Just wanted to get others opinion about the situation I'm in. I purchased a 2010 RX450 back in early Nov. '09. Signed the papers, gave the down payment, etc. Dealer finance guy put the first payment date to be towards the end of Dec. Well, Dec. passed, nothing from the Bank. Jan. has almost passed and still nothing from the bank. I called the bank listed on the registration papers as holding the Lien. They said that they have no information about me having any loans with them. I then left a voice message on the dealer's finance guy's voice message over a week ago but have not heard back. Thus, I'm a bit confused, concerned and not to mentioned peeved. Confused as to should I speak up or stay silent and let the dealer figure it out. Concerned that there might be some bank out there who has my loan and is reporting late payments to the credit report. Peeved that the idiot from the finance dept. has not returned my call. I checked the address on the papers and it shows my correct address. Thus, I would assume that whatever bank were to issue a loan, that they would have sent me the info on where to send the payment to, the account number, etc.

Perhaps I should get a copy of my credit report and see if it shows any car loans. If it does not, then just quietly and see when the dealer figures it out ? If ever.

So, what do you folks think I should do ?

 

Well if you haven't gotten your 3 free credit reports this year...go get them now. 1 free report from each of the big 3 credit agencies.

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/

If I were you I'd probably contact someone else at the dealer and try to get it sorted out ASAP. The dealer/bank will eventually figure out something is wrong and will probably blame you. Ignorance is never a good legal excuse.

I always assumed that any financing would be done in-house my Lexus Financial Services or Toyota Corporation.

Sooner you pay, the sooner you get to say you own the car free and clear. =)

 

On your car insurance who shows as the lienholder?

 

I would sell the car fast - make a huge cash profit and then go buy another one. You got a free Lexus!!!!!!!!!

ok, just kidding, REALLY, I'm just kidding.

As an earlier post says, you signed for a loan on that car and any negative payment history will impact YOUR credit whether you think you have a great reason it should or not. Once something negative hits your credit report it is pretty tough to get it removed. IF you can get the creditor to agree that any lates should be removed (no easy task) then you have to get the credit bureaus to update your credit report/scores. This is a pretty big hassle to say the least.

I would call the manager of the dealership IMMEDIATELY since you might already be late on your payment. You need an answer NOW and you need to get that paid. Trust me, a little work up front will save you a whole lot of time, energy, frustration and inevitably anger since the fix is far worse and far harder to achieve once it hits your credit.

I would demand some information from the dealer immediately.

Once you get that I would contact the creditor right away and explain what happened and if they want to charge you $10 for an online payment - do it!! Again, you can always ask the dealer to refund that but it's worth getting current on the account ASAP and a few bucks up front will seem like nothing if you have to fight the credit fight later.

If it's already hit your credit, get a letter from the dealership to assist in getting that late payment removed.

Hope that helps. Either way, you need to get answers immediately! Demand them from the dealership. It may not be their fault - could be the bank/creditor but you need to get to the bottom of it. Even if you have to sit in the manager's office and make calls with them sitting there.

Unbelieveable. Sorry you are going through this but I see things like this start as a 'minor' crack and they turn into a huge fissure when people try to buy something else, get financing on a home, move credit around, etc.

One last item to stress (if I haven't made the case clearly enough yet):If you get hit with a late payment on your credit report ALL of your credit cards are allowed to increase your interest rates to their defaults (thinking 29-30%+ interest rates) just because you had a late on another account. Once they go up, good luck getting them reduced, even if you get the car loan creditor to remove the late payments.

Trust me, you want to deal with this ASAP. There are too many potential issues that can affect many other aspects of your finances/life these days with how poorly the banks, credit card companies, etc. are treating their 'customers'.

Good luck and please let us know how things work out.

Jay

P.S. Sorry if this was a scary post but I've seen it time and again and most people have no idea about the ripple effects of things like this and I was trying to get the point across

 

Call your state attorney generals office and explain to them what has happened and inquire if they have any other complaints on that dealership.
Next, call Lexus and ask for their help in reaching someone at the dealership.

 

Before they report late payments, the new account must be reported. So check you credit for a new account. If it's not there then relax: no late payments have been reported. If you find that new account on your credit report then look up the bank's name and call them up. If the dealer is at fault call LEXUS who will give some jazz to the flippant troublemakers.

 

How's it going Reefguy? Any luck?

Please post back - lots of people are interested to see what happened and what you were able to do about it!

Jay