Carolina Title Loans

My son, John ** had a title loan on his 1993 Ford Mustang for $3,500.00. He received a late payment letter and I called to see if I could put the payment on my debit/credit card and also get a current statement. I was told that I was not registered in their computer to make payments and John would have to request the statement. Later that same day, we went to another location and made his payment and got a statement. He had been told his interest rate would be 35% and I immediately saw that it was at least 100% and the balance was $3,177.00 after a year of payments. His next payment would have been October 15th.

On Tuesday, September 28, the car was repossessed from John's workplace. A "claim and delivery" was obtained and John and his father went to Magistrate Court on Monday, October 11th. At this time, Carolinas Best Title Loan informed John that the car was in my name, along with two other loans. On Tuesday, October 12th, I received a notice addressed to me informing me that the car would be sold or auctioned by October 17th. At the hearing, a contract was obtained that showed my signature and my son, John's. Neither handwriting was ours and my son said the contract he signed was witnessed by his friend and he was the only one to sign it.

The car title is in his name so therefore I could not have obtained a loan in my name because the lien would not have been accepted by the DMV with his name on it. My husband received a phone call from Anthony at Carolinas Best Titles on October 13 at the store and suggested that he and I come to the store and look at the contracts and pay $8,404,85 in order to get the car back. Unpaid principal $6,356.12, unpaid interest charges $1,048.73, expense of taking the vehicle $1,000.00 for at total of $8,404.85. I refuse to do this or pay for a bill that I am not titled to.

Therefore, Carolina Best Title has his car and he has lost his car because of an altered contract, forged signature and a repossession before the payment due date of October 15th. I have also been informed that the repossession company of SouthEastern Recovery, which is located at the same location and is owned by Carolinas Best Title is operating without a business license. This needs to be investigated to find out if legitimate.

I think it is sad that companies like this are permitted to operate in the state of South Carolina. I consider it to be financial predators, who prey on the poor and ignorant. I cannot understand why there is not a cap for the interest rate that they can charge. I consider this company and the owner to be a crook and a danger.

In August of 2008, I wanted to honor promises to my 10-year old daughter to take her to Carrowinds. Because of the economy, I'd just restructured my business to a much smaller one-man operation and things were taking off very slow. I applied and received a title loan from Carolina Title Loans, Inc. To be sure that I could pay it back, I requested the minimum amount possible ($601) on my 2000 GMC Safari work van valued at $3,440. Unfortunately, one the day I made the loan, I went to jail for 3 1/2 months for bounced checks from my previous business.

Immediately after release, I contacted Carolina Title Loans and spoke with Courtney. I asked her would it be okay, because of my situation, to make my first payment in two weeks. She responded by informing me that they needed the account to be brought current in two weeks instead of simply making the first payment. I reminded her that I was just getting out of jail, starting back off with nothing and wouldn't be able to come up with that kind of money in two weeks. I further told her that I appreciated them loaning me the money and that I really wanted to work with them because of that fact; however, if they are insisting that I bring the account current, I would have no choice but to have it refinance through another company. She asked me to hold on.

After a couple of minutes, she returned to the phone and told me yes, it would be okay to start making payments in two weeks. Although, I was faced with many other financial struggles from being away for 3 1/2 months (home foreclosure, lapsed insurance, etc.), I came in to make my first payment two weeks later as promised. Will was there when I made my payment. My daughter was with me. I was still concerned with when they expected another payment from me.

After collecting my payment, I specifically asked Will, "So, I'm on a new payment schedule, right?" His exact response was, "Yes, we are going to work with you". As I was intensely juggling to honor all of my outstanding financial obligations, I prepared to make Carolina Title Loans a second payment 30 days after my first payment (January 18, 2010), then pay them off entirely on the next 3rd payment.

However, on the morning of Saturday, January 16, 2010, as I prepared to telemarketing for more business, I decided to walk outside. I found that my van was gone. Immediately, I knew that Will, Courtney, and Carolina Title Loans had not honored our agreement. I called to find out why. Both Will and Courtney started saying that they told me things that I promised was never said. Things like, "Our system doesn't work like that," and "I told you that you needed to make a payment every week."

I use my van for work. All of my tools are in the van. I worked day and night to start generating calls to my business in order to repay Carolina Title Loans and my other obligations. I have quality advertisement coming out in a couple of weeks in the phone book, for which I'm obligated to pay $2,200. I can not benefit from this advertisement; yet, I still would be required to pay it. I can not accept any calls for work that I receive as of my van being wrongly repossessed, losing all potential income from that. I also use my van to get back and forth to school at Midlands Technical College. Without it, I'll miss my classes and get dropped, losing financial aid for this semester and any chances for financial aid in the future.