Consumer complaint received 2020-01-08
Company: Larry H. Miller Group of Companies
State: UT
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Getting a loan or lease
Sub-issue: Changes in terms mid-deal or after closing

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I purchased a car from Larry H. Miller XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. The loan officer that I worked with was XXXX XXXX. XXXX let me know that we would be doing a loan with XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX. He stated that with bundling in an extended warranty and gap insurance, XXXX had a deal to extend the loan period by a few month and not change the interest rate. I had to tell him approximately five times that I did not want or need the extended warrant or gap insurance. 

At this point, XXXX started printing off documents to sign stating the amount of car, ect. I did not see anything about an interest rate on these documents or the lender. XXXX also did not mention that we were signing documents for that. He then stated he placed scan copies of all of the documents on a flash drive and handed me the flash drive. I still have the blank flashdrive. It will show that files were never on it if you run a file recovery. 

Approximately two weeks later, I get a letter from XXXX XXXX to congratulate me on the loan I got with them. This was concerning to me since I had not been told that I would be getting a loan with them. I created an online account to check out the interest rate since I still at this point was not aware of the rate. I was shocked to see that the rate was 5.64 %. I was shocked because the credit score they pulled was XXXX. I went to review the documents on the flashdrive I had to see if there was an explanation. The flashdrive had no files saved to it. I called XXXX XXXX to see if they could tell me how I got such a high interest rate. They told me to call the dealership since they just go off of the information that they received. 

I called the dealership on XX/XX/XXXX. They wanted me to speak with XXXX again. XXXX was not available. I was told that he would call me back that day. I left my name and number. I did not get a call back. 

I called again on XX/XX/XXXX. I was told that I needed to speak to XXXX but he was not in until XXXX. I called again after XXXX was in. He was not available. I left my name and number again. He did give me a call back this time. I told him that the flash drive was blank. He did not apologize. He stated that he always double checks to them before he give them to customers. I then asked why the loan was with XXXX XXXX. He said I was declined with XXXX XXXX XXXX. I asked who else he applied with and what the rates were. He told me XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, and another bank. I know these are not all of the places that the dealership works with. I know they are also the ones that have higher interest rates. 

I went into the dealership on XX/XX/XXXX to get copies of what I signed. XXXX once again did not apologize that I had to take time out of my day to come in to get them. He also did not apologize for calling me a liar when I brought it to his attention that the flashdrive was blank. Prior we had not discussed how much I wanted to pay per month. XXXX stated to me that I should be good because the payment was about what I wanted to pay each month. I took the physical copies and left. 

When I got home, I had a letter in the mail from the dealership stating that my license plates were available to pick up. This was not mentioned when I was there earlier in the day. My phone number was on file and I did not receive a phone call or text to notify me either. I went back to dealership and picked up the plates. The dealership is 25 minutes from my house.

I called XXXX XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX to validate that I was declined. I was not declined with them. They had offered me an interest rate of 3.29 % but did not receive any follow up documents from the dealership. I then called the dealership department at XXXX XXXX. They confirmed that they do offer incentives to loan officers at Larry H Miller XXXX  XXXX XXXX. Because I do not work for the dealership, they would not provide how much of an incentive was provided. This means that XXXX knowingly went with a higher interest loan and got some sort of compensation from XXXX XXXX without talking to me about this. 

I called the dealership back on XX/XX/XXXX. I asked to speak with the manager of dealership of the manager over the finance department. XXXX stated that was him. He did not provide a last name. I explained the situation. He then offered me copies of the documents. In explaining to him what happened, I had told him that I picked up physical copies. He then stated he was not there so he did not know why the lender was changed. I said that he can check with XXXX and call me back. He then stated that I was not listening and he did not feel like he should help me. I told him that he should help when XXXX had been deceptive. He told me I should not use the word deceptive. I told him again to find out what happened from XXXX and call me back. He did not take my phone number. 

I have been called a XXXX. I have been told that I would not be helped. I have spent hours trying to get this fixed. In the end, this deceptive bait and switch that has been pulled will unfairly cost me a lot of money in extra interest. I trusted Larry H Miller XXXX to have my best interest in mind when helping me with the financing portion of the purchase. They did not.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation