Complaint / Review
SunTrust Bank
Auto Loan Shows Over 25 Late Payments Despite On-Time Payments

I financed my vehicle with SunTrust in 2004. I made my payments on time every single month. I sent in my 60th payment in July, which I thought was my last payment according to the terms of the loan agreement. Two weeks later I got a call from SunTrust saying I still owed $3300! But the person I was talking to could not really explain to me why I still owed money. So I requested a copy of my account history. Two weeks later I got it in the mail, and they had charged me over 25 late payments over the past 5 years, with interest accruing on the leftover principal.

All of my payments were made on time. I was never late. When I first got the loan, I noticed that a payment did not post to my checking account for several weeks after the payment was sent. I called and asked them about it, and they told me that it just takes a little while to post to my checking account. I never gave it a second thought. Big mistake.

Late fees were always charged on the 22nd (the end of the grace period), and wouldn't you know, my payment would post the very next day, on the 23rd. Like clockwork, this happened with more than half of all of the payments made.

Almost always, payments did not post to my checking account until weeks after I sent them in. Not once in 5 years did I receive anything from SunTrust stating that a late fee was charged. SunTrust would call like clockwork on the 8th (the date it was due) of every month and ask where the payment was, and, as always, I would let them know it had been mailed, and by the 12th of every month they would stop calling about the payment.

So now, after paying $66,000 for a vehicle, abiding by the terms of the contract, arguing with them on the phone for hours, and sending them copies of all the checks written and all bank statements, they are reporting me late to the credit bureaus and threatening to repo the vehicle unless I pay the $3300 immediately.

Funny, I have talked to two people in the past month who have had the exact same thing happen to them with their auto loan with SunTrust.

So I get to spend money on an attorney to fight this, because I absolutely refuse to pay them this money for fake late fees.