After hearing from Maxon Credit that I was approved for an auto loan through my lendingtree.com request I had several conversations with a female representative (excluding her name but I dealt with the same woman throughout the process) about what the exact terms would be. I told her I had already picked out the vehicle I wanted and was shopping for the best rate. She assured me that although they like to sell you a vehicle from their related dealership's stock, they are an independent loan center and could certainly get me a great rate on the loan I needed. While she said she would not have the specific rate until all the paperwork was in order, she said my credit was excellent and she had already run the deal through her finance manager for their approval.
At this point I faxed the requested documents (pay stub and utility bill) along with the vehicle's fact sheet from the dealership. I called her again to confirm she got the fax and point out the vehicle's fact sheet so there was no misunderstanding that I only wanted a loan. Again, I was told this was not a problem. The next day I traveled the 35 minutes to their Union location to complete the deal. The woman I had been working with met me in the lobby and escorted me to an office. She asked to make a copy of my license and sign a credit application.
While she was making a copy in another room a gentleman who was never introduced to me came and sat at the table and began thumbing through my file. The woman came back in, handed me my license, a copy to the gentleman and left without saying a word. He noticed the copy of the vehicle's fact sheet and confirmed that I was looking for that make and model. I clarified that he was looking at the exact vehicle I wanted and that I was here for a loan to purchase it. He said due to the mileage that he was unsure if a bank would do the deal. I pointed out that the vehicle is in excellent condition, good price relative to it's book value and has very reasonable mileage for it's age. I also noted that the dealership and a local bank had already offered me reasonable financing but I was shopping rates. He said he could definitely show me similar vehicles with better mileage, better options, etc. I politely pointed out that, as agreed on the phone earlier, I was only interested in the truck he was holding the details on. He stepped out to check with his boss and returned shortly to say they would/could not do the deal. I told him I was very upset at this news since I had already been told I was "pre-approved" for a loan amount more than three times what I was looking for, confirmed numerous times that they would do a deal for a vehicle not from their inventory and they had the vehicle's details in their hands for 24 hours without a mention that it would be a problem. I asked that he call in the woman I had been speaking with so that we could clarify the situation but he immediately said she had "stepped out" without even checking.
At this point I got up and left since I could see this was not going to go anywhere. I have placed several calls to the woman without a return call. I did not make those calls in an effort to salvage the deal but rather to ask her why she made so many false promises only to waste everyones time. Clearly Maxon Credit is in the business of making loan offers to get you in the door but will only sell you autos from their sources. They may very well sell quality cars but I am very frustrated with the false promises and time wasted unnecessarily.
UPDATE - I just called again and spoke to the female representative and was told that they could not do the deal since the vehicle was being purchased from an auto auction. Keep in mind that the vehicle was from the dealer's inventory and not part of a live auction nor was this problem pointed out when they received the fact sheet with the dealer's name on it. They claim the fact that they could not "look through the vehicle" prohibited them from financing it.
Odd how two other banks would do the deal sight unseen and when I called the dealership they said anyone is allowed to come down and look over a vehicle but noted they have never had a bank representative come do so. I chalk this up to as an excuse they crafted once I was out the door. I find it odd how I had to call her to get this information. You would think a legit operation would call to apologize to an upset prospect and possibly try to save a sale. Lesson learned. Buyer beware.
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