Well in order to get the full effect, I need to rewind the hands of time back to 2001 and move forward.in May I leased a brand new 01 Toyota Tacoma for 48 months, and made all my required payments as scheduled, and also once a year a per my contract, reimbursed TMC or as they are called now TFS for property taxes accessed on my vehicle.
In March with my lease coming to expire May 1st of that year, I decided to purchase my truck and finance a purchase loan through TMC. So after sitting with the finance guy at my local dealership for what seemed an eternity, he obtained all the pertinent information from TMC of any and all fees needed to close the lease contract satisfactorily and move forward to the purchase financing. After signing what seemed like a countless amount of paperwork, my lease agreement was satisfactorily closed, and my new financing was all in place. All marker plates owned by TMC were turned in, and a brand new registration was issued to me, so property taxes would be billed directly to me. Only made sense right?
Well up until early 2006 I thought all my leasing troubles were a thing of the past. Boy was I wrong, when unexpectedly I received a bill from the tax dept. Of TMC, stating that I had to reimburse them for property taxes that they had paid on my behalf on the vehicle I had once leased from them. So to clear up confusion I called them immediately.
After speaking with a rep. She informed me that I had to reimburse TMC for taxes they paid on my old lease account, now mind you this account was satisfactorily closed by TMC a year earlier. I told her that any and all fee's that were to be paid to satisfactorily end my lease agreement were paid using the numbers from TMC's own finance people, and that was done back in March of 05.
After that conversation I forwarded a written letter of dispute with all information about this transaction, and never heard another word from TMC. Dispute settled right? I wish!
Yesterday evening 12/27/07 I get a call from a collection agency who's client is TMC, looking for reimbursement for the taxes their client paid on my behalf. A year and a half after I had last had contact with anyone from TMC about this issue. I politely told the lady on the phone, that this so called "debt" she was trying to collect was a debt that didn't exist and the terms of my contract were satisfied to TMC and they had released me from that contract and closed it satisfactorily, so I owe them nothing. Once a contract is closed satisfactorily anything that arises after the fact is null and void.
So after explaining my side of the story, the collections lady informed me that if I didn't pay the debt. They would report me to the credit reporting agencies. This practice is so underhanded, I know i'm going to have a long hard fight against me if this threat comes true. TMC knows that once they satisfactorily close an account it is a done deal and can't reopen it. So what do they do... They sell off what they can't collect on, and in my instance it's a debt I don't even owe, to a collection agency who in return can create a new account and mar my credit standing.
I refuse to let big companies bully small consumers as myself, and will be sending a formal complaint to my States Attorney Generals office for this kind of underhandedness, and advise anyone who feels they have been wronged to do so as well if you can't resolve the issue on your own.
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