Ok, I am completely stuck on how to proceed with this issue, so here is the issue:
Late last year my wife and I were unable to make our payments on our Drive Financial auto-loan.in working with Drive Financial, we were able to work out a situation where the auto loan was taken over by a friend of the family, with the understanding that we would be responsible for the payments should she default (yes, I know the inherent risks of this, however it was this option or repossession).
Fortunately, Drive had told us they would do a deferral once my wife and I were employed again.
In January, we were able to get the deferment, we spoke to someone at Drive Financial who explained that there were late fees that had to be paid in the future.
So far so good right! Not so much...
Saturday, my wife and I receive a call from Drive who says we are past due the amount of $274.40, by 6 days. We confirmed that a payment was made on time since the deferrment, and I recieved a statement from Drive as of 02/12 that states the following:
Balance: $7,768.39
Payments Made: 33
Last Payment Made: 1/22
Reg Payments due on: 25th
Payments due: 02/25 $335.12
Fees: $50.00
Late Charges: $66.92
Past Due Amount: $0.00 (Yes ZERO DOLLARS)
Total Amount Due: 452.04
I confirmed that a full payment was made on 02/25.
I had the account rep check to see where this amount magically appeared from. She "looked" at my payment history and it showed that we were behind all of 2006 by $274.40.
I explained my situation and that I had received the statement from Drive, and that if I call into the automated phone system it shows no amount as past due, and she said that there must have been an error.
Drive refuses to edit the account to make the amount corrected. I know for a fact that I was not behind during the entire year of 2006. We did not fall behind until September of last year. We were always current with our payments.
I requested that Drive cease from calling me until I have the opportunity to contest this past due charge (which I will do in writing).
I also requested a statement of account be sent to me showing the payment history, but what are my rights during this process. It seems to border on fraud for a finance company to offer a deferment, send a statement of account, and then a month later decide that you owe an additional $274.40.
Drive is offering no remedies to this error. I honestly don't believe I owe this amount, but if I do, I am not in a position to make it current right away. It also seems that Drive should be responsible for deferring this amount (at a minimum) until the end of the auto loan.
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