So I worked for an automotive financial collections call center for a while and have heard just about everything. This one always sticks out to me as a very sad case where education has truly failed people. (Tldr at the end)
Quick explanation for people who dont have/are unfamiliar with car loans
Most car loans are simple interest loans, which means (unless you have 0%apr) your interest amount depends on your APR, the time you take to pay off the loan, and your current principle balance. The amount of interest you assess per day is called your per diem rate and changes as time goes on/you pay more. If you’re late on your monthly payment, you incur more interest based on your current per diem rate.
A part of my job is to educate customers on how being late costs them more money as an incentive to pay on time. As a reference this guy was late very early into a high balance loan.
M- Me CC- clueless customer
M- “Hi CC this is Avybb calling from Blank Bank about your car, its currently passed due for whatever amount of money.”
CC- “Oh yeah I was just about to stick a check in the mail for that, you guys should get it soon”.
M- “Alright sir, I can note your intention but a mailed check can take up to 10 days to be received and you’re assessing interest daily on this loan. 10 more days will assess $50 more dollars in additional interest based on your per diem-”
CC- “What??? $50?? You cant be serious, I’m only a month behind, I need you to waive that late charge”
M- “No sir, I’m sorry but this isnt a late charge, you have a simple interest account and I cant waive this as its incurred how you pay, according to your contract”
CC- “WHAT?? I never agreed to that in my contract, you guys are ripping me off, I want that changed, I didnt agree to that at all!”
M- “Mr. CC it’s a part of your contract, I can send you a copy and highlight the portion explaining interest but this is a part of the loan you agreed to-”
At this point he flies off the handle about how he never agreed to this and how he is going to get a lawyer involved and how we are stealing from him. He eventually hung up but I followed up and true to his word he hired a lawyer who just said we couldn’t call him and asked for mail only correspondence. His car was repo’d 4months later.
TLDR; Guy doesnt know how simple interest works, gets mad when I try to explain, hires a lawyer who can’t do anything but tell us to put him on mail only correspondence and guy ends up getting repo’d.
submitted by /u/avybb
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