Consumer complaint received 2018-07-11
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Managing the loan or lease — Billing problem
Company: TOYOTA MOTOR CREDIT CORPORATION (CA)

There are several issues with my auto loan, and how it is being poorly mishandled I will try to cover it all here. My girlfriend and I purchased a vehicle on XX/XX/XXXX through a dealership and used a loan from Toyota Financial. Then, on XX/XX/XXXX, our vehicle was stolen. We had our Auto insurance policy revoked a few weeks prior to the theft, due to a clerical error by the DMV in the reporting of my DL history. But we had purchased GAP insurance when we bought the car, and we filed a GAP claim. It was approved. Our car was recovered the day after it was stolen, but there was considerable damage to the vehicle. The overall estimate for repairs was {$15000.00}. GAP determined that the repairs were more than the car was worth ( value at time of loss was {$15000.00} ) and they determined it was a " Total Loss ''. On the phone, they told us that they would cover the value of the car with the loan, as outlined in our GAP Agreement and recover the vehicle, but that we would be responsible for the remaining balance owed. We thought that was fair. It took two more months for GAP to make their payment, and when they did on XX/XX/XXXX, it was for {$7500.00}. We filed a release of liability with the DMV as instructed by the GAP department to do once they made payment, but because this was much less than the value of the vehicle, we attempted several times to get Toyota Financial to pay the remaining {$8100.00}. At the same time, we continued to make our payments of {$420.00} each month, and actually, we were paying {$450.00} every four weeks to pay the loan off sooner. But, in XX/XX/XXXX, Toyota Financial started reporting that our account was past due over 30 days to the three credit agencies. We attempted to correct the issue with Toyota, but they said our " account reporting was correct ''. So we contacted the three agencies with supporting documents, and they corrected the issue. Then, in XX/XX/XXXX ( XX/XX/XXXX we believe ) while we were attempting, over the phone, to get our remaining GAP payment, we were informed that they were going to file a repossession on our credit because we " abandoned '' the vehicle at the XXXX XXXX. We argued how this was not legal as we had not received any notice in the mail, that was not what we were told by the GAP department, and outlined in our GAP agreement, they did not seem to care. They said that if we recovered the vehicle and paid all storage fees owed to the XXXX XXXX, they would not state it was a repossession. We contacted the XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) to get more information. They informed us that the storage fees were {$900.00} at that point, but even if we paid the fees, per the DMV, we did not have any legal right to the vehicle, so they would not release it to us. They also told us that they had been trying to get Toyota Financial to recover the vehicle for almost two months and did not get an response back from them until they sent Toyota Financial a notice informing them that they intended to sell the vehicle at auction on XX/XX/XXXX if they did not pay the storage fees and pick up the vehicle. We informed Toyota Financial what the XXXX XXXX informed us, and also faxed them supporting documentation that informed them they could not claim this as a repossession. We got no response. In XX/XX/XXXX, as now both of our Credit reports showed that we had a repossession on our record, we attempted to resolve things with Toyota Financial to no success. We then filed a complaint with the Department of Business Oversight. Toyota Financial sent us a response letter stating how they justified that it was a repossession and that they would remove the repossession and " re instate our loan '' ( they had closed our account sometime after XX/XX/XXXX even though we are still continuing to make payments ) if we paid them an additional {$1700.00} to cover the cost of Repossession. Although the DBO could not help with the particular situation as it was outside of their jurisdiction, they gave us advice on what we could do to resolve the issue. We followed their advice, and Toyota Financial credited our account $ XXXX.which we assumed was for our remaining GAP claim and some miscellaneous interest we were charged. They also removed the Repossession from my credit report, but not by girlfriend 's. But instead, on my credit report, they stated I was over 30 days late again. So I disputed this with the Credit agencies, and they corrected the issue. In XX/XX/XXXX, we get a call from a Debt Collection Agency, XXXX, stating that they are now in possession of our loan with Toyota Financial and owe them the remaining balance on the loan. {$7500.00}. We told them we had heard no such thing from Toyota Financial, and we did not owe anywhere near that much. They tried to convince us that we did owe that much, and that they wanted payment in full, over the phone. We declined, and called Toyota Financial the same day. Toyota informed us that they were still in possession of our loan, but also tried to tell us we owed the same amount. We asked for a copy of our current payment statement. They emailed it to us and showed us a current amount owed {$5700.00}. A few weeks later, we get a letter in the mail from Toyota Financial,  dated XX/XX/XXXX that states we owe a total of {$7500.00} because they are still trying to collect on fees they paid in getting the vehicle from the XXXX XXXX, and the fees are labeled " Cost of Repossession '' Also, it showed that the {$8300.00} that was paid to us was because the vehicle was sold at auction for that amount. Not for the remaining GAP payment. But, the vehicle was given a Salvage Title on XX/XX/XXXX per the California DMV due to the " total loss ' status. So we thought that was odd. In the beginning of XX/XX/XXXX, we get notified of an update on our Credit reports. We look, and Toyota Financial account has been removed from my girlfriend 's credit report completely, but on my report, it states " Charge off/Bad Debt. '' We then contacted Toyota again, and got another up to date payment history, and it shows that we have been making our payments on time still, but there are a lot of charges and credits for the months of XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX, on the XX/XX/XXXX statement that were not on the XX/XX/XXXX Statement. And the amounts are consistent with the fees that they kept trying to collect under the pretense of a Repossession. We have again sent paperwork to the three credit agencies to correct the erroneous reporting, and are confident that this will be corrected, again. But we feel that Toyota Financial is maliciously and intentionally reporting incorrect information on our account status to the three credit companies to prevent us from re financing our loan and purchase a new vehicle through financing because we will not pay the additional fees they say we owe.