Consumer complaint received 2020-06-05
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Managing the loan or lease — Billing problem
Company: TOYOTA MOTOR CREDIT CORPORATION (IL)

My partner and I went to the XXXX dealership in XXXX on XXXX XXXX for a test drive of the new XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. We had a XXXX trade in that was upside down so we knew getting a brand new car was a longshot but we figured it wouldn't hurt to try since my partner has great credit. We test drove it and really liked how reliable and safe the car felt, something my XXXX XXXX lacked. After the test drive we sit down with the sales guy and he gives us papers to sign so they can run our credit. Shortly after his manager gets involved. He asked us how much we were willing to put down, we told him XXXX $ is all we had in our budget. He also asked us what we were comfortable paying monthly. Before the manager left to make a deal he let us know he would try his best to get us a deal shortly after came back and told us it would be under XXXX $ monthly for the car since it was a new vehicle and I was carrying over the debt from my trade in. He hastily mentioned Toyota was going to pick up some of the down payment and we would owe that as well. He gave us no details or elaborated on what that meant nor did he say the amount or any terms so we assumed whatever it was he mentioned would be added to the final amount financed and would be covered when we signed. As is the case in many car deals with added fees here and there we figured this is what he meant. We presumed that a big brand name would disclose everything with integrity so we went along blindly trusting XXXX XXXX dealership and its associates. Very excited that they took our trade in since it had roughly XXXX negative value we move forward to the finance guy. We signed the receipt that told us the amount for the down payment. The XXXX $ we put down and XXXX $ we assumed was for our trade in value totaling XXXX as down payment. Before we signed off he made sure to explain the Toyota care package and the APR on the car with the total final amount we would owe but nothing else within the contract was explained, we figured a respected name such as Toyota would surely disclose anything we absolutely needed to know so we signed without any hesitation. He almost seemed to rush through all the signatures assuming it was the easiest way to close the sale. We drive off the lot with our new car ecstatic, promptly cancelling our second appointment with a used car dealership down the street. Fast forward three weeks my partner monitors her credit and shockingly sees a new inquiry stating we have a Toyota credit card with a XXXX limit and it is maxed out. How could it be possible to have a credit card you never applied for? Before we started our dispute with the credit monitoring app we gave Toyota a call because we had just been there three weeks prior, I asked to speak to a manager I was directed to a voicemail instead of a person so I hung up. That same day we received a bill in the mail with more information. This credit card bill was the first time we saw the APR on a credit card someone had applied and opened without our consent at XXXX XXXX XXXX. The credit card bill claimed we now owed XXXX $ and it had to be paid off by XX/XX/XXXX to avoid the interest charge of 26.99 APR or end up paying XXXX $ if we only made the minimum payment of XXXX . This means on top of our XXXX  monthly car note we now had to pay an additional XXXX $ to avoid the interest from a credit card we never agreed to open. Three hours of sitting in that XXXX XXXX not one associate mentioned opening a credit card as a down payment. The manager that remotely mentioned it said Toyota is going to help with the down payment never did he mention it would come in the form of a credit card much less did he mention the amount of time we had to pay that off or the APR. Who in their right mind would put XXXX $ down payment on a credit card with six months to pay it off? This is a form of fraud. When did car dealerships gain the right to open credit cards without the approval of the consumer? On Saturday XX/XX/XXXX I spoke to the manager who got us the " deal '' only to be told I needed to calm down and that he did not have the information in front of him so he couldn't even help because he didn't know what I was talking about. I was told I had to wait until XX/XX/XXXX until he had our information only to never get a call back from him. I called back Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX after not getting a call back and requested said manager to speak to me. We needed answers so I was directed to the finance guy. The finance guy told us he specifically was told we agreed to everything and all we needed was to sign the deal. I demanded to know who opened this credit card without our consent. In the middle of demanding answers he puts me on a three minute hold, when he gets back on the line his tone has changed he is no longer defensive and is very VERY apologetic. He assured me he would get answers and speak to his superiors, he informed me he was leaving early for the day and would not get back until the end of the week. He told me he would return my call Thursday XX/XX/XXXX and to not call the dealership because he would handle it. He did not follow through, I waited until mid-day Friday XX/XX/XXXX to reach back out to him I was directed to a voicemail yet again. In said voicemail I stated my name, my phone number, and the reason for calling ; however, I had been waiting a week for answers and a resolution to this huge problem so I stated not to bother calling back after Friday XX/XX/XXXX and they didn't. That showed me they were under the impression they had done nothing wrong and we were being blown off I just needed to know why this had been done. Maybe because they're such a big name they felt protected but no matter how big the corporation it remains an immoral act to open credit cards without the knowledge and consent of the consumer. It is and always will be a form of fraud. Now we are stuck paying XXXX $ + for unethical behavior. We would have NEVER gotten the car if we had known it was a credit card helping us purchase the car, the APR on the credit card, and the amount of time we had to pay it off without interest. None of it was disclosed to us and we are now deeply burdened by this debt. We are stressed and scared for the impact this will have on our credit scores. Now we're stuck and have such a bad perception of the Toyota brand we wish we could give the car back but we're stuck for 6 plus years with a vehicle we would have never accepted if they had communicated this credit card.