Consumer complaint received 2015-08-27
Product: Consumer Loan — Vehicle loan
Issue: Managing the loan or lease — 
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY (GA)

Wells Fargo Dealer Services provided financing for my brand new XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX which I purchased at XXXX XXXX XXXX of XXXX in XXXX XXXX. Late in the year XXXX I was the victim of identity theft and with damaging information still on my credit at the time I was not able to get financing through XXXX XXXX XXXX as I was on my previous brand new XXXX XXXX. 

Having previously only worked with banks and finance companies such as XXXX XXXX I found the experience with Wells Fargo Dealer Services to be as surprising as it was unpleasant and predatory. For XXXX good starting example, the loan was originally written by WFS Financial which later became WFS Dealer Services which later became Wells Fargo Dealer Services and though the name changed the bad experience remained the same. 

Soon after purchasing my XXXX XXXX XXXX my professional and financial situation took a turn for the worse and within the XXXX XXXX payments I fell behind by XXXX month and very nearly lost the car to repossession. For the next XXXX ( nearly XXXX ) years and with much difficulty I managed to make the payments and ultimately pay off the loan in full ahead of term in XXXX XXXX. The loan was for XXXX years, the amount financed was approximately {$15000.00}, the total amount paid by me was approximately {$30000.00} and the interest rate was approximately XXXX percent annually. 

Over the course of the loan during my difficulties the named finance company increased my rates and payments and charged me for unneeded services such as auto insurance stating inaccurately that I did n't have any insurance on the car. They also stated that there were no provisions available to their customers who were having financial difficulty until the customer was able to show that their situation had improved. 

One thing I will give them credit for is being honest and upfront with me ( once I was a customer or victim ) about the predatory nature of how they did business. As a professional adult who has done hard business I do also realize that dealings are not always going to be necessarily pleasant ; however, my experience with this organization was so indescribably horrible that I am literally starting to shake as I type thinking about it and it ended nearly XXXX years ago. XXXX experience in particular in XXXX when I first fell behind was a phone conversation with a " XXXX XXXX '' who told me she would help by repossessing the car was the most unpleasant and unprofessional conversation of my life to date and I am XXXX years old. 

Early this year I paid cash for a used XXXX from an independent dealer and I may never use a large dealership such as XXXX XXXX or dealer financing ever again largely as the result of this experience. 

The summary of this complaint is that Wells Fargo Dealer Services, using a number of different names, demonstrated predatory practices in their handling of my auto financing such as excessive fees, interest and unneeded and overpriced services such as insurance all while providing a nightmarish customer or victim experience.