Consumer complaint received 2018-12-27
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Managing the loan or lease — Problem with fees charged
Company: TD BANK US HOLDING COMPANY (OH)

I purchased a new vehicle in XX/XX/XXXX from a dealership, who coordinated a loan with TD Auto Finance, which I used to finance approximately $ XXXX over 5 years for {$370.00} / month. 

We made our first two payments in XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX via checks on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, we set up automatic payments and made an online payment for the month of XX/XX/XXXX. I was notified via email on XX/XX/XXXX that autopay was setup and would be effective on XX/XX/XXXX to cover the XX/XX/XXXX payment. Additionally, we received a letter from TD Auto Finance on XX/XX/XXXX notifying us that our auto pay was setup and that it would begin auto paying on XX/XX/XXXX and that this would continue until the final payment was due in XX/XX/XXXX, which would be a different amount that we would be notified of via mail. 

TD Auto Finance never again contacted us via phone, email, or mail over the next 4.5 years. Every month I saw the {$370.00} deducted from our account and assumed that everything was processing as it should with the loan. 

The next communication we received, 4.5 years later, was a notice that our final payment for {$440.00} was due, along with {$1600.00} in late fees for a total of {$1900.00} due. We had no idea what these late fees were for, nor did we ever know we were past due on anything. 

I contacted TD Auto Finance on XX/XX/XXXX and was informed that during autopayment setup, they believed that a payment was missed and so every payment since then was considered late and was charged a late fee. I asked to speak to a manager and was told I would receive a callback in 24-48 hours. I never received a callback. 

I contacted TD Auto Finance again on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke to XXXX XXXX who was eventually able to connect me to her manager, XXXX XXXX. I asked Ms. XXXX why I was never contacted about a late fee, and she told me that they had two bad phone numbers on my account, XXXX and XXXX. The XXXX number is a generic corporate number for a former employer of mine, but the XXXX number is not a phone number I have any affiliation with and I have no idea where they got it from. Further, she said that they do not use email at TD Auto Finance due to security issues, even though they previously notified me via email that my auto pay was successfully setup. She said they never contacted me by mail because they thought I did not want to be contacted after my online sign up for auto pay, which is obviously ridiculous to think I would not want to be contacted about late fees accruing over the course of 4.5 years. 

Ms. XXXX did not offer any possible resolutions to the {$1600.00} in late fees and complete and total lack of communication by the company. Further, when presented with the details about our payment continuity through XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX, she just said that she had seen this before and we must have missed a payment, even though we have records showing the date each payment had been made, which makes me wonder if this is a regular practice of the company. 

At this point TD Auto Finance been charging me late fees for what I believe to be their mistake and they let this continue for 4.5 years  without ever attempting to contact me via communication channels that they previously used to get in contact with me. This is clearly an unethical business practice used to charge ridiculous fees that will not be noticed until a loan comes to its final payment.