Consumer complaint received 2022-10-17
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Improper use of your report — Reporting company used your report improperly
Company: World Omni Financial Corp. (GA)

My husband and I purchased a vehicle from XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. When we went to the dealership we presented with a pre-approval letter from XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX and specified that we wanted the vehicle financed through them. We filled out a credit application assuming that it would be used to confirm the terms with XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX. We were there until after XXXX because they had so many transactions to close out before us. When we went to sign the loan documents, I noticed that the documents did not have XXXX as the lender. They did not openly disclose that they had changed our lender, they just did it. Upon inquiry, we were told that the interest rate was higher with XXXX XXXX XXXX now, although we had a direct approval letter with all the terms. We were also told that the purchase tax on the vehicle would be higher if we did not complete the transaction that night as Georgia had just raise the vehicle tax rate to 6 % from 4 %. We didnt want to have to pay the addition tax fees to we waited to verify everything so we decided to move forward. 

Honestly, I had over looked the conduct of the finance department until we started to get letters in the mail in XXXX. We started receiving denial letters from various banks of which we thought were initially related to our auto loan in XXXX. I was upset about the number of them coming in because we werent aware that they had ran his credit that many times. At some point we realized that these letter were referencing a transaction on XX/XX/XXXX for a XXXX XXXX XXXX. We had purchased an XXXX XXXX, not a XXXX so I called to see what was going on. Initially I was told that it was probably someone who filled out an application online and it could be a case of Fraud. When I asked for a copy of the documents associated with this request, they then changed their tune to The credit was mistakenly retrieved and used for an approval for someone else with a similar name. They then told me that I could just request that the inquiries be removed myself. I explained that I felt that it was their error and that they should be the ones to fix it. I have called and spoke to XXXX XXXX on several occasions to no avail. These inquires are still in my husbands credit and they affecting his ability to obtain further credit. We were attempting to consolidate our credit card debt and have been denied impart due to excessive credit inquiries. We even emailed the general manager through their website in XXXX and did not receive a response. Every time I attempt to call back and speak to XXXX XXXX they say that he is not in, hes on vacation etc.. The last time I called, I was told, the general manager is a very busy man and he does have time to discuss the matter with me, Youll need to speak to XXXX XXXX. Now in retrospect, I feel that they were not telling the truth about the interest rate with XXXX, we were never given any specifics on the details of the new loan terms from XXXX. Honestly we were tired and chalked everything up to them being tired as well. Now that we have been dealing with this secondary situation for a period of months I have come to the conclusion that office frequently participates in unethical behavior and they have on concern for how their actions affect their consumers. I have several questions that I would like for them to answer as well. 

1 ) Why was the information still retrievable six weeks after our purchase? Is it standard practice to keep consumer information readily accessible weeks after closing a loan? 

2 ) Why were we not notified that our privacy was breached once they realized their mistake?

3 ) Was our information disclosed to the consumer that they thought was my husband? I mean, if they were denied for the loan wouldnt you need to inform them of the denial and discuss it with them? 

4 ) Why have they not removed the inquiries from his credit and attempted to rectify their wrong doing? 

Im truly concerned about the lack of financial safety and security at this dealership. I have yet to have another experience where someone has careless breached my privacy and did not follow through with rectifying the situation. As a consumer, I do not feel comfortable continuing to do business with this company. The is nothing that will make we feel better about them having access to my information given the extreme negligence that I have observed.