You have the opportunity to be a better bank; to distinguish yourself as a bank for the people rather than merely another capitalist enterprise whose sole purpose is to profit off of people’s suffering so your shareholders and board members can make another few million dollars.
You have an opportunity to really stand out as a customer-oriented enterprise and set a good example for all those “too big to fail” businesses which only live to bleed its customers dry.
Note: I am obviously not free from any blame in this story. I am the one who fell into default on my car loan and I am the one who, in my frustration and depression (and dislike for phones), did not reach out to you to find a resolution. Even so, I think you guys really failed epically in your legal conniving and I think milking a father of three who can barely survive as it is for added “fees” is very Thenardier of you. (For those who don’t know, Thenardier is a conman in Les Miserables. He is not a good guy.)
That said, my story, as I shared it with the national Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (@CFPB):
[Late December 6] my vehicle, a Mazda5, was repossessed by the lien holder, Fifth Third Bank. This is our only family vehicle. It gets me to work and all five of us to various errands and functions. As of December 3, I was past due on three installments (excluding the 10-day grace period). That’s all fairly understandable, but…
Fifth Third Bank has theoretically been contacting me. They have been doing this via several phone numbers from different non-Ohio area codes that did not list the business name as they came in. Ninety-five percent (a guesstimate, I admit, but it was a definite majority) of these calls came in during the day, when I’m at work and unable to talk. Even so, I do not answer phone numbers that I don’t know or recognize the area code at least as someone I might personally know or be doing business with. I do not know people in New York, Houston, or Atlanta who would know my phone number and want to call me, so I didn’t answer. On top of that, these numerous unrecognized calls only attempted to leave a voicemail [a total of two times]. One “voicemail” was one second of nothing. The other “voicemail” was over two minutes of utter silence - no beeps or chirps or clicks, no words mumbled or clear, no sound at all. I would still not know who was trying to call me if I didn’t sift through several Google searches after my vehicle was repossessed. This inability to communicate properly I find unacceptable on the part of a billion-dollar financial company.
Now yes, I probably should have called them, not that a depressed person with no money available to pay a bill (who dislikes phones anyway) really wants to speak to a likely foreign national with poor English whose only job is to get you to pay a bill you can’t pay. I did actually speak with one such person once over a month ago, but was instructed to call back when someone was actually in whatever department that could discuss and approve the payment plan I had requested.
On top of all of this, Fifth Third Bank never once attempted to call the cosigner on my loan (my mother, who happened to sacrifice part of her day to drive me around today). There is a reason to have a cosigner, yet they did not call or write her even once. (Although they did send me a letter Nov. 18.) [If contacting the consigner, which, to my knowledge is a quite common occurrence in such instances, isn’t a legal requirement, it certainly should be.]
At any rate, last night while the repo company was hooking up my vehicle, I tried to call Fifth Third Bank. After two dropped calls on their part, I finally got through to another person with tolerable English in a foreign accent who eventually told me the account was now with the Repossession Department, which closed at 5pm (it was around 8:45pm when the repo crew arrived, 9pm when I started calling Fifth Third Bank), and I would have to call them back the next day.
[The next day, Dec. 7], while at work, I got a call from a phone number I did not know. [This time] I googled it right away and learned it was yet another Fifth Third phone number. They called twice during the day, then finally called a couple of hours ago.
I’m told that I have to find a Western Union (a very rare sight in Ohio’s Amish Country) and pay an initial $897.76 (my original car payment of $275.92*3 - that’s reasonable) in cash via a process through them, then call Fifth Third back [to let them know] and then wait another two days until my vehicle is released, after which I have to pay the repossessor their fees to actually get my vehicle back. Then there’s still $70 in late fees to pay plus some other fees (she had quoted some $1,100 total at one point) PLUS [another] $500+ in [Fifth Third] repossession processing fees beyond that. That is utterly insane and unacceptable highway robbery.
I despise this con game. It needs to stop, however legal it may be. I offered $621.84 (two months payments of $310.92, including late fees), but it was not acceptable to them. Why does a billion-dollar company need an additional hundreds of dollars on an interest-bearing loan? They DON’T and I am outraged.
ADDENDUM: I am obviously not arguing about the original amount of money I owe Fifth Third Bank or that I am in default and they have the legal right to confiscate “their” property. I am simply arguing that they:
– Need better communication practices and ability to help customers in need. Community outreach and helping fundraisers is all well and good, but a billion-dollar bank can also afford to go above and beyond and work with and help individuals who are struggling;
– Absolutely should be transparent and list its business name in Caller ID so that I know to answer;
– Can afford to and should have all relevant departments open at the same time while making more calls (with Caller ID enabled) at non-standard hours;
– Always should contact the cosigner. This is common practice, but if it’s not required by law, it should be; and
– Should not be allowed to charge exorbitant fees on top of what is already owed. Another $500 or $700 and change is ridiculous.
Am I right? Kind of right? Absolutely wrong?
Second Addendum: The sad, aggravating irony of it all is that I was also waiting for a rather sizable payment for a freelance editing job I did for a college professor in Denmark. This payment could have even completely caught up my Fifth Third account. Of course, this payment did finally come... yesterday, the day after my vehicle was repossessed.