This is the worst finance company there is! I should have known from the get go! I bought my car in I put down $1,200 and I was approved for a loan for the remainder of the cost of the car. I was told by the dealership that BEFORE I would start to pay AutoBank my monthly payment, I would have to pay the dealership $990 ($330/2 weeks) over the course of six weeks to pay the remainder of the down payment.
30 days after I purchased the car, I received a call from AutoBank. They were requesting my first monthly payment to them. I explained to them that they had made a mistake, and the dealership made it very clear to me that I would start my payments with them after I finished paying the $990 for the remainder of the down payment, and there was no misunderstanding on my part, because it was on paper. The lady on the other end said that the dealership made a mistake, and they needed a payment from me within 5 days (The same day the $330 was due.) or they would charge me a late fee. I was only 18 years old, there was no way I could come up with over $700 for the payment to the dealership, AutoBank, and my car insurance company.
I called the dealership, and they told me that it was AutoBank's mistake, and they would contact them, and return my call. I didn't hear from the dealership for a couple of days, so I called them again. They told me I would have to contact AutoBank myself, that there was nothing they could do.
I called AutoBank, and explained to them again that my payments to them were not supposed to start until I completed the payments to the dealership. I was getting nowhere with these people. So I broke down, called my Dad, and told him I needed a couple of hundred dollars, which he barely had, to pay these people.
I paid on time for a few months, and then I lost my job. My parents helped me out, but the payment would be at the most, 4 days late.By the 4th day, they would have been calling anywhere from 3-6 times per day, and not only my phone, but my Mom's phone, my Dad's phone, my boyfriend's phone, and my friend's phones, even after I would let them know the payment would be just a few days late. I found another job soon after, and everything became steady again, but if my payment was even 1 day late, I would receive 4 phone calls per day.
Recently, due to the rough economy, I lost my job again. I was having a lot of personal health problems, and my Mom needed help to pay the bills to keep a roof over our head and food on the table. I called and explained my situation, but they were rude and still demanded money from me. I explained to them that I couldn't do that, and would be willing to work out a payment plan instead, but they insisted on the full amount. I was under enough stress, so I agreed, hung up, and set up my own payment plan: I'd pay them when I could.
Over the past few months, I would send a hundred here, a hundred there, only what I could. I started ignoring their 50 phone calls per day, I was under enough stress, I didn't need anymore. I explained my situation, and they didn't want to work with me, and I wasn't going to repeat myself. One day, I received a phone call, but I couldn't answer it, from none other than AutoBank. Holiday, their very unprofessional, very rude vice president, left a voicemail, very rudely demanding information about my lawyer if I had one, and that he had moved my account to another department and that they were not going to be calling me anymore. I was thankful for this, my phone and my parents' phones wouldn't be ringing non-stop throughout the day.
A few days later, I got a phone call from a strange 954 number, knowing it was probably them, I ignored the call, and went about what I was doing. They left a voicemail, so I checked it. A female, by the name of Rachel, was practically screaming into the phone as if the mic on her phone wasn't picking up what she was saying, demanded me or my Mom return her phone call by 5:00. It was about 1:30. I went about my day as if I never received the call. I was in Winter Haven visiting a friend that I hadn't seen in a long time, and I wasn't going to let them ruin the day.
Two days passed, I got another phone call from the same number, I ignored it, they left a voicemail of course. It was Rachel, again, screaming into the phone, again, demanding I return her call by the end of the day. I still had no money, and you can't draw blood from a stone, I said what I needed to, so once again, I ignored the call.
The next morning, I was trying to sleep, they had used some sort of program to display a different number on my caller ID and who I thought was my Mom calling, because that's what the display said, but on the other end, it was Rachel. I pretended to be my "sister", because they shouldn't be rude to family members that aren't involved in the situation. She told me she was from the legal department, so I explained my situation again, I told her I was having health problems, I had lost my job, and a lot of my unemployment money was going to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table. This time around, she was very polite and understanding. She told my "sister" to tell me to give her a call that day before 2:00 and that she was willing to work something out with me.
I got my few hours of sleep, woke up, and returned her call, this time, as myself. She was polite, once again, and told me she was willing to work something out with me, that I didn't owe very much more, and they did not want to come take the car. I told her that I would be able to send them $320 if they gave me a week, and she said she could do that. She said that their staff is very understanding now that the economy is bad, but I knew this wasn't true of them, but only of her. I told her I would give her a call the following week with my debit card information so they could process my payment.
I called back a week later, paid the $320 as promised, and they asked when I would be able to send them more money. It was early in the morning, so I made the mistake of telling them I would be able to send another $320 in two weeks, completely forgetting that my car insurance needed to be paid. They agreed to this and Rachel told me if I came across any problems to just give her a call.
Two weeks passes, and this is when I realize that the car insurance needed to be paid, and there wouldn't be any money left to send to these people. I called them, and I think there is something wrong with their phones, because Beatrice picked up, and yelled into the phone, "AUTOBANK, " so loudly that my ear hurt and I needed to hang up and call back in a few minutes. Once I regained my hearing, I called back, this time, I held the phone away from my ear and braced myself for the scream, and of course, that was a good idea, because she answered the phone again and yelled, "AUTOBANK, " so I explained the situation, and that I had made a mistake and it was my fault, and asked if it was possible to push it back just another two weeks, but I would definitely be able to pay the $320 then. She said that it wasn't possible, so I told her that I had already spoke to Rachel, and that she told me to call if anything came up and that's what I was doing. She told me to hold on and then transferred me to Rachel's extension. It went to her voicemail, so I left her a quick message telling her about my mistake.
An hour later, I received a phone call from them, but my phone had forwarded it to voicemail for some reason. It was Renato, he said that they could not wait and to return his call. I returned his call, and it went to his voicemail, so I left him a message, saying I could probably send $50, but not the $320.
I didn't hear from anyone for two days, but any phone call I got after that was just them calling to get money out of me, not anything significant or out of the ordinary.
A week later, Renato got ahold of their number changing program, because he changed his number to a local phone number, but not one that was in my phonebook. I didn't answer it, and let it go to voicemail. He didn't leave a message, but he did call my Mom, and started questioning her. He asked her questions like where the car was, where I was, etc., she said she didn't know anything, and then called me to tell me what happened.
Two days later, Holiday called again, I ignored it, and he left a voicemail saying he wasn't interested in the car, but in taking me to court. Yeah, that's going to speed up my check arrival and make me want to pay you any faster!
The same day, Renato called again, and by now, I was just tired of their calls, so I picked up, and told him I was having personal health problems, involving pregnancy complications, and that I would need a couple of days to send a payment because I really was not feeling well enough to go deposit money into my bank account. He asked if I had gone to a hospital and demanded the name, address, and phone number of the hospital, saying he couldn't wait. I got very offended by this, snapped, "I'll just have someone send a payment, " and hung up on him.
I waited the few days until I felt better and paid them on my time. I sent them $240 to get them off my back.
So now that leads me to this... I sent them my last $55 yesterday. I MoneyGramed the payment and called afterhours and left a voicemail with the reference number. I haven't heard anything from them today, but I'm sure they'll continue to call 7 times a day, as if it's going to get the check in my hand any faster.
Basically, what I'm trying to warn everyone about, is that these people are rude and unprofessional, except for Rachel. If you can avoid dealing with them, please do, unless you want to be stressed out during these tough times, because they really don't care what anyone is going through!!
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