Complaint Review: ETitleLoan

On May 15, 2013 I entered into a contract with this company.  I knew it was a dangerous proposition but at the time, the risk seemed worth it.  

To begin, all correspondence was handled via telephone and email.  I was obligated to send pictures of my car, my odometer reading, my tag, my drivers license and my title as proof of colateral against the loan being offered before any written paper agreement would be sent for my review.  

Once the paperwork was submitted, I discovered a charge for $1,250.00 which the company calls a Debt Cancellation Fee.  When I called to inquire about it, I was told it was because my auto insurance policy was not paid in full, that if I had a paid in full policy, I would not be charged for it.  I inquired to delay the loan so that I could secure the auto policy and was then given a response of "well FL only lets you carry a 6 month insurance and the term of your loan is 12 months so it would still be assessed on the loan". RED FLAG #1 Still, I knew I could repay the loan and had resounded that it would not take the full 12 months to do so.   

Upon further review, I also noticed a $25.00 prepaid finance charge for Character and credit investigations reimbursement along with a fee of $79.75 Paid to Public Officials and Documentary Stamps (okay, doc fees were fair, but that first $100, not so much!).  This brought my Amount Financed to $4,846.65 PLUS my interest/finance charge of $683.20 (a 25.0743% rate).  The total amount of the loan was $3,500.00 but the total I will pay back is $5,529.85!!! (RED FLAG #2) That close to "highway robbery" in my opinion, nonetheless, I truely felt I needed the loan.

I was also told at the time that a local office would be opening in my area soon.  That currently the company was in the process of training agents in my area and that soon agents would be sent out to the field with ipads in hand to assess and make loans at the individual's location.  This sounded good as a service to clients/customers but I honestly was more curious and excited about the local office to make payments at since my contract would currently require the payments be made by money gram which would incure more cost on my end.  

I was careful to read the entire document(s) sent to me.  I made sure to request not to be contacted by telephone from auto-recordings or third parties and was happy to see that this was noted in the written agreement (page 5/6 and page 8/16).  No where in the contract does it say how many days are assessed for late payments but it does say there is a $10.00 late charge (at the time of this writing, not only have I never been late, but I have consistently paid on the day the payment is due or earlier).  The late payment information I requested was as a precaution "safety net" so to speak for my personal budget.  The prepayment paragraphs took the majority of my time to read, as I knew I wanted to pay the loan off early.  They give the impression that the loan can be paid off early but in order to do so, you must contact the company first and arrange for that to take place.  (RED FLAG #3) Since this is not uncommon for some companies (most don't want to have to issue a refund check or send a balance statment of a couple dollars) I didn't give this the attention it deserved when I took the loan out.

I was in what I felt was a irritating financial spot, so I agreed to the contract and proceeded with the companies demands.  I was asked to mail my title NEXT DAY MAIL from my local UPS store.  Of course, I had to pay for this as well.  (for those of you who don't know, thats about another $20) and was told I would have to call the company so they could speak with the store's personnel to insure I was sending the "appropriate documents".  At this point, I was questioning my judgement!!! The UPS clerk discussed with me that she had a similar issue a few days earlier and she was "taken back" my the company's handlings but she suggested that they where looking out for their own interest.  Once I started looking at the situation again from the company side, and because I was sure I would pay the loan off early, I started to ease my fears some. 

The next day, I recieved my loan.

The first payment came due on the 15th of the month.  On the 12th, I started receiving automated calls.  I called the company back and reminded them that my contract stated "no calls", they assured me they would remove my number from the system.  My payment was made, life moved on.  The next day, I received another call, in fact several that day!  Because it often takes a few days for a number to be removed I resounded that next month would be different.  I WAS WRONG!

The following month, I received three calls three days before my payment was due.  This is the same day I made my payment that month.  I received five calls the day before my payment was due.  And I received another five calls on the actual day the payment was due.  At this point, I called the company, reminded them of my contract, faxed the company a copy of my contract, and gave the company my confirmation number, date and time my payment was made.  When I called the company, I immediately received the auto recording that reminds me "this is an attempt to collect a debt and any information obtained, can and will be used for such purpose."  On this occassion, I was then told by the customer service rep that answered, it takes 1-2 days after the payment is made is post to my account with them and the phone calls would stop when the payment posted.  Now, as a client/customer I'm just pissed with their service skills.  

The third month, I again paid my payment two days before its due date.  I received calls starting three days before up to two days after my payment is due!!! The calls I received after the due date, claimed that the car could be repossessed at any time.  I continually spoke to customer service operators to continually give them the same information of my confirmation number where my payment WAS made, the date and the time.  At this point, I wrote my aggrivations out on paper, sent a certified copy of it, my contract and a copy of each month of cell phone incoming call record along with proof of payments made to the company in Miami, Attn: Legal Department.  

By my fourth month, I was notified again my telephone, that my payments could now be made online thru their website.  Curious and because I wanted to save the extra $10 I was paying MoneyGram by sending the payment through them, I opted to pay online through the etitleloan.com website that month.  I learned the payment STILL takes 2-3 days to post onto my account with them.  At that point, the phone calls were still coming and I resolved to let them call, I would file a small claim suit against the company.  

By October 2013, I started my plan to pay my loan off early.  I called to get the balance on the loan.  It had only come down to $3,420.67.  This month, I spoke to the same "supervisor" I supposedly had spoken to in previous months about the same issues! This "supervisor" claimed that my telephone equitte was less than acceptable and that I was argumentative over a small issue. When I informed her that more could be resolved if she spoke proper English and with an American dialet, she proceeded to tell me I was racist!! Well honestly, I'm not! I am prejustice, but not racist!!  I did remind her as well, that telephone calls are recorded and that could be made available should this "trouble" go to court. :)  Again, nothing has been done about the phone situation.  Now, late October is when my phone started ringing off the hook about "extending my credit with eTitleLoan".  

November brought the same headaches and issues as months past.  According to my phone records, eTitleLoan contacted me 28 times!  Most of those voicemails (yes, I finally figure out how that decline button on the phone works!) were in reguards to "extending my credit with eTitleLoan".  Only 12 were that I had an "upcomming payment due" or that "my payment was late".  Of course, my payment wasn't late!!!

At this point, I am ready to pay my loan off.  Amazingly enough though, I can't seem to talk to a representative about a pay off amount.  Everytime I call in, I get disconnected from the agent who is "transferring me to someone who can help with that request".    I thought I would go around that problem today by talking to my local office that was supposedly being set up back in May!  I went to the website, looked up my city, clicked on it and found a page with a picture of my "local office" along with a very nice description and address.  For fun, I went to check it out today! Not only is the location NOT the picture presented on the main website, but the building that is at the address given is owned by a local predominant in this community real estate developer who was VERY impressed to learn of this event.  

I personally believe that I could sue this company for the balance of my loan based only on what I have in writing of my contract and my phone records alone.  If I were a malicous person, I might hit them with harassment as well since I am pretty sure the number of calls on certains meet the statues.  At current however, my loan should be in good standing and I have not had my car repossessed but given the anxiety I feel every time my phone rings, and the shady practices I have bore witness too given my time under contract with Whetstone Partners, I worry now about not getting my title back even when the loan is paid in full!!!