Household Automotive Finance, HSBC ripoff we had a car loan with them, the car was totaled and the rest was written off, supposedly Schaumburg Illinois
My husband and I purchased a vehicle and used Household Automotive Finance to Finance the vehicle. My husband had an accident and the car was totaled. The insurance paid off the vehicle and they kept saying that we still owed money.
Come to find out the money they were talking about was the interest. We all know that once the vehicle has been written off as totaled and the insurance pays it off then you don't owe any interest.
Also, my husband found that the contract that they had and the contract that he had signed was a fraud. The fraud investigator at HSBC stated that it was a fraud and that my husband did not owe any money and that my husband wasn't intitled to receive any money back either. Fine, we received a letter from the investigator stating it was fraud and reported it to all 3 credit agencies. Then it came out that there is a class action lawsuit against the insurance company that does the GAP and all other insurance.
When the attoreny's office requested to get a copy of the payment history and payoff statement HSBC would not comply. So, my husband called to find out if he could get a copy himself. The customer service rep. stated that there was a balance still owing on his account and that it was about to be sold to another company for collection. My husband told the rep. that he has a letter from their fraud investigator stating that it was a fraud and the letter showing it was written off and that it was taken off his credit.
The rep got rude and told my husband that he was wrong. Can you believe these people, we have hard evidence and they are going to tell us we are wrong. So, my husband finally got a hold of the investigator and he said that he didn't know why it was still open (it has been a year) and that he will make sure that it is closed and he would mail the payment history to us.
Three weeks go by and my husband never received it and let him numerous of messages trying to find out what was going on. Finally, my husband caught him on his off day and got a hold of him on the phone again. The investigator told my husband if he had an email address to give to him that he would email it and send it overnight. He said that he mailed it the same day that they spoke (three weeks ago). The investigator told my husband to give it 30 minutes and it would be in the email.
This is another week letter, still no email and still no overnighted information. NEVER GET A CAR LOAN THROUGH THIS COMPANY. They will do anything and everything to gain a buck. We know that if they try and sell the contract to another company to collect, we will find a lawyer and take them to court with all the evidence that we have from them showing the contract was a fraud and it was taken off the credit report.
Kandy
Lawrenceville, Georgia
U.S.A.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Kandy
Lawrenceville,Georgia,
U.S.A.
We finally received the paper showing the payment history...
#4REBUTTAL Individual responds
Mon, November 28, 2005
We finally got a copy of our payment history. It was a joke. When my husband called to find out why the amount was never going down and that they were missing payments and adding payments back in they were dumb founded. First of all, they questioned where we received the information from. When we told them their office they said that it wasn't possible (the envelope and payment history was on their letterhead).
The fact of the car being totaled was not the reason for us to stop paying. The reason we stopped paying is that one, the dealership fraudulantly signed another version of the contract that was missing information that we signed when we got the vehicle. Their fraud investigator deemed it fraud and that we no longer owe any money on the vehicle and that it was reported on all 3 credit agencies that it was to be taken off of my husband's credit report and have a fraud protection put onto his credit reports. We have the letter from this gentleman (investigator with Household Automotive).
The other thing is that when we asked about the payment history they still had it on their file (1 year later after recieving the letter from their fraud investigator that we no longer owe anything) that we still owed over $5000.00. The guy was a real jerk and wouldn't believe anything my husband stated about not owing anything. Then the guy proceeds to tell my husband that they have sent his account to an outside agency to collect the money. We told them to bring it on and if so, then not only with the outside agency get sued but so will they. We are in the process of pulling my husband's credit report again to see if anything has come up on it from Household or any other agency with this vehicle.
If there is anyone out there with a lawsuit against Household please let us know. Believe me, if there are enough of us together, we might get our money back and then some.
Scott
Goldsboro,North Carolina,
U.S.A.
I know how incompetent HSBC is. They are grossly understaffed and there is high turnover in that office.
#4Consumer Comment
Sat, July 02, 2005
First off let me state that I know how incompetent HSBC is. They are grossly understaffed and there is high turnover in that office.
I'm a claims adjuster, I have handled my fair share of total losses with HSBC. NONE of them have ever financed the car the value of the vehicle. Instead most of the time they charging up to $4.00+ in interest a day. That's not their fault. They finance people with bad credit. They finance alot of people with bad credit. Of course that is no excuse for incompetence. However, they want their money that was agreed to. GAP companies are very difficult to deal with and lots of times they don't end up paying the balance. Read the fine print when you sign up for GAP. It's a great offer especially if you are overfinanced or have a trade in, that bs they say on the radio "we'll payoff your loan" what do you think the dealer just coughs up $5000 so he can get you into one of his cars? nothing is free, that balance is tacked onto the balance of the new car loan, and that doesn't go away if the car is totaled. My advice, don't get into this situation, don't live out of your means, If you can't afford a new car, don't buy a new car.
Back to HSBC. I have a tough time getting their paperwork back. This slows up the claim, this keeps people that actually have equity in their car from getting their check quickly. But, in their defense, they write to alot of people that don't finish paying their bills just cause that car is totaled it doesn't mean people can stop paying. YOu signed into a contract stating that you would pay a certain amount. The contract doesn't say "until the car is totaled" the car is just collaterial. I'm not saying this is what happened in your case, I for one hate dealing with them. THey don't return calls. They don't send out the paperwork needed. If I had the choice of getting screwed by HSBC or getting screwed by some mom and pop buy here pay here dealership I'd go with the mom and pop. Atleast I know where their office is. I know how to get up with them and if I get made enough I know how to get their attention. At HSBC the guy you call and complain to on Monday will probably have quit on friday.
Christy
Chatsworth,Georgia,
U.S.A.
We too had these same problems with household with me talking to them until blue in the face to no avail.
#4Consumer Comment
Thu, June 09, 2005
In response to the report filed by Kandy concerning Household, I could have written the report myself verbatim.
We too had these same problems with household with me talking to them until blue in the face to no avail. They were tagging on extra money after they made a deal with the insurance company to accept a payoff on my totaled car. Their explanations as to why I owed additional money on the note didn't make sense. We were getting more than one explaination so we put them to the challenge to answer which explaination given was the correct one. Even after that they continued to state the extra money was due no matter what.
This is at the point that we began to examine the original contract with a fine tooth comb. They stated that we agreed to certain terms listed on the original contract that made us liable for the extra tagged onto the note. The original copy (in our possesion) contradicted what they claimed to be the truth. They could not even produce a copy of the original to prove that we were wrong.
I began to keep a record of each time they called as well as to whom I was talking with each time. They continued to call and badger us with threats several times a day week after week. The funny part is that they kept threatening to reposses the car for a couple of months. I would tell them each time the treat was made that we no longer had it because it had been a total loss in an accident. Its amazing that no one never ever recorded that information and I told them over a dozen times when the threat was made. Finally I gave up and told them to do what they needed to do.
I fought this company week in and week out. Time and again promised copies of my payment history that never seemed to show up in the mail. I did finally get one after several months and it was a total fraud. They had recorded payments that I had made as being over payments, then they switched gears and recorded payments short, they even recorded payments that I knew I never made to them. After all this they were claiming at one point the extra money was charges added on as late fees. Thats when I pointed out how can I be late when you claim the majority of my payments were over payments. It became obvious that each time I spoke to this company that they were making up different excuses and stories as they went along.
We did eventually resolve this but it took over 5 months with numerous calls badgering us day in and day out demanding that we pay payments on the disputed amount. I had sent written documentation that I disputed the amounts they claimed we owed but the calls continued anyway.
I filed my own rip-off reports on household if anyone cares to look them up. If you haven't resolved this yet then I wish you well on the outcome. The only thing I can say is that you be determined not to let them win. I even had one of their investigators agree that they were in the wrong and in the next breath had the nerve to lecture me on my credit and said let this be a lesson to you in the future....blah, blah,blah.
Any way I wish you well Kandy.