Consumer complaint received 2017-09-27
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Getting a loan or lease — Fraudulent loan
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION (MD)

In XXXX 2016, I was in a position where I needed to acquire another vehicle for my family and was contacted via email by Capital One soliciting an automatic pre-approval for an auto loan for up to {$25000.00} at any participating XXXX dealer. Since I already had a fair experience with their credit card services, I decided to utilize this offer and went to the nearest XXXX location which was XXXX XXXX of XXXX, MD located at XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX MD XXXX. I staff involved included XXXX XXXX XXXX ( salesperson ) and XXXX XXXX ( finance manager at the time of purchase ). When I was working with XXXX to purchase a XXXX XXXX XXXX ( because part of the requirements for the pre-approval was that the car had to be a new model ) I was informed that my interest rate was 22.99 %. When I asked why the interest rate was so high, I was told it was because of my credit score. My credit score at the time was ~545. I was informed that refinancing was a possible option in the future and since I was in desperate need for a car, proceeded anyway. After three months of timely payments, I encountered monetary hardship and was looking for a solution ; so I returned to XXXX in search of seeking help and cancelling my extended warranty to pay down some of the principal value of the car. I cancelled my warranty successfully but when I mentioned that I was concerned about the terms of the loan, I was informed by the new finance manager that it was out of their hands since the transaction was already completed and I needed to take it up with Capital One. 
I then contact Capital One, inform them that I was concerned about the terms and conditions of my loan and asked them for help. They informed me that I should go online and apply for refinancing with them, look for participating dealers in my area and see if they will accept a trade-in of my XXXX XXXX to remedy the situation. Following their advice, I researched various dealerships from their approval list and coordinated visits with 9 of them. This resulted in denial by all of them for ANY auto loan or refinance from any financial institution, including Capital One. No dealership was willing to assist me due to the financial loss their business would incur facilitating a refinance. I called Capital One back to inform them that their advice was misleading and the representative stated to me that they didnt know why the last person told me that because Capital One does not refinance auto loans that were originally financed through their bank and apologized for the inconvenience. 
Since this occurrence, I have been in consistent communication via phone with Capital One and have asked for assistance with a resolution to this problem but I have not been successful. After feeling like I had exhausted all options, I even worked with them to establish a payment plan and a 90 day catch up. Every time I would call to make an additional payment, each representative informed me that my updated balance was now higher than what it was before and when I would request that information in writing they did not provide it to me. How am I able to ever catch up if each Capital One representative tells me that I owe a different amount? When I speak with their representatives, I never get presented with viable solutions but they are very adamant about contacting me harassing me numerous times every day ( including weekends ), leaving unprofessional messages stating that I am deliberately avoiding their phone calls and even having the repossession company call my job looking to apprehend the vehicle. It is not a coincidence that every time a new hard inquiry was made at a dealership in my search of an approval, Capital One made sure to ramp up their collection phone calls to me. All of the information Ive stated in this complaint can be verified via Capital One phone records recorded for quality assurance. 
The total purchase price of this XXXX XXXX with the astronomical interest rate of 22.99 % is $ XXXX-the average price of a luxury vehicle. I later was informed by another salesperson at one of the Capital One approved refinance dealerships that based on my original credit score at the time of my application, the interest rate should have been much lower, which ( in conjunction with my experience so far ) made it very clear that I was a victim of predatory lending. I also later learned that my loan was structured as a front-loaded secured simple interest loan which I was not informed of at the time of purchase because I would not have consented to that. This has made it impossible for me to afford this loan and pay it down rapidly and successfully. Trying to remedy this situation that was supposed to help build my credit has instead resulted in 18 hard inquiries on my credit report within the last 7 months and extreme financial and emotional distress. The terms and conditions of this loan and the actions of the staff at Capital One and XXXX XXXX of XXXX have severely decreased my credit score which has prevented me from access to additional solutions that may resolve this issue because my debt to income ratio is too high to qualify for a personal loan, refinance or the purchase of a home for my family of XXXX