Consumer complaint received 2016-12-02
Product: Consumer Loan — Vehicle loan
Issue: Problems when you are unable to pay — 
Company: BMO Bank, N.A. (IA)

I have XXXX complaints about the online banking access for auto loan customers. 
XXXX. BMO Harris bank has a policy that your loan remain in good standing for XXXX months before you are allowed view your loan via BMO Harris XXXX Banking. There is no justification for this policy other than that it makes it much more difficult for people to make payments and to view their loan information. People who have gone into default are clearly already struggling, so why would an entity make it more difficult to access payment methods or to view loan information. Banks should be in the business of making it simple for customers to pay them back timely. In addition, when they are extra charges or something of that nature, it is impossible to investigate without online access unless you take the time to call a representative at BMO which can take a very long time with lots of tranfers to different people. We live in a world where people have easy access to the internet no matter what socioeconomic bracket they XXXX fall into. It is predatory to create barriers to access to those who have struggled in the past. The only reason I can think of to justify this policy is that XXXX actually has financial interest in people defaulting as they can issue fees or reposess. If they do not have this financial interest that I suggest, then I would like to know what interest they do have. 
XXXX. When I was in default, I was told I could not have online access. Several people told me that if I got out of default, I would have online access. I struggled really hard and made up payments by skipping out on many other things to find out that when I was finally caught up, I still would not have access. No XXXX EVER told me there was a XXXX month waiting period. In fact, the last time I called and found out that I did not in fact have online access, the representative told me that I would never have the option of online access because people who go into default never get it. When I received this formal letter from XXXX, that is the first time I had ever heard of such a policy, which bolsters my first complaint - I would like online access because the representatives that I speak to over the phone often have no idea what they are talking about and can not help me. 

I also have a complaint in response to the letter that was addressed to my first complaint. It said that no one ever told me I owed {$4000.00} dollars. When the man came to repossess my car ( which I did n't know was going to happen because BMO did not warn me of this ), he told me to my face that unless I paid {$4000.00} dollars then I would lose my car. And I told him he was incorrect, but he refuted many times and said that is what XXXX told him. The {$120.00} charge for repossession should not even be a charge because at the time the man came to reposess the car, a check my mother had written days before was being processed at BMO for payment. In addition, my mother had called several days before, several times, trying to make a payment but they would not let her make XXXX over the phone. BMO practices predatory policies in every regard and transaction I have had with them. I know I screwed up and got myself into default, but I paid the fees and got out of it so I should be treated fairly.