Comments on: Wells Fargo Auto Finance… Far from Perfect, Short of Miserable http://www.personalfinanceanalyst.com/wells-fargo-auto-finance-far-from-perfect-short-of-miserable/ A Personal Finance Blog dedicated to taking the mystery out of money and helping you to live a happier, more successful life. Thu, 29 Jul 2010 02:30:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: disgruntled GA http://www.personalfinanceanalyst.com/wells-fargo-auto-finance-far-from-perfect-short-of-miserable/comment-page-1/#comment-20522 disgruntled GA Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:09:12 +0000 http://www.personalfinanceanalyst.com/?p=2000#comment-20522 i've been unemployeed since the new year. I knowing knew I would not be able to make monthly payments on time. So I called WF in Feb explaining this situation. I was not made aware of making partial payments. I called in March about the 'options' for online payments and get my payments reversed from principal only to my regular payments. This was when I was told i could make partial payments to catch up. Anyway I called today and I was transferred to collections and my experience was horrible. the lady acted like I didnt care about my loan and the amount i was was not satisfactory for the outstanding balance. Yes I'm aware but I only have so much to work with, with an unemployment check. I told her what I could do but it was not enough. she acted as if this was the only bill I had to pay, in which it's not. I felt like they are unwilling to work with those that are at least making some king of payments, vs those that just dont pay anything i’ve been unemployeed since the new year. I knowing knew I would not be able to make monthly payments on time. So I called WF in Feb explaining this situation. I was not made aware of making partial payments. I called in March about the ‘options’ for online payments and get my payments reversed from principal only to my regular payments. This was when I was told i could make partial payments to catch up. Anyway I called today and I was transferred to collections and my experience was horrible. the lady acted like I didnt care about my loan and the amount i was was not satisfactory for the outstanding balance. Yes I’m aware but I only have so much to work with, with an unemployment check. I told her what I could do but it was not enough. she acted as if this was the only bill I had to pay, in which it’s not.
I felt like they are unwilling to work with those that are at least making some king of payments, vs those that just dont pay anything

]]> By: Heather Cordes http://www.personalfinanceanalyst.com/wells-fargo-auto-finance-far-from-perfect-short-of-miserable/comment-page-1/#comment-19164 Heather Cordes Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:46:36 +0000 http://www.personalfinanceanalyst.com/?p=2000#comment-19164 This is by far the worst company I have ever dealt with. When instructed NOT to call my father's house because he had had a stroke due to stress--they could not wait even 5 days before they started their harassment again. They do not apply your payments fairly nor will they work with you should you have any hardships. IT is nice to know that I will be paying this company 10,000.00 to treat me like I am a dirtbag. Because of the way they apply my payments and the high interest rate, I will never be able to get away from them. I thought I had a good loan when the dealer told me from who. Don't be FOOLED! They don't give a &*#*@ about you. ONE call per day is sufficient. 5-6 calls per day is nothing less than the ultimate in harassment. I HOPE THEY GET SUED. NO COMPANY SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO RIP PEOPLE OFF AND TREAT THEIR CUSTOMERS LIKE DIRT, AND THEN LOCK THEM IN SO THEY CANNOT TAKE THEIR BUSINESS ELSEWHERE. Today I heard that Obama is charging the banks fees because they had record profits and unusually high salaries for the executives when they have been crying for help. I SAY OBAMA IS THE MAN! Thank God somebody is paying attention. This is by far the worst company I have ever dealt with. When instructed NOT to call my father’s house because he had had a stroke due to stress–they could not wait even 5 days before they started their harassment again. They do not apply your payments fairly nor will they work with you should you have any hardships. IT is nice to know that I will be paying this company 10,000.00 to treat me like I am a dirtbag. Because of the way they apply my payments and the high interest rate, I will never be able to get away from them. I thought I had a good loan when the dealer told me from who. Don’t be FOOLED! They don’t give a &*#*@ about you. ONE call per day is sufficient. 5-6 calls per day is nothing less than the ultimate in harassment. I HOPE THEY GET SUED. NO COMPANY SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO RIP PEOPLE OFF AND TREAT THEIR CUSTOMERS LIKE DIRT, AND THEN LOCK THEM IN SO THEY CANNOT TAKE THEIR BUSINESS ELSEWHERE. Today I heard that Obama is charging the banks fees because they had record profits and unusually high salaries for the executives when they have been crying for help. I SAY OBAMA IS THE MAN! Thank God somebody is paying attention.

]]> By: David R. Lampsen http://www.personalfinanceanalyst.com/wells-fargo-auto-finance-far-from-perfect-short-of-miserable/comment-page-1/#comment-18397 David R. Lampsen Sat, 12 Dec 2009 14:10:52 +0000 http://www.personalfinanceanalyst.com/?p=2000#comment-18397 Roger- That's the thing. For every person who has a miserable experience, how many end up being happy? It's hard to tell because most of the folks who have experiences like yours don't say anything. I'm not excusing the bad experiences, of course. I just think it's important to maintain a balanced perspective on these matters. Thanks for the comment, DRL Roger-

That’s the thing. For every person who has a miserable experience, how many end up being happy? It’s hard to tell because most of the folks who have experiences like yours don’t say anything. I’m not excusing the bad experiences, of course. I just think it’s important to maintain a balanced perspective on these matters.

Thanks for the comment,
DRL

]]> By: Roger Jenks http://www.personalfinanceanalyst.com/wells-fargo-auto-finance-far-from-perfect-short-of-miserable/comment-page-1/#comment-14493 Roger Jenks Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:01:08 +0000 http://www.personalfinanceanalyst.com/?p=2000#comment-14493 I went through the lease end process like Mary did but had a great lasting impression. They went out of their way to help me and explained the process in full. I was satisified. Mary's whole tone of her post is negative and rather than saying in the end they worked with me and helped me resolve the dispute she still ends negative. Wells Fargo is far from perfect like any other big banking center out there but I can't imagine them waking up and saying let's pull a list of customer accounts and screw them today. Some of the responsibility lies with us the consumer as well as them the banks. Am I the only one that still thinks this way or does everyone want something for nothing or bailed out when they over indulge? My three cents worth and you can keep the change. RJ I went through the lease end process like Mary did but had a great lasting impression. They went out of their way to help me and explained the process in full. I was satisified. Mary’s whole tone of her post is negative and rather than saying in the end they worked with me and helped me resolve the dispute she still ends negative.

Wells Fargo is far from perfect like any other big banking center out there but I can’t imagine them waking up and saying let’s pull a list of customer accounts and screw them today. Some of the responsibility lies with us the consumer as well as them the banks. Am I the only one that still thinks this way or does everyone want something for nothing or bailed out when they over indulge?

My three cents worth and you can keep the change.

RJ

]]> By: chicky401 http://www.personalfinanceanalyst.com/wells-fargo-auto-finance-far-from-perfect-short-of-miserable/comment-page-1/#comment-13809 chicky401 Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:10:44 +0000 http://www.personalfinanceanalyst.com/?p=2000#comment-13809 Anybody who claims Wells Fargo is not the worst company to deal with obviously never dealt with them. I had more issues then you could imagine with these people and I am not alone. You can never mail them anything they "will not receive it." That includes payments, they never received any payment I mailed them so they would call demanding I pay them over the phone (and pay a fee of course) to avoid a late fee. They would start calling a day after it was due. You make the payment, pay the fee and it comes out of your bank account the next day but not credited to you account until it is late enough to charge a late fee. The collateral insurance is just absolutely ridiculous and really put a dent on my credit. I never knew they thought I didn't have insurance until their collection agency called demanding payment saying I have been over 31 days past due for a few months. They were receiving payments however they took my payments and applied it to their insurance. I paid well over $10,000 to them and not even $2000 came off my principal. The interest and principle amount varied every month and some months my whole payment applied to principal. When they started their insurance mess I was then expected to pay over $1000 a month to keep my minivan between my insurance their insurance and my monthly payment. They already put a nice dent on my credit with no cares so I told them to come take it, they finally did 3 months later. I have told many people to never deal with them and I know I have stopped many people from dealing with them and will continue to do so before anybody else gets trapped into the shady stuff they pull. Anybody who claims Wells Fargo is not the worst company to deal with obviously never dealt with them. I had more issues then you could imagine with these people and I am not alone. You can never mail them anything they “will not receive it.” That includes payments, they never received any payment I mailed them so they would call demanding I pay them over the phone (and pay a fee of course) to avoid a late fee. They would start calling a day after it was due. You make the payment, pay the fee and it comes out of your bank account the next day but not credited to you account until it is late enough to charge a late fee. The collateral insurance is just absolutely ridiculous and really put a dent on my credit. I never knew they thought I didn’t have insurance until their collection agency called demanding payment saying I have been over 31 days past due for a few months. They were receiving payments however they took my payments and applied it to their insurance. I paid well over $10,000 to them and not even $2000 came off my principal. The interest and principle amount varied every month and some months my whole payment applied to principal. When they started their insurance mess I was then expected to pay over $1000 a month to keep my minivan between my insurance their insurance and my monthly payment. They already put a nice dent on my credit with no cares so I told them to come take it, they finally did 3 months later. I have told many people to never deal with them and I know I have stopped many people from dealing with them and will continue to do so before anybody else gets trapped into the shady stuff they pull.

]]> By: David R. Lampsen http://www.personalfinanceanalyst.com/wells-fargo-auto-finance-far-from-perfect-short-of-miserable/comment-page-1/#comment-13610 David R. Lampsen Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:43:10 +0000 http://www.personalfinanceanalyst.com/?p=2000#comment-13610 Mary... Sorry about your rotten experience. They may be screwing you, but I sincerely doubt that's their business model. WF and the other finance companies do a lousy job on many levels and there's always plenty of incompetence to go around, but I don't think it's fair to confuse that with a desire to intentionally beat people up. Of course, I could be wrong. That happened once before. I was convinced that Billy Dee Williams would get an Oscar nomination for his role as Bingo Long in "Bingo Long's Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings". Seriously, I hope things work out for you. And I hope I'm right about WF. Mary…

Sorry about your rotten experience. They may be screwing you, but I sincerely doubt that’s their business model. WF and the other finance companies do a lousy job on many levels and there’s always plenty of incompetence to go around, but I don’t think it’s fair to confuse that with a desire to intentionally beat people up.

Of course, I could be wrong. That happened once before. I was convinced that Billy Dee Williams would get an Oscar nomination for his role as Bingo Long in “Bingo Long’s Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings”.

Seriously, I hope things work out for you. And I hope I’m right about WF.

]]> By: Ren http://www.personalfinanceanalyst.com/wells-fargo-auto-finance-far-from-perfect-short-of-miserable/comment-page-1/#comment-13004 Ren Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:07:47 +0000 http://www.personalfinanceanalyst.com/?p=2000#comment-13004 Having previously worked for said company... I certainly understand the short commings. Forced placed collateral insurance was the biggest headache in the world for most of the reps, primarily because the actual LOGGING of the insurance wasn't done by WF, but rather another corporate sized insurance company (done this way, I assumed, so that when they do not recieve proof of insurance, they can place a policy and bill WF) but of course there are too many hangs in the pot to effectively track everything the first time and THEN the issue becomes removing the additional amount from the bill and everything accompanying that process. Most people that were continued to be billed after providing proof of insurance was more likely due to the absurd amount of time it took WF's insurance company to clear the policy and refund WF and then WF to update and re ammortize the loan payments, than it not being logged the second time. There really needs to be better communication between the two companies, or at least swifter processing speeds, granted such short commings seem to be associated with the workings of "big business." I wish I could blame all the customer service woes on training and what not, but really from my experience most reps were not concerned with understanding why/how a problem occured so they were not capable of adequately explaining to customers the answers they were seeking. I personally found it to be quite interesting to understand all the why's and what for's that happened back end and was usually able to answer questions with a certain amount of depth. Honestly true concern, for anything other than good handle times from a call center rep, is rare at best. Another thing customers seem to forget when dealing with the woes of WF Auto Finance... is they DIDN'T choose wells fargo auto finance as a lender. The dealers use a system to send applications to tons of banks from the dealership, when wells fargo's offer works the best for their deal thats the one they present to their customer. By this virtue they end up servicing millions of loans... with 2 call centers that house maybe 100-200 reps, and less people working on processing the corrections and other paperwork. Its no wonder its a clunky system, that doesn't feel like personal service. Having previously worked for said company… I certainly understand the short commings. Forced placed collateral insurance was the biggest headache in the world for most of the reps, primarily because the actual LOGGING of the insurance wasn’t done by WF, but rather another corporate sized insurance company (done this way, I assumed, so that when they do not recieve proof of insurance, they can place a policy and bill WF) but of course there are too many hangs in the pot to effectively track everything the first time and THEN the issue becomes removing the additional amount from the bill and everything accompanying that process. Most people that were continued to be billed after providing proof of insurance was more likely due to the absurd amount of time it took WF’s insurance company to clear the policy and refund WF and then WF to update and re ammortize the loan payments, than it not being logged the second time. There really needs to be better communication between the two companies, or at least swifter processing speeds, granted such short commings seem to be associated with the workings of “big business.”

I wish I could blame all the customer service woes on training and what not, but really from my experience most reps were not concerned with understanding why/how a problem occured so they were not capable of adequately explaining to customers the answers they were seeking. I personally found it to be quite interesting to understand all the why’s and what for’s that happened back end and was usually able to answer questions with a certain amount of depth. Honestly true concern, for anything other than good handle times from a call center rep, is rare at best.

Another thing customers seem to forget when dealing with the woes of WF Auto Finance… is they DIDN’T choose wells fargo auto finance as a lender. The dealers use a system to send applications to tons of banks from the dealership, when wells fargo’s offer works the best for their deal thats the one they present to their customer. By this virtue they end up servicing millions of loans… with 2 call centers that house maybe 100-200 reps, and less people working on processing the corrections and other paperwork. Its no wonder its a clunky system, that doesn’t feel like personal service.

]]> By: Mary Sayetta http://www.personalfinanceanalyst.com/wells-fargo-auto-finance-far-from-perfect-short-of-miserable/comment-page-1/#comment-12494 Mary Sayetta Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:50:26 +0000 http://www.personalfinanceanalyst.com/?p=2000#comment-12494 I think they are trying to screw people. They refuse to send us a final bill or pictures of a turned in lease car and just want us to send money based on what they say. I have photos of the car completely undamaged. They sent a third party to pick up the car and when we asked about Wells Fargo inspecting it or a sign off from the pick up that it was fine we were told that they dont do that. This is the short story - but they magically lower the amount due from $800+ to $300 when we sent pictures and challenged the quote. They wont let us talk to anyone higher up and wont send us paperwork or pictures. From what I am reading they do things liek this quite a bit. I think they are trying to screw people. They refuse to send us a final bill or pictures of a turned in lease car and just want us to send money based on what they say. I have photos of the car completely undamaged. They sent a third party to pick up the car and when we asked about Wells Fargo inspecting it or a sign off from the pick up that it was fine we were told that they dont do that. This is the short story – but they magically lower the amount due from $800+ to $300 when we sent pictures and challenged the quote. They wont let us talk to anyone higher up and wont send us paperwork or pictures. From what I am reading they do things liek this quite a bit.

]]> By: Considering Chase Auto Finance Complaints | Personal Finance Analyst http://www.personalfinanceanalyst.com/wells-fargo-auto-finance-far-from-perfect-short-of-miserable/comment-page-1/#comment-11810 Considering Chase Auto Finance Complaints | Personal Finance Analyst Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:49:18 +0000 http://www.personalfinanceanalyst.com/?p=2000#comment-11810 [...] you enjoy this Article? If so then Subscribe to our RSS feed Related Posts  Wells Fargo Auto Finance… Far from Perfect, Short of Miserable Auto Loan Calculators Guide Personal Finance Carnival Round-Up - #4 About [...] [...] you enjoy this Article? If so then Subscribe to our RSS feed Related Posts  Wells Fargo Auto Finance… Far from Perfect, Short of Miserable Auto Loan Calculators Guide Personal Finance Carnival Round-Up – #4 About [...]

]]> By: David R. Lampsen http://www.personalfinanceanalyst.com/wells-fargo-auto-finance-far-from-perfect-short-of-miserable/comment-page-1/#comment-11791 David R. Lampsen Tue, 16 Jun 2009 03:20:18 +0000 http://www.personalfinanceanalyst.com/?p=2000#comment-11791 Chris- Consider your voice heard here! It wasn't my intent to paint WF auto finance as the best thing since sliced bread. They do screw up. They may very well have screwed up with you. There's an old adage in cattle country. "If you buy a bag of manure, don't be surprised when it stinks". I think that holds true for these mega-super-huge auto lenders. They're big, clunky, and annoying. They have a billion right hands that aren't always aware of what the billion left hands are doing. They should do a better job with customer service and they should strive to cut down on the number of clerical disasters like the one you're apparently experiencing. My point was simply that it doesn't make them criminal, evil or otherwise dedicated to creating borrower misery. They're not trying to screw people, they're just suffering form a certain level of bureaucratic ineptitude. People should be aware of those shortcomings, but I just get tired of seeing so many gripes from people (unlike you) who are basically just wishing that the lender would do whatever they'd like because they made a bad purchase or were unable to pay their bills. Too often, people in that category--and many in yours--use their experiences to claim that the lenders are evil as opposed to stupid. That being said, thanks for your story and input. I certainly hope you get things worked out--and WF deserves to lose your business if you're not happy with their performance. DRL Chris-

Consider your voice heard here!

It wasn’t my intent to paint WF auto finance as the best thing since sliced bread. They do screw up. They may very well have screwed up with you.

There’s an old adage in cattle country. “If you buy a bag of manure, don’t be surprised when it stinks”. I think that holds true for these mega-super-huge auto lenders. They’re big, clunky, and annoying. They have a billion right hands that aren’t always aware of what the billion left hands are doing. They should do a better job with customer service and they should strive to cut down on the number of clerical disasters like the one you’re apparently experiencing.

My point was simply that it doesn’t make them criminal, evil or otherwise dedicated to creating borrower misery. They’re not trying to screw people, they’re just suffering form a certain level of bureaucratic ineptitude. People should be aware of those shortcomings, but I just get tired of seeing so many gripes from people (unlike you) who are basically just wishing that the lender would do whatever they’d like because they made a bad purchase or were unable to pay their bills. Too often, people in that category–and many in yours–use their experiences to claim that the lenders are evil as opposed to stupid.

That being said, thanks for your story and input. I certainly hope you get things worked out–and WF deserves to lose your business if you’re not happy with their performance.

DRL

]]>