are saying I am being charged 9.83 % A DAY in penalties ( or on penalties ). We attempted to settle for {$2000.00} which was the original loan amount, they refused. They also refused to take money from a credit or bank card. We were told if we wanted to pay the loan we would need to wire the money in cash. We told them we would only pay with card because a cash wire has no paper trail. Not only that, but if we tried to pay with card we wouldn't even have enough to cover the " due '' amount they gave us. I also had asked for an email regarding my contract with the breakdown of interest v principle on two occasions. Both times I was told I'd receive an email shortly after the phone call. I've yet to receive ANY emails at all from them. They have ignored my calls completely at this point, only wanting to collect information on my car ( obviously for continued repossession attempts ). 

When you call them they say they record all phone calls, I believe this to be important as evidence for their likely illegal lending behavior I will touch on in a moment. 

I found out from doing some research that their lending practices are entirely illegal in both the state they lend from ( California ) and the state I reside in ( Kentucky ). California and Kentucky both have usury laws with interest and penalty caps on all loans. XXXX as a personal loan service is not an exception to either state 's laws and their max interest rate is WELL outside of the bounds of what is legal. As of Kentucky Usury Laws ( KRS Chapter 360 ) the maximum legal contracted interest rate is 4 % above the discount Federal Reserve Bank rate. At the time of the contract it was .25 %. Meaning the maximum legal rate I could have been offered in my state was 4.25 % per month. Going based on the new principle they are charging me close to 25 % a month ( and its ramping up due to the 9.83 % PER DAY penalty fees ). 

According to my state specifically, if I were to receive a judgement I would be owed twice the interest I've paid, removal of the loan debt, and a possibility for the court to issue a multiple XXXX dollar citation for the loan company 's disregard for loaning ethics in the state. It has a two year statue of limitations which is plenty of time for me to decide if I want to sue. 

I should also mention that I found out XXXX used to lend under " XXXX XXXX  '' which was in a class action that received a judgement for {$7.00} XXXX dollars back in the mid/late XXXX XXXX. They quickly changed their XXXX as XXXX, and now are in two more class actions filed for in the last 3 years and have been sued on multiple occasions in California. I have been recommended on multiple times to go through arbitration or file through Kentucky as a criminal complaint on their lending behavior.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation