I bought a Honda from Cleo Bay almost a year ago. I paid 3/4 of the price in cash and took a loan with Navy Federal Credit Union, only a few thousand dollars, to pay the balance so there would be no liens on the title.
I lost my job about 6 months ago, and when I couldn't keep up with my payments, Navy Federal made harassing and threatening phone calls to me, threatening to repossess my vehicle — but the title said NO LIENS. I applied for the loan online, and not one time did I ever sign anything giving Navy Federal an interest in the car or agreeing to use it as collateral. And not once when I spoke to the representative did any of them say anything about the car being used for collateral. And I didn't think anything of this because it was a small loan, and because being in the military, they can always get their money.
Navy Federal refused to work with me on catching up payments, and called Sue Ramirez and the finance department at Cleo Bay and discussed my personal and banking information with them, without my knowledge and permission. I know this because Sue emailed me then saying she knew I was behind on my payments and Honda was getting ready to repo the vehicle!
First, the vehicle was paid off, and second, I never took any loans or had any financial dealings with Honda except for paying them in full for the vehicle.
She also said she wanted me to return the title since the clerk had made a mistake and should have put a lien on it. I showed my mom what was going on because I didn't know what to do about it, and because Navy Federal had never told me or had me sign anything, she said not to send the title, it had not been promised as collateral.
My mom also tried to contact Sue Ramirez and ask what was going on, but Sue would not answer. My mom then contacted the manager, Brian Hoenig, who emailed her and said he could not talk to her, even though I sent him written permission to do so. They would not respond to why they were discussing my personal and financial information with Navy Federal, or what their involvement was, or exactly what they wanted to do with the title.
Now they have filed a lawsuit against the Texas Department of Transportation to have my title rescinded and changed! I have had to get a lawyer to deal with this, and I have also written my congressman about Navy Federal's unethical and probably illegal banking practices.
CAUTION — DO NOT BUY YOUR VEHICLE FROM CLEO BAY HONDA! They lie, they are sneaky, they won't answer questions, and they will violate your privacy and try to trick you into doing things that are not right!
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