Consumer complaint received 2020-01-02
Company: TIDEWATER FINANCE COMPANY, INC.
State: OK
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Auto debt
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Attempted to collect wrong amount

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I purchased a new vehicle from XXXX XXXX XXXX for {$15000.00}. It was financed through XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX in XXXX. VA XXXX. My first payment was made on XX/XX/XXXX for {$380.00}. I paid on this loan/vehicle until XX/XX/XXXX when I was laid off from my job. I contacted XXXX XXXX XXXX that I could no longer afford the payments and they agreed to take the vehicle back and sell the vehicle and let me know how much I owed to cover the difference. I contacted XXXX XXXX XXXX MULTIPLE times over the next few weeks and months and years to find out the status of the loan and every time I was cussed at and I was told that they would let me know when they had the information. They were always very rude and hateful and no matter who I spoke with I was given the same answer. I asked them to mail me something saying how much I owed and they said I should get something in the mail. I never received anything from them. I would call again later in the year and got the same response of cussing at me and not telling me what was going on and hanging up on me. I was so frustrated with them I thought that if they wanted me to pay for it then they needed to tell me what to pay and I didn't contact them any longer. Fast forward 5 years.,,, to XX/XX/XXXX and a petition was filed against me in my local XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX No. XXXX from Tidewater Finance Company for {$30000.00}. The petition states that this amount includes interest at 20.95 %. The amount they said I am deficient is {$21000.00} as of XX/XX/XXXX. The only paperwork used to determine this amount was the finance paperwork that I signed at the car dealership on XX/XX/XXXX. This information did NOT include the 1 1/2 years of payments that were made, the $ amount the car was sold for and it did not include the amount that was NEVER told to me about how much I owed once the car was sold. I took the paperwork I was served to an attorney and he wanted a large sum of money as a retainer that I could not afford so his advice to me was to write a letter to the judge stating what had happened up to that point and see if I can represent myself to hold them accountable for the legal process XXXX XXXX XXXX was supposed to follow once the vehicle was back in their possession. The attorney also said that the statute of limitations for this type of petition is 5 years so Tidewater Finance waited almost to the day 5 years to file this petition in hopes of getting the LARGEST POSSIBLE amount of interest added to the balance. So I followed the advice of the attorney and wrote a narrative of what happened and filed it to the case. I filed that on XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, the judgement went in favor of Tidewater Finance for the amount of {$21000.00} plus interest at the rate of 20.95 %, attorney fee of {$2000.00} and court costs of {$330.00}. Fast forward to XX/XX/XXXX and my employer received a garnishment for me from Tidewater Finance Company for the amount of {$55000.00}. they are now taking {$730.00} a month out of my paycheck to pay off this incredibly fraudulent loan amount. At this rate I will be paying for this vehicle until 12 years after I am dead. I have paid a total of {$4700.00} as of this date XX/XX/XXXX. I have been trying to find out what I can do to get some help. There are laws that they did not follow in the process of this entire ordeal. I looked up Tidewater Finance on XXXX and they are doing this exact thing to MANY people! They are refusing to cooperate at the time of the return of the vehicle so that they can come back with an enormous amount of money to collect on purpose. There was NEVER anything sent to me about what I owed, I was NEVER told what the vehicle sold for, I was never contacted by them in ANY way for 5 years. I tried to contact them over 100 times and I was treated like garbage by them. Looking through the case I do not know where they are getting the numbers from, there is no mention of payments, the balance when the car was taken nor the balance when they car was sold and how much for. The numbers do no add up and the amount financed was {$15000.00} and now they are collecting {$55000.00} and the amount is increasing at the rate of 20.95 % until paid in full? PLEASE HELP ME!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation