Consumer complaint received 2016-01-06
Company: Automotive Services Finance, Inc.
State: FL
Product: Consumer Loan
Sub-product: Vehicle loan
Issue: Problems when you are unable to pay

Complaint:
I financed a vehicle with Automotive Services Financing in XX/XX/XXXX. Every month before military payday, I would receive phone calls reminding me that my payment was due regardless if my account was current or not. I maintained a positive account status with them until XX/XX/XXXX at which point ASF called me constantly threatening to come take the car if I did not give it up voluntarily. After letting ASF know that I would surrender the vehicle but would be unable to bring it to them ( the company is located in XXXX and I am stationed in XXXX ) they agreed to come get it. I told them the vehicle was at my brother 's address in XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX, after submitting a voluntary repossession form. The car was not in my possession at the time of retrieval and I was never notified that it was retrieved. After the phone calls stopped, I was led to believe that my balance with them was paid off from the sale of the car. In XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email requesting I call ASF with no information about my account included. After calling, I was told I still owed a balance of around {$5900.00} after the vehicle 's value had been applied to my account. I spoke briefly to a representative ( XXXX XXXX ) about making realistic payment arrangements, at which point I was told to " pay what you can. '' In XX/XX/XXXX, ASF called my wife who was never on the car, nor was she my spouse at the time of financing, stating they got her number using skiptrace. It was at this point they told me that I owed a balance of over {$13000.00}. I requested to speak to XXXX XXXX, the Senior Account Manager, whom I had dealt with in the past. The woman who I spoke to told me she would inform XXXX, but he never reached out to me. The company did not communicate any balance information to me from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX. After ASF called my wife, they said they could not reach me because I had not updated them on my new address, which I did not move into until XX/XX/XXXX. 

Late XX/XX/XXXX, I received a package, sent standard mail from ASF, stating that I was being served a warrant-in-debt for the balance I owed to them. What is notable about the paperwork is that it is all dated XXXX/XXXX/XXXX ( the case was not filed with the XXXX XXXX court until XXXX/XXXX/XXXX ), lacks a case number, was not presented in any official capacity and is missing signatures of court-appointed officials everywhere they are required. The warrant was not served by a person or certified mail. The attached affidavits were not signed by any court official and were improperly completed, including incomplete notarization. ASF even went so far as to fill in a section marked COURT ORDER ONLY with what appears to be a sticker of a lawyer 's name and address. This section was not signed by a judge as the affidavit states it should, leading me to believe that this lawyer was not appointed by the courts but rather ASF. I did not reach out to him. Another notable piece of paperwork is the Affidavit of Claim which was notarized by the same person who was the Affiant on the other documents, XXXX XXXX. 

According to ASF 's payment history the account balance began at {$35000.00} - the total of all payments, including interest. The amount that was supposed to be financed, according to the buyer 's order was {$25000.00}. I was led to believe that interest accrued daily and would not be added to the principal of the loan as it was. After being misled and bullied by ASF from the beginning and having my credit significantly damaged by being forced into taking repossession action, ASF is now trying to force me into repayment by officially taking legal action after sending me paperwork supporting the idea they already did.

Company public response: Company believes complaint represents an opportunity for improvement to better serve consumers
Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief