Consumer complaint received 2021-04-13
Company: AMERICA FIRST FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
State: UT
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Managing the loan or lease
Sub-issue: Problem with fees charged

Complaint:
My husband & I purchased a vehicle XXXX of XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX. We were solicited on Sunday through XXXX by a CEU of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. We met the CEU at XXXX  XXXX XXXX in XXXX, Ut. The XXXX told my husband & I that he had many repos he needed to get rid of. That he kept them at XXXX XXXX. He told us that we could choose whichever vehicle we wanted with a {$500.00} down payment. The vehicle we looked at was the dodge journey that we purchased. We were told it was XXXX, had back up camera, navigation, towing kit. That it was the top model. The XXXX had our loan done in 30 minutes including the test drive. He had told us that it was a 5/6 year loan at 9 % intrest rate & that we were buying it for {$15000.00}. He told us multiple times he was " losing money on this deal ''. When we were signing the paperwork he made me purchase gap insurance even though the gap insurance part of the contract had a warning sentence saying we did not have to have gap insurance to purchase the vehicle. The total did not add up to me as it was {$17000.00} on paper. We had given him {$500.00}. So the car should have been {$14000.00}. When the papers were finished he gave the manager/owner of the XXXX  XXXX XXXX an {$18000.00} check. I was confused at the amount & for giving the dealership the check when he was the XXXX of the bank. The loan was through him not the dealership. I asked what it was for and the amount. He said it was the total with interest over the amount of the loan. ( I never taking a car loan out before without a parent had no clue that wasn't true ) He also said it was including license registration and fees. He also mentioned that he just had the dealer do all the paperwork so we didn't have to register it. It happened extremely fast. A few days later noticed the amount & interest rate was wrong & went to the bank to get it resolved. They assured me everything on their computer and the filed paperwork was correct. I made. $ XXXX {$400.00} payments, but they were wrongly recorded. A few months later. My husband made a payment for the car for {$350.00} & we were told it was {$22.00} short. Our car payment was originally {$230.00}. We looked at the loan & our loan was up to {$20000.00}. We previously only owed XXXX from the payments we had made. The bank gave us the run around. We got the loan back XXXX to XXXX & then it went back up to {$20000.00}. We didn't understand what was going on. The bank kept giving us the run around. Some payments were never added to my account. The XXXX that sold us the vehicle had quit by this time. ( He is the one under investigation with the FBI ) I Later found out that he had his dealers license. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX was audited for a year a least. The IRS was there daily. The XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX was closed down by the government & all accounts merged to America First Credit Union. There was also an open investigation done by Utah XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. I was contacted by the XXXX from XXXX that was overseeing the case with my vehicle. The FBI took the information from the XXXX & is now going forward with their bank investigation. I can not get any information from anyone regarding my vehicle. I've called the XXXX from the XXXX & the FBI. 
Now that America First Credit Union has the loan they are doing nothing to ensure the issue is corrected. The loan they have is for a completely different vehicle then what we actually had/ financed. The loan is standing again at {$16000.00}. As soon as America First Credit Union had the loan I reached out trying to figure out what was going on with the investigation. I had recieved no help until called in to get my balance & an employee in the collection Division listened to what happened with the vehicle & vehicle loan. She went up with her supervisor & her supervisor said they were going to do nothing. I spoke with the Supervisor who told me that the car was refinanced in the month of XXXX ( I am unknown of the year ) & I had signed other documents. I only signed the contract when the vehicle was purchased. I never refinanced the vehicle or signed additional documents except for one. The XXXX had told me that I forgot to sign something & if didn't sign it he would take back the vehicle. I don't know what the document was. It was a year after the vehicle had been purchased. I mentioned to the supervisor that I never refinanced the vehicle. It was forged if it was there. She told me it looked like my signature & that if I didn't like the payments she'd come get the vehicle. The phone call ended badly. I called back to speak with other people trying to get the issue resolved. I called the local CFPB of Utah & was told that the bank had assumed the loan so they assumed all responsibility & needed to correct the issues. America First Credit Union did not do anything. They repossessed the vehicle & took. {$1100.00} from my economic stimulus payment for the car. That amount was taken from my checking & moved to the car loan. Only the EIP funds were deposited into the account. I went into a branch & spoke with a manager who contacted collections while I was in the office & they had told me everything would me taken care of & looked into. I was also told by the manager that it might be an option for them to sell the vehicle & then work with the FBI to recover the remaining balance so I wouldn't have to owe anything. I now received a bill for {$17000.00} for a vehicle that I do not possess & have paid at the very least {$15000.00} for. I've calculated {$18000.00}. Had the loan been done legally, ethically & correct we would have never taken out the loan we were solicited on a Sunday. That alone is not legal. If the loan held up then we at least would have the title. The book value for our vehicle was XXXX clean retail. Our vehicle was sold with engine repair needed & dents with rust from an accident & should have been less. Especially if the XXXX was " loosing money on this deal ''. I have been very upfront with America First Credit Union about the whole situation. I told them my intentions have always been to pay for the vehicle, but for the corrected amount & the loan needed to be looked into & fixed. I became so extremely frustrated because nothing was getting looked into I told the Credit Union I wasn't going to Make another payment until something was done about this issue. That is was serious & I should not pay double for the XXXX fraud. The woman I spoke with today said there was no mention of what happened with the city center credit union regarding my vehicle & account. Also that the legal team over the bank had no knowledge of the situation. I've reached out numerous times. I've called & emailed trying to get a resolution. Another issue to add to this all is. I have not recieved any information about the repossession on my vehicle. No mailed letter, not even an email. The only reason I knew was because I brought it up to the banker when I went into the office. I have had no opportunity to collect any belongings inside the vehicle. I have had no opportunity to make the payment of past due amount. I have not had a choice of to refinance the loan, take my car back or have them auction off the vehicle. I have had no information regarding the repossession of the vehicle & it has been gone from my home over XXXX weeks. There are a few issues or many with this situation. The car loan, the repo, taking the EIP out of my account. 
Had none of the other issues happened & this was a normal loan the bank has offered no services or help to us. My husband & I have been financially strained due to covid. He has been temporarily laid off until his work gets more business. We would have needed to work out a plan for the car loan during the uncertain time we are in. None of the employees or departments of the Credit union have reached out or given us any options or additional help for car loan. We have no idea what opportunities are available to those struggling with car payments. We would have just been blindsided by a repossession & no following information. 
I apologize this is so extremely long. It's not your average situation & I wanted to include as much as information as possible. There is more I am sure I'm leaving something out. I am uncertain of which type of complaint this would fall under? I do know that 2 different financial institutions & a car dealership are involved with this. So maybe there are multiple complaints. I know the names of all people mentioned & I have the original MVED complaint my husband & I filed. I was trying to leave out names. Email is best. Thank you

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation