Chase Automotive Finance

Chase Automotive Finance

RE: CHASE Automotive Finance. Loan # 199114161ssssss In May of 1999 I purchased a Jeep Grand Cherokee from Brigham Gill Pontiac AMC/Jeep Inc in Natick Massachusetts. I made a down payment and took out a 6.7% percentage rate loan from Chase Automotive Finance. This was a five year loan of 60 payments of $501.08 which was paid monthly on time through an automatic deduction from my checking account. Each month the amount was taken from my bank account. There was never a late payment or problem. In May of 2004 I noticed that the payments had ceased and assumed that the loan was paid off. Several months later I noticed that all of my credit card rates had gone from around 7% to 20%. I have always had an excellent credit rating and did not know what was going on. I ordered a copy of my credit report and was surprised to find out that Chase had reported me for being in default on my auto loan. When I contacted Chase about this error they told me that the last payment of a 60 month payment plan is not taken out of our bank account but is billed to your address. I have lived at my present address for 4 and 1/2 years. Chase had been sending a bill to the address where I lived when I purchased the car 5 years prior. When I purchased the car from Brigham Gill I was not informed of this. I was told by Chase that it was my fault that I did not report an address change when I moved. They did not seem to understand that reporting an address change was not something that would come to mind when you have an automatic deduction from a checking account. Moreover, I have a credit card with Chase as well as a second mortgage for 81,000. One would think they would cross reference these accounts for the correct address. Moreover, the car dealership saw me every 3 months for a tune up and had my correct address, and the bank that they were taking the money out of had my correct address. I also have the same employment phone number and address I have always had. My social security number is on all accounts. One would think that someone in accounts would have enough brains to look this up, but that is apparently not the case.

I have tried to correct this multiple times and am being ignored by Chase. I received a letter from Frances Ho "Research Representative" in response to my detailed inquiry. She sent me a copy of my credit history showing 59 payments on time and then showing the last payment as unpaid noting that "Your payment record indicates that you have been at least 1 x 120 days delinquent. Unfortunately we are unable to honor your request to adjust your credit history, since your payments are reported by Chase Automotive Finance as they are actually received." They do not seem to have anyone in the office with enough brains to understand the situation which is simple. I took out a loan for 60 monthly payments to be taken by automatic withdrawal. Instead of taking my final payment out by automatic withdrawal they sent a bill to my old address where I lived almost 5 years ago. No one at Brigham Gill informed me that my last payment would be mailed and not taken out by automatic withdrawal. If they had trouble contacting me I have two other accounts with them with current address of almost five years. The bank that they withdrew from has my current address of five years. The car dealership has my address of five years. Because of their error my credit history is now ruined and has gone from excellent to poor because of their reporting this to the credit bureaus. They are not responding to my inquiries. One person on the phone told me "It's your responsibility, deal with it." It has cost me a great deal due to their error. My credit cards are now double digits, etc. ? If I have legal recourse. I reviewed my contract and there is nothing that says last payment will be mailed. All they had to do was take it out of the bank as they had done for 59 previous months.

Michael L

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