Consumer complaint received 2019-08-15
Company: TOYOTA MOTOR CREDIT CORPORATION
State: AZ
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Struggling to pay your loan
Sub-issue: Lender trying to repossess or disable the vehicle

Complaint:
Filed a complaint with the FTC. Thinking about hiring a lawyer. I'm shocked that there isn't a civil lawsuit already against these people ; what a joke! Toyota Financial has been known for their inhumane practices of " adding further insult to injury '', even when it comes to folks who have been loyal Toyota customers for years! I never missed a payment or a deadline, & I was known for always paying off in full my credit card balance every month, let alone the bare minimum payment. I have phone call recordings & paper trails that are screaming proof of errors on their behalf. Regardless of my fault in the matter, or any procrastination that was made on my end, none of the above is even close to measuring up, having been compared to the gross incompetence that was displayed by MULTIPLE reps. I asked for a hardship from my {$320.00} payment in XX/XX/XXXXof 2019 due to my fiance losing his job, among other unfortunate circumstances that are too private to share. It was granted, withdrawn, then refunded. To explain, a rep made me fess up to & re-live a horrible trauma in order to " qualify '' me for the hardship. Having me in tears, she agreed to offer me the hardship for the current month, and also told me that I would qualify for the month of XX/XX/XXXXas well if I needed it. What she didn't tell me at the time was that I apparently had an account with them online that I needed to log into and change a setting in order to prevent the payments from coming out anyway ( I didn't find this out until around XX/XX/XXXX. ) That $ was all that I had to my name @ the time. I found out the hard way that the $ was taken out anyway ( on my birthday. ) I wasn't able to celebrate my daughter 's XXXX birthday that weekend due to having to wait for them to reimburse the check. Also, my bank charged overdraft & transaction fees to my account in order to cover the payment. Toyota Financial agreed to pay for those fees, but the beginning of the damage was already done. Same thing happened in XX/XX/XXXXof 2019, but we didn't get the check until XX/XX/XXXX. More damage was done, and more fees from the bank were added. Come XX/XX/2019, they tried YET AGAIN to take MORE money from my account, which was still overdrawn BY THEM due to the previous month, adding to yet even MORE fees that were still owed to me from XX/XX/XXXX& XX/XX/XXXX( They only reimbursed me for about {$30.00} of the almost {$200.00} in fees, even after my bank sent them proof. ) During the 3 months that Toyota Financial either took my money, tried to take my money, & accumulated for me a beautiful pile of fees, they had the nerve to say that they weren't responsible for any bank fees that were charged as a result of another company trying to withdrawal an automatic payment. I'm sorry, but not only did they not cover all of fees that THEY racked up, but let 's remember that had they not taken the money from my account like they agreed not to in the 1st place, I would of been able to make those smaller payments that were due to other companies! I was @ their mercy, despite plenty of proof of wrongdoings on their end! Eventually my bank account was forced to shut down. Before that happened, my mother deposited an emergency {$50.00} into my savings to help us put food on the table since Toyota Financial was holding our check hostage, but my bank decided to eat that up before we could use it to pay for TF 's fees. Unbelievable. Even more damage done. Oh, & CHECK this one out, the CHECK for XX/XX/XXXXwas nevering coming, BECAUSE NO ONE EVEN BOTHERED TO ISSUE IT! Then, the brilliant mind of a " supervisor '' named XXXX decided to try and refund me for the month of XX/XX/XXXX, which would of been impossible considering the fact that there was no money that was taken for that month to begin with! But hey, at least they piled on those fees that month, right? Come XX/XX/XXXX, like I said, I FINALLY got my check. I was then told that I didn't need to pay until XX/XX/2019. I. Was. Shocked. After all of the XXXX they put me through these last several months, waiting for money that they agreed not to take in the first place during a time when I didn't have 2 nickels to rub together, only for it to finally show up ... & then to be told that it would need to be almost immediately returned back to them, just added further insult to injury. I was granted 3 full months ( they added another month for their continued failures ) for approved hardships. What I got was 3 months full of added on hardships due to their gross negligence! Then, they had the nerve to tell me that I used up my " 3 month period '', which just so happened to fall within the same time-frame as their mistakes! Apparently during hardship months, it's common practice for TF to hold people financially hostage, ruin a XXXX good credit score ( mine was in the high 700 's - now I'm afraid to even look @ it ), break-up relationships between folks & their credit union, & damage other client & business relationships! If that wasn't enough, things got way worse. Due to not having hardly any income at all to cover bills before the 2nd check came, I was forced to work less hours. It's impossible fill a gas tank when we are counting change, especially when I have to drive all over town ( & sometimes out of town ) for work. Eventually, I got laid off. My car insurance was one of those companies that withdrew their payment from my checking account automatically. Of course, with no $ in my account, XXXX tried to pull the payment 3 times, & it resulted in fees. inevitably, the policy was canceled, because I was waiting on the check from TF. I wasn't going to risk driving without insurance, but why does it seem like the bad things only happen to good people? XXXX never called us back to discuss further terms regarding the " 3 untouched months of hardship '' that they promised us in the 1st place. We called him back several times because we were still owed fees, & his comment about having to make a payment in XX/XX/XXXXmade me nervous. The 3 months that would of qualified from there on out would of been XX/XX/XXXX( check finally recieved & month was free of tampering after I went online & cancelled payment ), XX/XX/XXXX( bank account was closed but they tried to process payment again anyway ), & XX/XX/XXXX( same action in XX/XX/XXXXhappened in XX/XX/XXXX- hopefully both months didn't tack on more fees ). As soon as I got that check, I knew the battle wasn't over. We were tired of having to call back repeatedly, only to have to explain the whole story to a Level 1 Rep & then to hopefully to a Level 2 Rep, which rarely happened or went anywhere. Level 2 Rep 's weren't calling back anymore. Funny thing is Toyota was blowing my phone up for payments, yet I figured someone would read the XXXX notes and know not to bug me until XX/XX/2019, unless it was about what they still owed me in fees. But no one investigated, & it turned out the joke was on me. Come middle of XX/XX/XXXX, I was ready to make a payment. Since I knew I was legally right, I figured it would be no problem for TF to subtract what they owed me from the payment. Before I could act, I noticed early one morning that my car was missing from my gated community. I found out by calling the police that it was repossessed in the middle of the night. The second I called TF, their automated system recognized my # and hung up on me. We called from a different # that wasn't on record in order to bypass the system, and finally made it to a Level 1 Rep. She  informed us that we couldn't use their service anymore. We demanded to talk to XXXX since he knew our case. She then told us that he wasn't " available '' for the day & that she would leave a message for him from us. She then proceeded to give us the # that we needed to call in order get my car back. My fiance tried calling the repo man ( we got his # from the police ), who was extremely rude, and refused to give my fiance even the cross-streets of his business, let alone any other pertinent information ( even though he is listed on the account with TF ). When we finally called the # that the rep @ TF gave us, we were connected to a Level 1 Rep who heard the whole script from our mouths. She said the she could grant us an  extension, but in order to get the car back, we had to pay XXXXXX/XX/XXXX, as well as repo fees. When we contested this, & and told her that we had evidence, she transferred us to a " supervisor '' Level 2 Rep. This lady was very condescending, & a real piece of work. She basically told me that since I had an account with TF, it was my responsibility to know how it worked. Therefore, the non-authorized payments were a direct result of myself @ fault. XXXX! Even the supervisors @ TS admitted after hearing the phone call recordings that it is the agents job to explain, especially when most accounts are set up by the guy who is selling you the car while you sit across from him. He never explained that I could access it, or that it was even there to begin with. Next, she said I should be grateful to get 3 hardships ( she could care less that they made things worse for me due to employee error ). She often interrupted during my testimony, which is a scare tactic to try and throw me off my game so she can remain oblivious to the facts. I told her that I was still going to pursue justice, and reminded my fiance that we had already filed a complaint with the FCC & other legal parties. We have evidence recorded, as do they. Even my credit union saw the scam for what it was and issued paperwork in our defense in order to handle the fees. This lady, like the repo guy, didn't want to talk to my fiance either. She tried to tell me that I needed to pay for XXXXXX/XX/XXXX, including repo fees, in order to get my car back ( & I wouldn't qualify for an extension ). When I mentioned that the lady just 5 minutes before her told me different, she told me she didn't care. I even mentioned that I had a recording of XXXX claiming that I didn't owe until XX/XX/XXXX, that went out the window too. I guess she won't mind that her call, as well as the call before her, were both recorded too. Cover your XXXX people! Otherwise, corporations & their sheep will walk all over you! Now starts a whole new game! I choose to break free from the havoc that they have unleashed when they chose to royally mess with my family 's financial life and future. Had they done the right thing to begin with and had at least tried to amend their wrongs by starting with the bare minimum, they would of acknowledged that XXXXXX/XX/XXXXwere months full of no error on my behalf and would of made sure that those months would have be added on to the end of my contract as a complimentary gesture. Then, they should of finally granted me the 3 months that I was approved for " error-free '' in the 1st place for the months of XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, & XX/XX/XXXX. Those 3 months would then pass freely, totally untouched. As a result of smooth sailing, and after having been able to finally catch my " financial breath '', I would have issued my 1st payment, come the middle of XX/XX/XXXX. Yet here we are, the payment is now ready, and my car is nowhere to be found. Good job TF. All I wanted was for you to do your job, right your wrongs, & do for me what was promised to begin with. Instead, I was taken advantage of, but never again! Bye XXXX!

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief