I paid off my car loan. I received a letter in the mail congratulating me on paying it off and saying my title would be mailed within 14 days. After waiting over three weeks, I called them and they couldn't tell me where my title was, but offered to send me a duplicate if I paid for it. I have been calling them for a week with no success. When I asked to speak to a supervisor, I mysteriously get disconnected! I am trying to obtain a loan for a new house and I need the title for the bank to use my car as collateral. A month later, I'm still waiting for the title!
Consumer Complaints & Reviews
DO NOT DO ANY BUSINESS WITH CITIZENS FINANCE. At the end of 2008, I purchased a 2001 Mercury Mountaineer from a used car lot in Joliet, IL with a loan through Citizens Finance. Over the next 2 years, I made my monthly payments on time and never missed a payment. In 2010, I went to refinance to get a cheaper interest rate, and to my surprise, I had amount $3,500 plus over my principle balance! I asked them where did this amount come from and they said it was due to late charges. I told them I never been late on a payment and they said I've alway paid $100 less than my payment.
This was due to that fact that Citizens Finance has added an Auto Insurance charge of $1100 per year for the last 3 years, even though I always had auto full coverage auto insurance on the vehicle! In addition, they continued to add late charges on top of that. I was told they would correct the problem if produced proof I had insurance with Citizens finance as the lien holder, which I did twice. The second time I physically handed the policy to them. However, they never corrected the issue and every time I called them, they make excuses. Now, they won't even take my calls. As of today, I have a payout on the car of $7,900 in which I originally paid $7,500! Consider the damage this does to my credit score. I am planning to file a lawsuit against this company.
My wages were garnished to pay off my car and I completed all payments on the car but the title was never sent to me. Two years later, they show up to take my car away saying I still owe money on it. I paid it the next day and they still have not sent my title. They added an insurance policy which I was not informed about and was never given a declaration page for. I had auto insurance and they were told to cancel that policy, by the way. Now, after recovering my car, I still do not have title or declaration page of insurance they supposedly purchased showing coverage time. I need help as they keep giving me the run around over this.
I was getting behind on my car payments and asked for a revision on my loan but was told they don't do that. My payments were late and we informed the bank we were making payments to bring the account current. In a 4 week period we paid the account to current as well as a payment due for the following month. However, Citizens did not post my payments for 2 weeks and as a result, the account went to repossession agents. Even though the payments they didn't post brought my account to current, and a future payment was also received, they failed to update the information on my account and as a result the car was repossessed.
The following morning I called the bank and the first rep informed me that the payments were in fact received and read notes on my account from 3 weeks prior that acknowledged my account was current. I was outraged, emotionally drained and horrified to be told that the repo man went around my neighborhood and asked about me and the whereabouts of the car. I admit I was very angry and made no secret of that after I had to keep calling back to get the status on my car.
After several calls to the bank, and being put on hold for 20+ minutes more than once, or hung up on, I was told that they didn't know who had the car, where it was or when it would be returned. After 4 hours I called the police to report it stolen as well as informed Citizens AF Supervisor that I was reporting my car stolen since they didn't seem to know where it was and were responsible for it.
When I received the information on the agent who had the car I called them and was told the bank did not update the information on my account until this morning after I called them and told them what happened. When the tow truck brought the car back it was very dirty and the hood was dented. The driver told me he dropped it at a convenience store off I95 in Maryland and then drove back to NJ. He had to drive back down from NJ to MD to get the car and then bring it back. This saga goes on but the rest of the day I tried to talk to the bank to get the real status of my account since I was also told those payments were going to be applied to the repo charges and they didn't have the correct payment amounts.
I also found out from the driver who the "middle-man" company is that the bank was using to hire the repo agent. When I called them and told them I had a damaged car and I also wanted to know when they received the information from the bank, they gave me a number to call. It was a disconnected number. That was also confirmed by the company when I got another number for them and called back. I have yet to get the correct department to answer the phone so I can make the claim for the damage. When I called the bank back to get a number to call to request a higher level manager to discuss the account with me, I was also given a bad number. As a result of their actions in the past 24 hours, I have suffered from emotional anxiety due to the mishandling of this situation by them.
A physical condition I was in treatment for and had to miss my appointment today was worsened when I was told to get my belongings from the car when the tow truck driver rang my doorbell at 12:30 a.m. I was so upset and in trying to reach the contents in my trunk, which was up on the tow hook, I injured myself further. I would like to know what grounds I have to file a formal complaint on the bank and restitution for the damages to the car, the emotional stress, the pain I am now suffering from having to retrieve my belongings from my car and the financial burden caused by missing work.
I just made my last payment on my car loan finishing up all the stubs in the book. In the back of the book, there is a number to call to find out if we owe any money because they told us the last stub was not actually the last payment. We had to call for the last payment, which I did. The operator I spoke to told me I owed a late charge from June of 2008. This does not make sense because I previously had a couple of late payments and they had to be paid with right away. This just doesn't add up because they would have told us immediately if we were late and we would have to pay it at that time which was done in the past. Can you please let me know if I have a legitimate claim?
